Parking, the bane of Hartford's existence?

[jcrc]

Ok reality check time. while all 10 of us Hartford forum diehards wouldn't might walk the city or take the bus, the rest of the world are just a tad lazier than we are, and if we want them to come into the city, let's make it as easy as possible, or our enlighten attitude is going to continue to turn people away to the malls.

I think the city can add more on street parking by making meter parking spaces diagonally slanded into some of the wider streets. Trumbull Street and Church Street for example can double the amount of meters that are there now. On some of the no parking side streets such as Pratt Street, I don't see why we can't have some meter spaces. I also think the meters should be able to accept credit cards, and the maximum time should be more than 2 hours. Let's face it, parking is an issue even in some small towns, so why not make visitors life just a bit easier?

[mikel]

Of course you subsidize cars coming into the city. It's a loss leader.

Mikel, we have to get you to take an economics course.

[mikel]

I think the city can add more on street parking by making meter parking spaces diagonally slanded into some of the wider streets. Trumbull Street and Church Street for example can double the amount of meters that are there now. On some of the no parking side streets such as Pratt Street, I don't see why we can't have some meter spaces. I also think the meters should be able to accept credit cards, and the maximum time should be more than 2 hours. Let's face it, parking is an issue even in some small towns, so why not make visitors life just a bit easier?

[redbaron]

That would cause tons of accidents with that kind of small town parking spaces. Not to mention, sidewalks on Trumbull are going to be expanded, so there will soon be even less room for that kind of thing. And Church, the street parking is even removed during rush hour (which makes little sense, but anyway). Hartford streets don't have room for that. But there are plenty of roads downtown where street parking could be added, especially where there's a parking lot on the other side of the sidewalk (just take a few feet by eminent domain, it's empty anyway).

[jcrc]

That would cause tons of accidents with that kind of small town parking spaces. Not to mention, sidewalks on Trumbull are going to be expanded, so there will soon be even less room for that kind of thing. And Church, the street parking is even removed during rush hour (which makes little sense, but anyway). Hartford streets don't have room for that. But there are plenty of roads downtown where street parking could be added, especially where there's a parking lot on the other side of the sidewalk (just take a few feet by eminent domain, it's empty anyway).

[mikel]

Why would it cause more accidents when right now people double parked on Trumbull all the time? We can widen Trumbull by doing away the center island and have better traffic flow by synchronize the traffic lights. And yes what sense does it make by taking away those parking spaces on Church Street during "rush hour"? People think parking is a problem in Hartford, the idea here is to add more parking spaces in the city without knocking down yet another building, and without putting up another garage; not let them take bus.

[Luca Brasi]

There is absolutely no need for more parking garages in Hartford. It is so easy to find a spot it's ridiculous.

[mikel]

What you fail to recognize in your infinite wisdom is that if a new large city garage were to be built at Union Station and surface parking lots (and abandoned lots) were to be taxed at a higher rate than other properties, owners of surface lots would have higher tax overhead and less revenues due to competition from less expensive garages. All of a sudden, it becomes much less attractive to own a surface lot in Hartford. It then makes sense to either develop the surface lot or abandoned property or sell to someone who will. It has worked in other more forward thinking and less corrupt cities.

This plan will actually reduce the number of surface lots in Hartford and all but guarantee no one will aquire a property with the plan of demolition in order to make more.

[beerbeer]

mikel -- Economics again. Cheap parking in city garages would reduce (perhaps eliminate) the profit for owners of surface lots and make the land more valuable for other uses. It's called competition and would drive the surface lots out of business.

[blink55184]

just curious...why is this thread a sticky?

[MichaelQReilly]

just curious...why is this thread a sticky?

[HartfordTycoon]

just curious...why is this thread a sticky?

[Whaler0718]

On subsidizing parking, I generally agree that in a perfect world we would disincentivize driving, but the level of public transportation required needs public demand, and since everybody has everything he needs in the suburbs, that economic demand would NOT be created by making parking in Hartford more expensive.

Nobody needs to come into the city, other than perhaps to work, and I don't think that's the parking we're talking about. So, if I'm sitting out in the burbs and I think, "it might be fun to go into Hartford tonight," if I'm faced with the choice of taking the bus or not going in, I'M NOT GOING IN! I want to drive. So if you want to bring people into Hartford, you have to make it convenient and affordable for them to park.

As Mayor Mike put it, "why would somebody come in for a $7 hamburger when they have to pay $10 to park?"

Now, I grant you that once--in my dream world of course--downtown Hartford is such a hoppin' place that there's the cricial mass necessary for the kind of infrastructure that would attract people to mass transit (i.e., light rail, late night departures, etc., a Star Shuttle that went in both directions) jack up the price of parking to pay for that mass transit. But we're not there yet.

[Whaler0718]

Most transit systems world-wide stop at 11 or 12. We aren't New York. Thankfully, we have such a thing called taxi's, which are almost always waiting at Union Station after hours, or can be called by phone 24 hours a day.

Also, you do not need to walk up Talcott Street. You can cut through the G. Fox building, or the Marriot, or walk up our brand new Temple Street, if you choose to park in the garage.

And finally, the bus. I ride the bus daily. It does not mainly service the poor. It mainly services people going to work, is very clean, and are safe.

Right in a city with parking lots and garages at every corner, we need more parking garages. In a city that is poor, we need to subsidize parking for rich people too impatient to take transit.

[blink55184]

If you go to the NYC subway page, you can use a "plan your trip feature," where you put in your starting location and your destination. Maybe if our current mass transit scheme employed this, more folks with cars would opt instead to take the bus.

[MadVlad]

I can get from my front door to Brainard Rd in Hartford where I work in less than 15 minutes. For me to use the bus, that would take an hour. Where is the incentive. The answer, of course, is there is no incentive. There is absolutely no incentive for me to take mass transit to work....

[mikel]

I suppose I'm one of the rich people too impatient to take mass transit. Or rather, I'm one of the people too impatient to take mass transit--whether I'm rich or not is another matter. I do enjoy the flexibility, however, of affording to operate a car, which is the obvious reason as to why I haven't actually gotten on the bus, which is why I have the apparently-false impression that it services mainly the poor.

So, I looked on CTTransit's website to see about taking the bus from my home to my office. And I have to tell you, I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do. I can't understand the schedule. I'm not sure whether I have to change busses at the Traveler's building. It appears as though the A goes both by my house and my place of business at night, but I can't figure out if it does so in the morning.

If you go to the NYC subway page, you can use a "plan your trip feature," where you put in your starting location and your destination. Maybe if our current mass transit scheme employed this, more folks with cars would opt instead to take the bus. I recall a few years ago, when I went to school around here, that a bunch of us considered taking the bus downtown for a UConn basketball game. We were just as stumped then by the schedule as I am now. If I have to work this hard at it, don't expect somebody who lives on the other side of the city line to do so.

[Whaler0718]

Funny, I think it's pretty simple. There's a map and a schedule, what else could you need? My toddler cousin could figure it out....

[HartfordTycoon]

I can get from my front door to Brainard Rd in Hartford where I work in less than 15 minutes. For me to use the bus, that would take an hour. Where is the incentive. The answer, of course, is there is no incentive. There is absolutely no incentive for me to take mass transit to work....

[ctman987]

First on the parking...

We need to revamp on street parking in Hartford. There is on street parking downtown that already exists but is underutilized because it is a "loading zone" or "vending zone" or whatever. It is easier to read the directions for on street parking in Manhattan then it is in Hartford. With the exception of handicapped spaces (like the ones on Pearl) every on street parking space should be open to the public at all hours of the day.

On the buses...

The subway in New York City is tough sell for some people - now imagine trying to sell a bus to someone in the Hartford area. Yes all differant kinds of people use the subway in NYC but as a student in NYC and a daily rider of numerous subway lines I will tell you there are not as many people in suits as you would expect. The thousands of college students in NYC take the subways, visitors from all over the world, the lower and SOME middle class take the subway but for others even in NYC public transportation is tough to grasp.

Personally Hartford needs mass transit. We keep expanding our highways just to have them get clogged up again. I-84 heading towards Manchester is a huge highway (with numerous lanes) and yet still gets backed up. We need to stop building bigger roads because those will just get clogged up again later...we need mass transit...

And on the surface lots....

On the lesson of economics....It all makes sense that if the surface lots are taxed at a higher rate they will make less money and hopefully develop there properties or sell to a developer. BUT you have not taken into account that many of the surface parking lots in the city are owned by major parking corporations that have lots in cities like NYC and this increase may barely affect them and if they are parking lot operators they do not do development...

[jcrc]

Well Main Street in Middletown is chaotic, which much less traffic than in Hartford. It has those kinds of spaces. Not to mention that street is wider than anything in Hartford and it makes it very uninviting to cross the street. I prefer regular parallel spots. Most of those people who double park on Trumbull seem to be going to the credit union, or Dunkin Donuts, which is inexcusable, as you probably know.

Agreed 100% on those Church street spaces. They also take away the spaces on Trumbull when there's an event at the Civic Center (except Wolf Pack games, which nobody goes to anyway). These spots should be available all the time. They should put spots on Morgan Street as well and more on Main and Asylum, and everywhere really. This is a much better investment than parking garages! It's actually good to have cars on the street, it creates a safety buffer for pedestrians and livens the streets (though SUV's create a wall which is terrible, charge them triple at least).

[beerbeer]

There is almost no investment a city can make that is better than parking garages.

Most of the parking meters in the downtown core should be half-an-hour or one hour limit. This will help every business in the core.

[HartfordTycoon]

Well, there we have it. The quick and dirty short term solution is to have as many meter spaces as possible, and not taking them away during rush hours or special events. It is pretty idiotic for the city to complaint about surface parking lots, and then take away meter spaces when they are needed the most, thus making the surface lots more in demand. The city of Hartford can use some basic economic lessons.

[Bill Mocarsky]

Does Hartford actually utilize the full potential of existing garages? What goes on with that underground garage for The Hartford on Farmington Avenue outside of 9-5 on weekdays?

[ctman]

Does Hartford actually utilize the full potential of existing garages? What goes on with that underground garage for The Hartford on Farmington Avenue outside of 9-5 on weekdays?