Parking in Waterloo Region

[Viewfromthe42]

I do too, minus that little problem I seem to keep hearing about, of the difficulty going further underground in parts of uptown.

Well, the part that I care about is that it's in a mixed-use building. If the parking is above ground like in 1 Victoria, that's OK too.

How much of the issue of nobody using the Bauer underground lot would be solved if the ramp had a sign like GO parking structures do, indicating how many public spots were available? I doubt you'd need the floor-by-floor breakdown GO provides, but nonetheless, signs like these, why aren't they more prevalent? Imagine a Green P symbol with two arrows and two numbers. On the top of the P, an arrow indicating to a driver (say on King St) that if they go straight, they can find 300 open parking spaces, and below the P, an arrow pointing left or right, indicating that this particular turn can guide you to 12 open parking spaces? Put a sign like this at the main turns for parking (William to City Hall lot, Willis Way to Regina lots, Parkade, and Shops lots, Bridgeport to the Regina/Bridgeport lots), and hopefully eliminate indecision and circulation that cause instantaneous traffic and frustration, as well as having it as a mental soothe, so that someone contemplating going to UpTown would know that they would be directed to parking spaces, removing a possible hesitation on their part.

[Section ThirtyOne]

I look forward to a new parking garage in Uptown, preferably somewhere around the new development on Willis Way. Since they have started the excavation, that lot is a complete cluster.

[Markster]

There's already a parking garage on Willis Way.

[Viewfromthe42]

I look forward to a new parking garage in Uptown, preferably somewhere around the new development on Willis Way. Since they have started the excavation, that lot is a complete cluster.

There's a already a parking garage on Willis Way.

Willis Way as a choice for more parking would be quite the puzzler. You have the only public parking structure right at King and Willis, and it is underutilized, just as any future one would be. To put another one in, you would need to destroy buildings, or replace parking that already exists and is underutilized as a surface lot. Plus, you'd upset the BIA, by responding to their desire for greater coverage of the 3500 or so spots that exist, by plopping only the second multi-storey parking structure right next to the first one.

[MidTowner]

The end of Willis Way by Caroline would make some sense. But that lot doesn’t exactly appear to be oversubscribed, either. If the existing lot on Willis Way is under-utilized, where in Uptown is more parking needed? Or is it really?

[Viewfromthe42]

The end of Willis Way by Caroline would make some sense. But that lot doesn’t exactly appear to be oversubscribed, either. If the existing lot on Willis Way is under-utilized, where in Uptown is more parking needed? Or is it really?

The lots North (especially) and South (at times) of The Shops can be full, but someone going to the LCBO would drive and look for parking in that surface lot by Thai Sun (granted that spot is now gone due to development), rather than park across Caroline. What people want is free, always-empty parking directly adjacent to each stop they want to make in UpTown. This is a problem that no structure can realistically solve.

[MidTowner]

“Free” and “always empty” contradict each other. If Uptown needs more parking closer to the specific part of Uptown where people want to go, then it has to be further north, and I’m at a loss as to where exactly unless it’s located on the existing lot north of The Shops. Very anecdotally, the parking lot behind LCBO seems to very infrequently be anywhere near full- the lot north of The Shops seems to be full or close to it more often, but not as a rule.

Have there been studies done of parking Uptown that identified a need for more parking? Do we know anything about what kinds of demand management (charging something) would alleviate that need?

[mpd618]

I think the parking garage on Charles was extremely well-executed. It looks attractive, and provided some new retail spaces. Waterloo would do well aiming for something like that Uptown.

Those are super awkward retail spaces, and it's a small portion of the frontage. I don't think something like it would be a good addition to uptown.

Have there been studies done of parking Uptown that identified a need for more parking? Do we know anything about what kinds of demand management (charging something) would alleviate that need?

The city of Waterloo wants to redevelop all of their surface lots, and so this is, as far as I understand, more about replacing existing parking spaces than expanding.

[tomh009]

I think the parking garage on Charles was extremely well-executed. It looks attractive, and provided some new retail spaces. Waterloo would do well aiming for something like that Uptown.

Those are super awkward retail spaces, and it's a small portion of the frontage. I don't think something like it would be a good addition to uptown.

Still better than a pure parking structure (such as the existing one on Willis Way.

But as MidTowner said in another post, I don't think there is a capacity shortage at the moment.  Until there is more retail or more office space in uptown (ie more people during business hours), the current capacity looks to be OK, and the LRT should even help that, with some portion of shoppers/commuters taking the ION rather than driving. 

Admittedly the city council approved this as a longer-term initiative, not an immediate one.

[Section ThirtyOne]

“Free” and “always empty” contradict each other. If Uptown needs more parking closer to the specific part of Uptown where people want to go, then it has to be further north, and I’m at a loss as to where exactly unless it’s located on the existing lot north of The Shops. Very anecdotally, the parking lot behind LCBO seems to very infrequently be anywhere near full- the lot north of The Shops seems to be full or close to it more often, but not as a rule.

Have there been studies done of parking Uptown that identified a need for more parking? Do we know anything about what kinds of demand management (charging something) would alleviate that need?

Have you been there recently? Since the excavation for the new building on Willis Way began, it is frequently jammed to capacity. Also since one side of the parking lot was essentially sawed off with no redesign, it is a huge hassle to get in and out of.

[MidTowner]

Have you been there recently? Since the excavation for the new building on Willis Way began, it is frequently jammed to capacity. Also since one side of the parking lot was essentially sawed off with no redesign, it is a huge hassle to get in and out of.

Actually, not really, except passing by. So I do apologize, I can admit that my observations are out of date.

[Canard]

Yeah, accessing the lot off of Willis Way is very bad. One long narrow entrance and if you meet another car, there isn't enough room to really pass by easily. Throw in some pedestrians walking in there and a snowy night with poor visibility and it's awful. Is that corner of the lot chewn up for that new 3-story building going in there? They should really just close off that access to the lot (or make it one-way - probably exit only... Or just make it pedestrian access only).

[Section ThirtyOne]

Have you been there recently? Since the excavation for the new building on Willis Way began, it is frequently jammed to capacity. Also since one side of the parking lot was essentially sawed off with no redesign, it is a huge hassle to get in and out of.

Actually, not really, except passing by. So I do apologize, I can admit that my observations are out of date.

No worries! I am down there fairly frequently. You are absolutely right in that there was often available spaces in the past.

[ookpik]

Have you been there recently? Since the excavation for the new building on Willis Way began, it is frequently jammed to capacity. Also since one side of the parking lot was essentially sawed off with no redesign, it is a huge hassle to get in and out of.

As I said on the ION thread, whoever approved the construction of the new development on Willis Way during LRT construction deserves to get their ass kicked by every person who "may have been inconvenienced." Whoever approved that in the knowledge that King St would be shut down for 9 months thus forcing even more traffic onto Willis Way off Caroline should get his ass kicked at least another dozen times by those who "may have been inconvenienced."

What was the big rush to build this thing in the first place?

And who got bribed (or otherwise "induced") to approve it?

And finally, where's Jeff Outhit and his investigative reporting skills when we really need him?

[Markster]

And who got bribed (or otherwise "induced") to approve it?

Ah, it's been a while since the last casual accusation of municipal bribery around here. Care to suggest a Councillor's name, to upgrade that to full on libel?

Perhaps the City simply decided that LRT was not a reason to have a complete moratorium on construction. Sure, it's awkward, but life goes on.