[Bellspringsteen]

Maybe. But instead of dedicated points. Why not just have a market set the price of parking. So no free parking. And the price of parking is set so that we are at 75% capacity by day/hour or something like that. So that way there are always spots available and everyone pays their due.

[gandreani]

I agree! "Cheap" parking is another syndrome of America's car culture. Nothing is free and we pay for the free/cheap parking in other ways.

In this case it trickled down to the buses and bikers. They pay for it in longer more dangerous commutes

[vonmoltke]

How is "car culture" relevant to contractors and delivery vehicles?

[jmkb]

In NYC in early 20th century, long-term street parking was uncommon. As cars became more common, street parking was considered a blight and made illegal. The American Automobile Association successfully lobbied to get this regulation overturned in 1950.

The streets are now lined with parked cars, which means that police, taxis, contractors, and delivery vehicles double-park, often blocking bike lanes and bus lanes.

[emiliobumachar]

Car culture keeps parking prices down, to the point that all spots are always taken, pushing delivery vehicles into illegality.

[gandreani]

They take up all the spots on the street...

[vonmoltke]

I don't follow. What does contractor and delivery vehicles taking up all the spaces have to do with "car culture"?

[r_klancer]

Other way around. Parked cars ("car culture" meaning the expectation that there should be free and easy street parking everywhere) take up space that could be otherwise used by contractor and delivery vehicles.

No one is arguing against contractor and delivery vehicles needing space; car free places such as campus quads or (say) Vernazza, Italy allow "special purpose" vehicles in.

[Digit-Al]

I could be wrong, but I think you have it the wrong way round. I think what the previous poster means is that cars take up all the spaces which leaves none for delivery vehicles, etc...

[someguydave]

1.) Contractor and delivery (and police!) vehicles ought to pay to park, even for 30 seconds. 2.) These fees will be passed to customers, who will pass it onto their customers or move their business somewhere else - where infrastructure exists to support it.

[dahdum]

Downside of this strategy is now you have another variable delivery cost that will be passed onto all consumers in the area.

[oftenwrong]

If the person receiving the delivery has to bear the delivery cost, instead of transferring it onto bikers, drivers, bus riders in the form of obstructed streets, I would call that an upside.

[s0rce]

That sounds like a plus. The cost of using the infrastructure should be passed on to the end users.

[oftenwrong]

Basically, the Shoup/SFPark system:

https://www.accessmagazine.org/fall-2013/sfpark-pricing-park...

[jandrese]

A system like that breaks down the first time 10 people need to access the building and there are only 8 spots. Do you tell the UPS driver "Sure, you can park here to deliver the package, but it will cost you $100/minute.". It's also horrifically complex to implement.

[gandreani]

The only complex part should be gathering the data (how many spots are open in this street at these times).

I bet in most places these things are measured, and if they aren't it could be simple to measure. LA has parking meters that take credit card payments. You can extrapolate parking spot availability from that. Obviously I'm ignoring the cost of adding credit card parking meters where there aren't, but it proves my point that it could be simple

Choosing a price doesn't have to be complex either. Every quarter raise the price until the desired free space is available

[jandrese]

Does this system retroactively raise the price on cars that are already parked there? Or does it create an incentive to get their early and park as long as possible since you'll never find a spot this cheap again?

[gandreani]

Sorry, wasn't clear in what I imagined.

Every single street parking meter I have ever seen has working hours (including holidays) and constant price to pay. There's no price increase in certain hours of the day or that sort of thing.

The price adjustment would be changing that constant price per quarter of the year.

So you don't get there early in the day or hog a spot. Every one pays the same regardless of what time they want the spot during the working hours

[to3m]

Assuming 1 spot = 1 vehicle, 10 vehicles won't fit into 8 spots anyway.