Part two of what’s next, part one being What’s next: freeways. Radical ideas for what to do now that the road safety and transit initiative SaferSacStreets did not make the November ballot.

Parking is the gateway drug to greater motor vehicle use. Drivers have the expectation that parking will be available at home, at work, and any place else you’d like to go. Preferably free, but if not, at least low cost. Free parking or below cost parking is socialism, pure and simple. Society as a whole paying to provide goods or services to those who demand them. Drivers have a high demand for parking, they want it not only free, but very close to where they are going. This extends from homeowners thinking they own the parking space in front of their home, to not wanting to walk more than a few feet to your destination. Drivers spend an incredible amount of time driving around streets and parking lots and parking garages until they find that perfect spot, just outside where they want to go, steps away. Ironically, one of the places they are going is the gym, to get physical activity otherwise lacking in their life, or to the park or river to walk their dog.

Parking is a gateway drug. And our transportation planners and engineers have spent huge amounts of time and money providing for that demand. So long as parking is easily available, drivers will continue to drive, making unnecessary trips, and making trips that may be necessary but could be taken by other modes: walking, bicycling, transit.

There is a common thought among transportation advocates that if we make walking, bicycling, and transit more appealing and safer, people will drive less. The evidence doesn’t support that, beyond a gradual transition for some people. But now we don’t have the money needed to make walking, bicycling, and transit more appealing and safer.

I believe that we must directly reduce driving by making it more difficult. One of the best ways of doing that is to reduce parking, so that there is not easy parking where people are driving to. The more difficult parking becomes, the less people will chose to make trips by driving.

Solutions. Make parking less available and more expensive.

• Daylighting: Enforce AB 413 (2023) to prohibits parking within 20 feet upstream of a crosswalk [VEH 22500 (n)]. As staff resource allows, install red curbs or temporary curb extensions. Red curbs or extensions are not required bu law, but they do help drivers understand. There are some material costs for this, and staff time to do the work, but far less than signing and permanent curb extensions. This is consistent with Slow Down Sacramento’s bullet five of then, ‘Fully implementing and physically reinforcing intersection daylighting’.
• Reduce available parking: Though daylighting should be the first step, for its dual benefit of reducing parking and increasing safety, there should be a gradual reduction in available parking. I’d suggest 10% per year over five years. Some curb space would become unavailable for any use, but most would be converted to more productive uses, such as short term up to 15 minute parking, delivery, and drop off and pickup. Where parking is needed for a higher use, including bicycle facilities, wider sidewalks, or street dining (al fresco), all parking should be removed as needed. Of course any new street must be limited to parking on one side only. This solution would require some curb paint and some staff time, but would not be expensive.
• Charge for street parking everywhere: In Sacramento, only the central city charges for parking. In the rest of the city it is free. Parking ‘meter’ fees should be increased to discourage motor vehicle use and to maintain some open space on every block (the Shoup goal). Parking fees should go exclusively to maintain the parking infrastructure, and to neighborhood improvements, as in, a parking benefit district. In areas where ‘meters’ are not present or not practical, street parking should require a parking permit with fee. Yes, a permit would be required for that parking space in front of your home. The city is providing a service to you, and it should not be free, it should not be subsidized by other taxpayers. I am not sure what the fee should be, but I would start with $20 per month per vehicle. Again, these fees should go to maintenance of the parking area, and neighborhood improvements. No parking fees should go into the general fund or to other uses not related to the streets. In the suburbs of Sacramento, and the county and other cities, almost everyone has a driveway and a garage. These should be used for parking, not the common resource of the street. This solution would require setting up a mechanism to charge for parking permits everywhere, but once set up, it would be a source of income and not an expense.

As we reduce parking, there will be less driving because driving will be less convenient. That has a clear safety benefit, but also strong support for livability. It is a gradual but directional movement towards fewer cars in our cities, in our lives.