Seeing Is Believing

I often think about how the design of a street can eleicit a feeling from those who use it similar to the way a piece of art or architecture elicits a feeling. Unfortunately, most people using a street do not know why they are feeling a certain way. They just know they are.

A recent article that highlights Steve Price's work shows streets transformed from places that create a negative reation to places that create a positive one.

"The work, done mostly with Photoshop, rests on the premise that seeing a proposed development can be more useful to people than receiving lots of information about it. There are limits, says Price, to explaining a design proposal with things like dwelling-units per acre, setbacks, building heights, traffic volumes, and vehicle-miles traveled. They might be perfectly good arguments, he says. They’re just not how people come to understand and support civic changes."

What are your reactions to the changes?

See the article here.

Parking Companies Not Paying Valet Attendants at Least Minimum Wage: Beware

In the hyper competitive valet industry, the question of whether to pay the employees a minimum wage plus tips, tip wage plus tips, or have the valets work for tips only is always a quandary. At Lanier, we have chosen to take the high legal ground by paying minimum wage plus tips. Of course, this has resulted in Lanier having to pass on many of valet opportunities. But, let the buyer beware. Two recent articles, one in the National Restaurant News and the other in Service First Newsletter, point out that not only is the valet company potentially liable for underpaying the valets, but so too is the entity that hired the valet company.

Parking Management key to successful transportation system

When I left the Perimeter Transportation Coalition (PTC) to come work for Lanier Parking Solutions, many people asked how someone who worked so hard to promote alternative transportation could work for a parking company. I would say that I am a big advocate of paid parking, because it encourages people to think about the cost of driving trips, and as a result they may change their travel behavior (i.e biking, walking, transit, and carpooling). Ninety-nine percent of all U.S. driving trips end in free parking spaces, but when the economic and environmental consequences are considered, these parking spots are not free at all. Smarter parking management, which is what Lanier has touted for the past decade, will benefit consumers and businesses in time and money saved. This has now been confirmed by a recent study by Insitute for Transportation and Development Policy (TTDP).
"U.S. Parking Policies: An Overview of Management Strategies," co written by Professor Rachel Weinberger, John Kaehny, and Matthew Rufo, illustrates how parking management in most U.S. cities creates additional traffic and air pollution and feeds auto dependence. As long as parking is considered independently of transportation policy, parking demand and traffic will continue to increase in the form of excess auto trips, on-street parking shortages, and a decline in the overall pedestrian’s environment. This is not only true from a macro level (region and city) but also from a micro level (mixed use development and retail establishment). Traditional parking policy prioritizes private automobile use, undermining the use of public transit, walking, and bicycling as travel modes, spurring significantly higher household travel costs for all.
A balanced transportation system, with the automobile and parking being one component, is the end game. The parking policy of the past 30 years has been a huge impediment to creating such a system. But as the ITDP study indicates, there seems to be change in the air. Download the full report.

How to get around Vancouver during the Winter Games

As a transportation planner, I watch the Olympics from the perspective of how well the transportation system works as opposed to how well the athletes do. The Vancouver Olympic Games will be especially interesting to watch, since VANOC (Vancouver Olympic Committee) and the City of Vancouver have stayed true to a multi-modal transportation system that provides limited emphasis on the automobile while investing heavily in alternative transportation modes.

Although there will be additional parking available (managed by Lanier/Impark, biking, walking, and shuttles will play a greater role than ever before. Here are some key players to look for in the coming days.

Canada Line: If you have just landed at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), this is the cheapest and quickest option. There is a station right at the Airport, and a train will whisk you away into downtown Vancouver in a mere 20 minutes. Detailed trip planning here.

Olympic Line: Connecting Granville Island, a key entertainment center for the 2010 Winter Games, and the Olympic/Paralympic Village Vancouver, the Olympic Line Streetcar service will extend Vancouver’s regional transit network before and during the Games. More streetcar info here.

Trolley Buses, Expo and Millennium Line SkyTrains: The bus and SkyTrain network is quite extensive within the city of Vancouver. The farther east you go, the dicier the service becomes, especially for trolley buses. For more information on bus re-routes, consult the bus re-routes guide for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Sea Bus: The Sea Bus passenger ferry runs from Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver and connects to the Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. A must-visit for anyone visiting Vancouver, with the views simply breathtaking from the water. More info here.

Taxi: Always a good option during these types of events.

Walking: Yes, good old fashioned walking may be the best way to explore Vancouver (especially with the mild winter weather they've had of late). It is an extremely pedestrian friendly city and one of the most walkable. If you are staying within the downtown core, rain or shine, you should walk to and from events (Pavilions, Ziptrek zipline etc...). Not only are there specific pedestrian corridors for the Olympics (Robson Street, Hamilton, Granville Street), you'll also see some of the most beautiful people on the continent.

Automobile: If you plan on driving into Vancouver and during the Winter Olympics, consult the 2010 transportation plan: Street plan and mapsOpening and Closing ceremony transportation guide

Here is a great article about getting to and around the Olympics in Vancouver.

Let the Games begin.

Park More and Drive Less

As a parking and transportation planner, I often have to explain how paid parking is a tool that encourages good behavior. This is especially true with on-street parking, where a fee encourages people to park more and drive less. By that I mean paid parking causes greater turnover of the spaces, resulting in an increase in the availability of spaces and the reduction of congestion-causing cruising.

Dr. Donald Shoup, professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, has written extensively about this in the "The High Cost of Free Parking," and eloquently illustrated the point during an interview with Mark Gorton of the Open Planning Project on Streetfilms. Although they use NYC as the backdrop, I believe the thesis holds true for large and small communities alike.

The electric car is coming!

Over the past year or so, I have heard a lot of talk about the next coming of electric cars. Automakers are rolling them out at car shows, and cities are building the infrastructure to support them. But I have yet to see a single electric car on the road. What is the deal? Are electric cars coming? From what I have heard and read, it appears as though they are coming, but slowly (see Electric Cars are Coming! and Top 10 electric cars coming to US in 2009/2010).

Every time you bring up the issue of electric cars, someone is bound to point out that plug-in electric cars are not the environmental solution that everyone thinks they are. This is true. For example, what do we do with dead batteries, and what about the power that will be needed when 50,000 of these are rolling on the streets? (see Plug-In Hybrids Could Require 160 New Power Plants By 2030 (Or None At All and Plug-In Hybrids Use Over 17 Times More Water Than Regular Cars, Researchers Say). Since such a large portion of US power generation comes from coal, the increasing use of plug-in hybrid and electric cars will require serious consideration of other energy sources (for an example, see How Solar Panels Could Power 90% of US Transportation).

My recommendation: Get yourself a plug-in hybrid as soon as they become available, and then put solar panels on your roof.

House of Cars:Innovation and the Parking Garage

When you think about the architecture of parking garages, the term "eyesore" often comes to mind. It has not always been this way, and it certainly does not always have to be.

A new exhibit House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. takes a closer look at parking structures past and future with a focus on their relationship between parking structures and the built environment.

"As soon as there were cars, there was a parking problem, and cities responded both by finding ways to fit cars into old structures – such as carriage houses – and inventing a new building type made specifically for automobile storage. As the parking garage's building type evolved, innovative engineers explored the best ways to lay out parking places and create structural systems to accommodate both cars and people. "

NPR also did an interesting story about it.

There is also an excellent companion exhibit that focuses on contemporary art in the parking garage. As a result, the exhibition includes a gallery devoted to the parking garage in art and the popular imagination.

Finally, if you can not make it to DC but want to learn more about the history of parking design and its relationship to the urban form check out the book, "The Parking Garage: Design and Evolution of a Modern Urban Form" by Shannon Sanders McDonald. It is published by the Urban Land Institute.