5619 replies to this topic

[tjv]

^you seem to be forgetting all those retail and food service peeps that can't afford to live downtown because they need to afford their old beat up rust bucket to get to the job that pays for their cheaper apartment out of town. Who wants to wait on the public and then be stuck on a bus for 45 minutes or more?

you really think minimum wage "retail and food service peeps" are paying $10+/day for parking?

[sdwright.vic]

Since I know a quite a few of them, I can say yes they are.

[nagel]

http://www.saanichne...rking-downtown/

 

I bet that old curmudgeon Tom Fletcher didn't write this.

[VicHockeyFan]

Should the City of Victoria be blamed if parking spaces are being lost as it tries to contribute to a solution by allowing more high density housing downtown? Or for analyzing how many downtown residents actually need or have a car, then deciding to reduce the requirements for underground parking spaces? We don’t think so.

 

People from outside the city seem to do most of the complaining about downtown parking. Ironically, Victoria is working to create density in the urban core to lessen the impact of single vehicle trips in to the city, while at the same time frustrating the very people it hopes to attract to the downtown.

 

 

 

Hmmmmmm, I'm not sure that all adds up, I need to read it about 8 more times.

 

Almost none of us are blaming the city for letting surface go for housing.  We are blaming the city for not realizing that as these go, there is less and less chance for casual parkers to find spaces.  

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 16 October 2017 - 06:37 AM.

[nagel]

 

 

Hmmmmmm, I'm not sure that all adds up, I need to read it about 8 more times.

 

Almost none of us are blaming the city for letting surface go for housing.  We are blaming the city for not realizing that as these go, there is less and less chance for casual parkers to find spaces.  

 

It's your solutions that are problematic.  Taking down existing buildings for parkades.  Increasing supply.  A more acceptable solution to an urban core is shifting all day parking to short term parking.

[Mike K.]

I’ve been doing some transit route planning from the Westshore into downtown Victoria and various employment nodes.

Holy moly is the service out there bare bones and less than helpful (which I didn’t quite realize).

For instance, did you know, that unless you drive to a park and ride (which are now at-capacity) or find some place to park along the two major routes (61 and 50) you’re in for a 1.5 to over two hour commute? This means that to get to your 8AM job, you’re hopping a bus at 6AM or 6:30AM.

It’s outrageous. So you can’t blame people for opting to drive and despite the crawl arrive to work in a “reasonable” amount of time. But now Those That Know What’s Best tell us parking is killing downtown and you must get in line by hopping on a bus.

And it’s this attitude that WILL eventually result in offices opening up on the Westshore in lieu of downtown or moving to the Westshore from downtown. That shift is coming.

[nagel]

There should be offices opening up out there, and there should be (and is) momentum to improve transit, because those are real solutions.  Right now there's little reason to take the bus, but with proper BRT lanes, it can work and it is a viable solution.  It's also much cheaper than interchanges, highway expansion and parkades, without all the negative consequences all of those bring to the core.

[VicHockeyFan]

It's your solutions that are problematic.  Taking down existing buildings for parkades.  Increasing supply.  A more acceptable solution to an urban core is shifting all day parking to short term parking.

 

Well, I had also suggested that.

[tjv]

Since I know a quite a few of them, I can say yes they are.

Fair enough, but that seems very stupid to pay 10+/day for parking in after tax income from a minimum wage job of 80/day or say 60/day after tax

 

Most guys in my company that I pay 20/hr to don't even drive.

[VicHockeyFan]

There should be offices opening up out there, and there should be (and is) momentum to improve transit, because those are real solutions.  Right now there's little reason to take the bus, but with proper BRT lanes, it can work and it is a viable solution.  It's also much cheaper than interchanges, highway expansion and parkades, without all the negative consequences all of those bring to the core.

 

I'm all in favour of HOV lanes on the highway.  I'll let you designate one now for HOV only, buses and cars with more than one.  All it will cost is some paint and some signs.

 

But than let's also add the 3rd lane in each direction and designate them the same.  I do not want to see bus only, I want to see bus and HO car. 

[nagel]

I'm all in favour of HOV lanes on the highway.  I'll let you designate one now for HOV only, buses and cars with more than one.  All it will cost is some paint and some signs.

 

But than let's also add the 3rd lane in each direction and designate them the same.  I do not want to see bus only, I want to see bus and HO car. 

The problem is enforcement.  In fact the Douglas BRT lanes are somewhat ineffective due to their curb design.  Other cities have them in the middle of the road and they're not used illegally by GP vehicles.  So here in Victoria on the odd occasion I bike on Douglas I see the BRT lanes clogged with vehicles at Finlayson and less than a quarter of them are actually turning right.  Part of it might be that portion of the population that needs to get into the correct lane 5 blocks before they do make a turn.  But it's actually illegal to be in the BRT lanes for more than one block.

[VicHockeyFan]

Enforcement between Uptown and Colwood exchange would be no problem.

[nagel]

Enforcement between Uptown and Colwood exchange would be no problem.

Only if automated solutions are allowed and installed.  GP vehicle drives through the light = mailed ticket.  I'm on board with that.  But then you can't HOV the section south of Uptown.  Too difficult to enforce in that manner.

[Mike K.]

Where there’s easy money there’s enforcement.

I don’t buy for a second that local police wouldn’t station cars for such easy pickings until people realized that it’s too risky to pull that manoeuvre. And even then the portion of drivers who would engage in that sort of thing is tiny.

[VicHockeyFan]

This may drive the JBNEA crazy, but why not use Ogden Point for parking here in the off-season?  It's a big ol' massive parking lot.  And it's only a nice 15-20 minute walk to town, closer to Legislature.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 18 October 2017 - 12:23 PM.

[nagel]

This may drive the JBNEA crazy, but why not use Ogden Point for parking here in the off-season?  It's a big ol' massive parking lot.  And it's only a nice 15-20 minute walk to town, closer to Legislature.

And WHO does this help?  The fact is, substantially all of the population of the CoV can walk to downtown from their residence within the same timeframe.  So you want more people from the suburbs driving through the entire length of downtown, and James Bay, just because THEY want somewhere to park?  Sounds like a stupid way to run a municipality.  No, they have a better plan, which is investing in infra for alternatives, not adding supply to shoot their goals in the foot.

[VicHockeyFan]

If I live in Gordon Head I’d use this lot. I can’t walk from Gordon Head to Downtown every day.

This lot is much closer to the Leg than any lot in all of Downtown that has monthly parking available today (1100 block Johnson).

[nagel]

If I live in Gordon Head I’d use this lot. I can’t walk from Gordon Head to Downtown every day.

This lot is much closer to the Leg than any lot in all of Downtown that has monthly parking available today (1100 block Johnson).

Gordon Head is not in the city.  So again your plan totally fk's JB residents to pander to GH commuters.

[tjv]

I think its a good short term solution because the reality is people driving in from other areas of town, circling thru town trying to find parking and then past 2 or 3 full parkades before gunning it out to the malls, etc where there is lots of free abundant parking.  I will admit the problem is its a long way from downtown.  Do you want a healthy downtown, then you better provide lots of parking

 

I always laughed at the Bay Centre's gimmick "you've done the must sees, now do the must shop"  Wow, a mall with the same stores as other malls now I just have to pay to shop there.  What downtown Victoria doesn't understand is that every service/store downtown is available outside downtown and there is no issues with parking!

[Nparker]

...I always laughed at the Bay Centre's gimmick "you've done the must sees, now do the must shop"  Wow, a mall with the same stores as other malls now I just have to pay to shop there.  What downtown Victoria doesn't understand is that every service/store downtown is available outside downtown and there is no issues with parking!

Then tell the merchants of the Bay Centre to cover the cost of parking for their customers.