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There's quite a lot of $10/hour parking in downtown Seattle -- almost every high-rise building has multiple levels of publicly available parking. Also, if you t

by xyzzyz 11y ago

There's quite a lot of $10/hour parking in downtown Seattle -- almost every high-rise building has multiple levels of publicly available parking. Also, if you take a taxi/Uber, you don't need parking.

slagfart 11y ago
What are the incentives at play here? Is it mandated that buildings need carparks, or is space genuinely so plentiful that this is economic? I can't imagine a carpark-sized area of office space goes for $10/day, even after the cost of carpet and coffee.
- timthelion 11y ago
  $10 per hour not per day...
- dionidium 11y ago
  "Is it mandated that buildings need carparks" Yes. Most towns have zoning rules that include minimum parking requirements for new construction.
- mulmen 11y ago
  Most of the car parks are underground, it's not like they are taking up viable office space.
mjevans 11y ago
The problem with the region is that geographic constraints spread everything out; if you look at the terrain a giant sound, a bay, and Lake Washington divide what should be one nicely sloped set of density across narrow strips of hilly land. The region is plagued by horrid traffic steaming from several interacting issues. * There are four large cities, each of which also has numerous suburbs and even un-incorporated areas. Urban planing across these regions sure seems like it doesn't occur. * 'The Rent is Too darn High'; because there needs to be /far/ more supply side control of the market. * Housing near jobs (and near quality education for workers with children) is consequently very expensive; contributing to workers living far from their jobs. * Jobs are no longer permanent lifetime things, with a single 'bread winner' able to easily support their family; contributing to workers living far from their jobs. * Moving is a PITA; contributing to workers living far from their jobs. * Transit isn't laid out in a mesh, thus doing anything other than suburb to downtown (a model that worked in the era of big companies and lifetime employment) takes many transfers and a lot of time; encouraging workers to /drive/ (for freedom). The best solution that I see is making it possible for at least the major bus lines to be run as self-driving systems. A 'car pod' version of bus transit with point to point automated driving, particularly if those pods could link up and/or draft for improved efficiency on the long hauls looks like a far better solution.

by xyzzyz 11y ago

slagfart 11y ago

What are the incentives at play here? Is it mandated that buildings need carparks, or is space genuinely so plentiful that this is economic? I can't imagine a carpark-sized area of office space goes for $10/day, even after the cost of carpet and coffee.

timthelion 11y ago
$10 per hour not per day...
dionidium 11y ago
"Is it mandated that buildings need carparks" Yes. Most towns have zoning rules that include minimum parking requirements for new construction.
mulmen 11y ago
Most of the car parks are underground, it's not like they are taking up viable office space.

mjevans 11y ago

The problem with the region is that geographic constraints spread everything out; if you look at the terrain a giant sound, a bay, and Lake Washington divide what should be one nicely sloped set of density across narrow strips of hilly land. The region is plagued by horrid traffic steaming from several interacting issues. * There are four large cities, each of which also has numerous suburbs and even un-incorporated areas. Urban planing across these regions sure seems like it doesn't occur. * 'The Rent is Too darn High'; because there needs to be /far/ more supply side control of the market. * Housing near jobs (and near quality education for workers with children) is consequently very expensive; contributing to workers living far from their jobs. * Jobs are no longer permanent lifetime things, with a single 'bread winner' able to easily support their family; contributing to workers living far from their jobs. * Moving is a PITA; contributing to workers living far from their jobs. * Transit isn't laid out in a mesh, thus doing anything other than suburb to downtown (a model that worked in the era of big companies and lifetime employment) takes many transfers and a lot of time; encouraging workers to /drive/ (for freedom). The best solution that I see is making it possible for at least the major bus lines to be run as self-driving systems. A 'car pod' version of bus transit with point to point automated driving, particularly if those pods could link up and/or draft for improved efficiency on the long hauls looks like a far better solution.