Parking in the big city: LiveSimplicity discussion forum

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I've always found it very annoying how difficult it is to find a parking space sometimes. If you're not in the right place at the right time, you're left to park blocks away which inevitably makes you wonder why you drove in the first place.

View A

Parking garages and lots should have systems whereby you are assigned a spot automatically upon entry. Pay more, get a better spot. If you're on the street, GPS traffic services could tell you exactly where the nearest spot is to your destination. That would make things simple.

View B

Parking is not a problem. Although it would save quite a bit of time, it's not worth the effort to implement technology simply to get a better parking spot. Besides, walking is good for you.

7 comment(s) so far

idesign thinks: Let's face it, parking shouldn't be as time consuming as it is. I want to be able to go to a location and immediately find a parking spot. The issue is not distance, but availability. I have no way of knowing where there might be an open parking spot within a reasonable distance from the location I am going to. I imagine I could be notified via cell phone or GPS system after I enter the parking area. I could even be notified and pay the meter via the cell phone. That would definitely make parking a bit less stressful.

Maven thinks: I say stop driving altogether. Give people more option and incentives to use mass transit. Encourage walking and bicycling to work and school. Not only will it reduce parking problems, people will be healthier as a result of that little bit of exercise.

pawn thinks: I don't want to think about parking at all. I like the new systems implemented in Japan where space is limited. You drive in to an area, are given an access card and then your car disappears, only to reappear when you insert the access card. Also, in Europe there is a more traditional way of notifying drivers where to park with the use of numbered parking spots and signs.

Here's a video link to a "jukebox" parking system in Japan.

pawn thinks: Maybe this Volkswagen storage facility will give us an idea of what parking will be like in the future....

ztyler thinks: How about riding a bicycle instead. It's good exercise and doesn't harm the environement.

Alexkaatsch thinks: In this age of global-warming and the politically correct desire to make us use the bus or the train instead.... we need a fundamental new principal entrenching in out governance. We need ALTERNATIVES if other things are to be removed from our freedom to do them. No parking in town ?..... good bus serevice and parking OUT of town (but at the LEAST as good as before, hopefully better ). No dogs allowed to poop in the park ?.... somewhere to PUT the wretched stuff when one's dog (a natural creation creating a natural secretion to disperse in a natural manner) follows it's totally natural inclination ! ... of course one might argue that natural selection should be allowed to run it's course and infected children which are either too stupid or too disobedient or whose parents are too negligent to teach them should follow their natural course, hmmmn, but I imagine that few parents would agree with that particular approach, lol !

newman42 thinks: Here's a great way to minmize the frustration of finding a parking spot, a website that finds it for you. It's a great idea but probably needs a portable version to be viewed on your web enabled cellphone or other portable internet device. This site is only in beta version, but it's definitely a start in making parking in congested areas much easier.

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