War on cars continues: bike lane takes 0.2% of parking!
Per Downtown DC BID, “In 2006 the Washington Parking Association (WPA) estimated that there were 199 parking garage locations in the Downtown and Golden Triangle BID areas providing 45,721 spaces.” That does not include the 17,000 street parking spaces that even AAA acknowledges still exist. Therefore, the 150 parking spaces removed to build the “controversial” L Street bike lane pictured above = 0.2% of downtown parking supply. In other words, 417 out of every 418 downtown parking spaces remain even after AAA whines that “The bike lanes have taken up all the parking spaces.” [posted to TheWashCycle]
Also, calendar note: the JITI Urban Transportation Seminar on February 6 will feature speakers from Tokyo Metro and Tokyu Corporation. Tokyu is notable for being one of the more profitable commuter rail + real estate + retail conglomerates in metro Tokyo.
If you weigh the loss of car parking against the increased number of people the L Street cycletrack serves, if you consider the number of single occupant vehicles and the fact that a parked car is just sitting there most of the day, the complaint about loss of parking along L Street is ridiculous. When they’re available, I’d love to see stats about the usage of the new L Street cycletrack – I bet it’s more than the 150 spaces removed.
Also, you’ll probably be interested in DDOT’s transportation “Idea Exchange” this Saturday: http://www.wemovedc.org/
I would love to go to a Japanese urban transportation seminar.