HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-26-22 Public Comment - M. Egge - Public Comment - Transportation Board - Paid ParkingFrom:Mark Egge
To:Agenda
Subject:Public Comment - Transportation Board - Paid Parking
Date:Monday, September 26, 2022 3:21:27 PM
Attachments:Downtown Land Use Map v1.pdf
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hello.
I'm writing to comment to the Transportation Board (and City
Commission) regarding the Parking Supply and Demand agenda item on
its Wednesday, September 28, 2022 agenda (and, specifically, the topic of
paid on street parking).
Data collected by the parking services division indicates that several block
faces in the downtown area are routinely above the city's 85th
percentile threshold for occupancy. The result is that downtown users end
up cruising for parking, adding anxiety to the user's experience and traffic
congestion to our downtown streets.
Demand responsive pricing is an effective strategy for helping bring
overparked areas back under the city's management threshold. In general,
pricing can be used to reallocate parking demand from areas that are
overparked to areas that are underparked in a manner that benefits all
users.
Paid parking has been an adopted strategy for downtown since the 2016
Downtown Strategic Parking Management Plan. The adoption of the
Parking Benefit Zones policy in 2020 was completed as part of the
groundwork necessary for the subsequent implementation of paid parking
downtown.
As a tool, pricing should be implemented along with other strategies to
help ensure that all downtown users have access to their destinations,
including support for other modes (such as by increasing transit frequency
or providing bicycle facilities such protected bike lanes) and improving
utilization of existing parking supply (such as through eliminating the
minimum parking requirements that prevent the sort of logical sharing
that might otherwise occur between downtown's banks, churches, and
bars).
Although downtown traffic volumes have remained relatively steady in
recent decades, building additional supply in the form of a new parking
garage may also be necessary. Revenues from paid street and lot parking
can help finance the construction and operation of additional parking
supply.
Finally, paid parking is also an important strategy for achieving the city's
climate and equity goals. Transportation is the only greenhouse gas
contributor in Bozeman that is growing on a per capita basis. Giving
parking away for free acts as a subsidy for driving, encouraging driving
over other modes. (UCLA professor Donald Shoup describes parking as a
"fertility drug for driving.") Moreover, the costs of parking are borne both
by parking users and by those who choose to walk, bike, or ride the bus
downtown, in a manner that reduces equity in Bozeman's transportation
systems.
I encourage the Transportation Board and City Commission to advance
paid parking as a strategy for managing parking demand, improving the
experience of parking for downtown users, and advancing the city's equity
and climate goals.
Mark Egge
219 E Story St
Bozeman, MT 59715
Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/
Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User
Community