There have been some interesting proposals meant to decrease air pollution and increase the quality in urban life – but could a change in the direction of parking policies really be the answer?
According to a new report by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, positive results could include large reductions in car use, revitalised town centres and decreasing air pollution.
Among the points highlighted are:
- Parking is linked to public transport: In Amsterdam, Paris, Strasbourg and Zurich there is a limit to how much parking is allowed based on how close a new development is to a bus, tram or metro stop. In Zurich for example, between 2000 and 2005, the share of public transport use went up by seven per cent while traffic declined by six per cent.
- Europe is ahead in terms of charging rational prices for on-street parking: There has been a decrease of 13 per cent in driving in Paris partly because the on-street parking supply has been reduced by more than nine per cent since 2003.
- Parking reforms are increasingly popular when compared to congestion charging: Though some leading European cities have been able to implement congestion charging, parking caps have been set in Zurich and Hamburg to freeze the existing supply where access to public transport is easiest.
- Parking tariffs are invested in other mobility needs: For example, in Barcelona, 100 per cent of revenue goes to operating the city’s public bike system.
The authors believe that progress in Europe on parking reform cannot be overstated and favouring alternatives to car travel would mean developing a restrictive parking policy.
