Parking in Waterloo Region

[taylortbb]

My general observation is that those who don't drive or own a car seem to think there is too much parking, while those who do, think there isn't enough.

Probably true, but I don't think it's because car drivers have some insight others don't. I think most people in this region that drive mostly visit suburban destinations like malls or power centres where there's vast fields of parking, and so parking that's underground or in a garage or not free is basically invisible to them. They see the lack of parking on King St and conclude there's no parking. Perhaps what drivers are complaining about is that there's not enough free parking.

We have objective scientific data on this from the various parking studies that have been conducted, all of which say there is more parking than is ever used in uptown and downtown. Kitchener built the huge Charles and Benton garage, and the upper floors are rarely used. Monthly passes are available for it with no waiting list because it was built to have far more monthly passes than are currently sold.

You can go to the Charles and Benton garage right in the middle of downtown and park there any time you want, because it's never full, and yet people still say downtown doesn't have enough parking.

(not that it should matter for any of this, as we're discussing facts, but I do own a car)