Found Space: Unneeded Parking
Yesterday’s announcement that free transit service could run to Dodger Stadium after July 25th inspired me to try it out. I hope others will as well. If high gas prices get people to leave their cars at home more often, perhaps the demand for parking lots, the symbol of our suburban car culture, will eventually shrink. They may shrink anyway, if cities like Pasadena change their parking policies as described in my last post.
I don’t live far from Dodger Stadium, but I have never found a way to get there that doesn’t involve driving all the way, inching towards the entrance, and winding slowly around the circular lot to park our car. At the end of the game, I’ve been part of the throng of people threading their way through lines of slow moving vehicles, then joining those lines and emitting fumes the remaining pedestrians breathe while getting to their own cars.
Our suburban culture has trained us to accept dealing with large numbers of cars, and inhaling their exhaust in close proximity, as we go to and from public events. We are accustomed to seeing rows and rows of cars parked on asphalt paving above or below ground.
It does look strange to the untrained eye, though. I remember arriving at Disneyland as a child and feeling overwhelmed by the rows and rows of cars parked in its vast single-level parking lot. Parking lots of that style in Southern California have disappeared, one by one, usually to be replaced by denser development (and multi-level parking structures). That particular parking lot became California Adventure and Downtown Disney in addition to the required multi-level structure.
For the average resident, low-mileage, low-exhaust, low-parking alternatives haven’t been attractive enough in the past. Streetsblog LA noted that it has been 15 years since regular public transit service was available to Dodger Stadium. It was discontinued because of poor demand. The Foothill Cities Blog just asked readers to comment on whether gas prices have recently pushed them to reduce driving in favor of public transit. One comment noted that limited schedules for public transit service still makes driving a more convenient option. What is the tipping point for the demand that would sustain public transit investment? For Dodger fans, is it $15 parking and $4+ per gallon gas?
