Can You Spare A Parking Space? (28. March 2007, 18:12 by Derek Young) ~ A Little Something New
Parking in Tacoma seems to be a topic at every single meeting, lunch, dinner, or cafe conversation these days… and I swear it’s not me. Maybe we need to think outside the box a bit. Instead of huge federally funded parking garages and downtown parking meters, maybe all we need to do is share what we already have. And by share, what I mean is rent, beg, and borrow. This site was sent to us by a super-cool Exit133 reader – Peasy.com is a UK website that allows people to rent out their spare parking spot. Then, people that need a spot for a day, week, or month can search available locations and book it online. From a story on Springwise.com:
Any off-street parking spaces can be rented out: driveways, garages and secure allocated spaces. Peasy estimates most people will earn GBP 10-30 a week, for an extra stream of income of GBP 500-1,500 per year. In prime locations, spaces can go for as much as GBP 3,000 per year. Listing a parking space is free, and Peasy takes a commission fee of 12% for each rental transaction.
Hmmm… it has me thinking. Are there any underutilized, spare, or non-traditional parking possibilities in Tacoma? Would you rent your garage by the day if somebody was interested? Maybe. Maybe not.
Link to Springwise
Link to Peasy.com
(Via our friends at Beautiful Angle)
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Hmmm… it has me thinking. Are there any underutilized, spare, or non-traditional parking possibilities in Tacoma? Would you rent your garage by the day if somebody was interested? Maybe. Maybe not.
Its a very good idea.
Yesterday, I watched the presentation by a parking expert Ross Tilghman on the 6th Avenue parking issues.
Quite frankly, I was scared he was going to recommend knocking down housing and buildings or to build parking garages to create more parking which is the mistake downtown Tacoma made resulting in a poor looking streetscape.
Instead, he spent much of the time taking about how to make agreements with nearby businesses to use their parking spaces during the night when they are closed. The nearby school was also considered.
Downtown is a good example. The massive Bank of America and the Wells Fargo parking garages remain empty at night. They could hold a huge amount of parking during the night when the 9-5 employees are gone.
I went down town today, parked 50 feet from the theater district Blink stop, hopped on to the Blink 3 minutes after parking and headed for my final destination. Easy as pie. I think part of the “Problem” with parking downtown is most people using down town live in the ‘burbs and have a suburban mindset when it come to parking. Parking in downtown Tacoma is easier than in Olympia, Spokane or Salt Lake (all of which have parking meters). Maybe they could put up some signs down town that say, “You are now entering and urban core. Deal with it.”
I have an amazing, earth-shattering idea for all of you –
TAKE THE BUS!
IT RULES!
I only started doing so two weeks ago, but it’s the smartest thing I’ve ever done.
Now I no longer have to pay $95 a month for my parking garage. I don’t have to worry about parking AT ALL since I can typically walk or hop on the Link or back on the bus to get to any of the various meetings that I’ve got during the day.
It’s been such an eye opener that I rarely use my automobile anymore, even on the weekends, which means I don’t have to sweat the high price of gas.
But best of all, I feel that with this move, I’m taking personal responsibility for helping to improve the parking situation downtown (amongst other social issues like alleviating congestion and creating clean air).
With a downtown that’s emerging as quickly as ours, the efficient public transportation system that we have (which I’m sure will only improve) will be imperative.
And now I get to smile when I hear or read parking conversations like these because, as for my situation, I’ve got it all figured out :).
3 | Posted by Roxanne Murphy | Mar 28, 11:57 PM
To every person who says that bussing will solve the problems of the world, there’s another one who says that driving is the only option for them. There are many jobs out there that simply need the flexiblity a car provides. Both I’m sure are right in their way, but both to me seem a bit simplistic in their argument.
And, frankly, I think those in the second camp should be provided a car, but real life doesn’t work out that way for most.
We’re currently contemplating going from two cars down to one as I currently walk to work (yay!) and can go a week without ever using my car. We have a reserved spot that we own and the thought of renting it out to a daytime user is certainly interesting. I’d love to hear from some of the end-users of their service to see how the logistics work out.
Heck, if we could make the jump to no-car, we’d have a spot we could rent out permanently. But that brings up flex-car questions that I’m sure belong in another post.
4 | Posted by Mike K | Mar 29, 10:00 AM
I’d wonder what the percentage of folks that park downtown that consider parking an issue really is. Each day, hundreds of folks seem to be able to park without any trouble. Is this a vocal minority or truly a representation of the greater driving masses? I’ll go out on the limb and represent those that seem to somehow manage to find a slot for their vehicle without any issues, doesn’t fret the few bucks for the space and goes about their business not even thinking they should complain. I can even manage when I take my full sized pick-em-up truck. Sure I revel in the time I find a perfect slot on the street immediately in front of my intended target of commerce but if I have to amble a few blocks it’s no big deal.
So back to my original question: Is parking really the civic tragedy all the conversation makes it out to be or is it just the hip thing to complain about?
Now, what I’d really like to get some control over is the amount of gum on the sidewalk. I’m tired of scraping Bubblelicious off my Buster Browns.
5 | Posted by Davest | Mar 29, 11:50 PM
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