Why minimum parking norm is a bad idea!

[Ranjit Gadgil]

Sao Paulo seems to be grappling with the same issues as most Indian cities. The city insists on having minimum parking norms - believing that this will reduce parking on the streets and help reduce congestion - but failing to recognize that more parking spaces will only encourage more driving! Car users complain that it is unfair to reduce parking unless public transport is improved - yet the city never seems to have resources or intent to do so. Builders, much like here in India, don't like minimum parking norms as they inflate costs. Often the parking spaces are used for other things - showing just how anti-market the parking norms are in the first place.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/331203/20120420/brazil-sao-paulo-minimum-parking-requirement-development.htm 

As Traffic Snarls Brazil's Cities, Officials Plan For More Cars

A few decades ago Brazil joined a number of developing nations in adopting American-style minimum parking requirements for new developments, even as these so-called "parking minimums" are falling out of favor in the U.S. While planners seek to make sure everyone who has a car has some place to park it, critics contend that rather than simply making room for those who will inevitably drive, the policies are actively encouraging motorization.

Alejandra Devecchi, a project manager and environmental planner, says that the vast majority of trips are not made with individual motor vehicles. In the greater São Paulo metropolitan region, home to 20 million people and the country's most extensive transit network, only 30 percent of all trips are made with private automobiles. And yet, Devecchi notes, "We can easily see that much of the public space is designed for automobiles, shifting costs to the general public."

Asked if developers are okay with providing so much parking, she replied, "No, they are not happy, but it is what it is. It's the status quo, and no one questions it anymore."

-- Ranjit

[Ranjit Gadgil]

I think you are missing the point, Sanjay.

The developers in the West are objecting to the parking norms in any case, in spite of bigger lots. The issue is cost, not the ability to fit it.

But more importantly, what I was trying to convey is that the whole idea of having so much parking is itself coming under criticism, because this only encourages more driving.

So builders in India should look beyond "how to fit it in the current margin & height norms" and question the very basis for minimum parking norms.

-- Ranjit

On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 3:55 PM, sanjay deshpande <smd1...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear ranjitda,
But the lots ie the plots over there are much bigger in size as well the norms of side margins & heights also are bit flexible.Here too nobody is objecting of providing more place for parking but the issue is how to fit it in the current margin & height norms?

sanjay

--
Sanjay Deshpande

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