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A_Crazy_Canadian t1_j2dz7hr wrote

Reply to comment by midweastern in Opinion | D.C. needs more bike lanes, and fast by Maxcactus

This is a bad idea for a very simple reason. Adding more parking would mean destroying the things people travel to making the parking useless. Look around Dupont circle and you will not find building, parks, yards, etc that people would rather replace with parking. The relatively easy places to put parking: sides of roads, underground, and empty lots are gone or have much more valuable alternatives. Any new parking would involve destroying the things people like in Dupont or cartoonish expensive so it doesn't make sense.

In the end its driven by a dead simple fact, private cars don't work in cities. They require a lot of land for roads/parking relative to the number of trips they provide. Switching areas used for cars to bikes and public transit allows many more people to get where they want to go and tend to be safer, cheaper, and better for the environment.

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midweastern t1_j2e1gko wrote

If we can take parked cars off the road, I'm for it. The fact of the matter is that long-term parking options in DC are so expensive that street parking has become a primary way people store their vehicles. It can be comically difficult to find street parking that isn't blocks away from the place where you actually live; if you take that away, what then? The best way to get everybody on board imo would be to ensure that there is a place for these vehicles in an off-street location that doesn't charge $200+ a month. Resident motorists don't have to search/hold coveted parking spots and have a dedicated place to store their vehicle and cyclists get their bike lanes in what used to be street parking spaces. I don't see how something like that wouldn't be a reasonable compromise.

All new residential constructions should have some space allocated for parking; it doesn't need to be on a 1:1 resident-parking spot ratio, but new houses should have at least one space for off-street parking and all new apartment/condo buildings should have underground lots.

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Zwillium t1_j2e3trz wrote

>The fact of the matter is that long-term parking options in DC are so expensive that street parking has become a primary way people store their vehicles.

Street parking is incredibly subsidized and pushes the external costs of driving to everyone else.

The solution isn't to subsidize more parking, it's to remove the parking subsidies in the first place.

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spkr4thedead51 t1_j2e2ldt wrote

The best way is to provide comprehensive transportation options that remove the need for personal vehicles for the majority of people

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midweastern t1_j2e2xc9 wrote

While I agree, this is frankly impossible for anyone who may need to travel outside the confines of DC for any reason.

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spkr4thedead51 t1_j2e3xm8 wrote

Hi, I'm a person without a car who lives in DC and leaves the city regularly without issue

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Suburbs-suck t1_j2e5de8 wrote

This is a classic example of “when you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression”.

The degree to which people have subsidized cars is astronomical. If anything the problem is that parking isn’t expensive enough. If having a car is that important to you than it’s time you start paying your fair share.

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A_Crazy_Canadian t1_j2ee6aq wrote

> The fact of the matter is that long-term parking options in DC are so expensive that street parking has become a primary way people store their vehicles. It can be comically difficult to find street parking that isn't blocks away from the place where you actually live; if you take that away, what then?

Then people stop having cars or have fewer. That is a major goal for a lot of us, getting rid of the cars that make DC worse. Owning and using a car should be expensive and inconvenient order to discourage their use due to the damage cars do to the city.

> All new residential constructions should have some space allocated for parking; it doesn't need to be on a 1:1 resident-parking spot ratio, but new houses should have at least one space for off-street parking and all new apartment/condo buildings should have underground lots.

Why does there government to mandate very expensive underground parking? If people want parking more than it costs to build developers will build that and charge more to make money. If the customers don't want need parking and the developers know that why should they be forced to build and residents forced to pay for something they don't want.

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davos_16 t1_j2faxmn wrote

My two cents is that a lot of buildings with basements/underground parking tend to actually be well built and can be renovated for a longer lifespan than the easier to build and cheap wood structures I see popping up around here. I’m someone who drives and also bikes regularly so I’m for rationality in having both bike lanes and some parking requirements for large developments.

It’s quite disingenuous to think that all DC residents work in DC because my metro ride to work in Reston would be 1.5 hours versus a 35 minutes drive.

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