Loose Change

“Suddenly I realized there isn’t a parking problem in my neighborhood, there’s just a coordination problem.”.

Is there really a shortage of parking, or is it just that no one can find or access the available parking? This question has been bubbling around for many years, discussed often by parking guru Don Shoup, as well as Todd Litman. However, most of their discussion has revolved around better parking management - specifically including more dynamic parking pricing (charging more for the most prominent spaces will create demand for less frequently used spots, essentially giving people a financial incentive to look a bit harder for spaces) and more intelligent signage.

However, like we’re seeing in many spheres… new solutions that have long vexed transport planners are emerging from well outside the planning and engineering domains.

The rapid rise of P2P services (a place to stay, see AirBNB… a car to use, see Relay Rides, Drive My Car and others) is going to have a big impact on future thinking around transport and mobility.

Who’s ready to be a facilitator for bottom-up solutions, rather than a conductor of top-down planning ‘schemes’?