Boasting low car space numbers a small win, or is it?

A 20% drop in parking spaces over 5 years.  This seems to be the trend in many cities as they extricate themselves from the old 'norm' of a car driven future to the new 'norm' of a public car-less future. 

We all know that the car is a large contributor to greenhouse gases and other pollutants and that the resulting congestion of an ever rising vehicle fleet causes sometimes unending traffic jams, but some common sense still needs to prevail. 

The ostracization of a car driving person just because they want to drive their personal possession into the city each day sometimes boarders on zealotry.  Balance in all things is required.  Auckland city has managed to reduce the number of Council controlled car park spaces by 20% in 5 years, but there is no mention of the private car park operators who may have picked up the slack left behind by the Council.

Essentially, there may have been a transfer of custom from Council to private operators, although I do believe that there has been some reduction in car usage since millioins was spent on upgrading the train system. 

I would love to see the ‘cost benefit’ relationship between the transfer of cars to the private operators and the cost of upgrading the train system.... wouldn't you?



http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10797568