City Parking – how to make the most out of the space we’ve got

City Parking

I heard of the term “city parking” years ago. What it means is that in most situations, you pull your car up forward as far as it will go – leaving some room between you and the car in front or a driveway. And then the person who parks behind you does the same. This can lead to a lot less parallel parking and a better use of space.

I tried to find something on this online, but have not succeeded – if anyone has a better resource than my simple explanation, please post it here 🙂

Given that we’re growing by 112 people a day in Portland, Oregon (Lynn Peterson, candidate for Metro Council President mentioned this in a speech the other day) – figuring out how to park more efficiently will save us all time/energy/frustration. Give this a try and see what you think.

And – I just figured out the best reason to pull forward all the way: it makes YOUR life easier when you continue driving! Pulling out with no car in front of you is way easier than pulling out with a car in front of you!

I did find this article which has some other ideas possibly worth thinking about.

“Cruising around the block to find an open parking space can contribute to as much as twenty-five percent of the congestion, so there is recognition now that if you manage your curb space more efficiently, then you’ll manage your street congestion more efficiently,” says Soumya S. Dey, director of research and technology transfer at the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).”

After posting this on Nextdoor, I got some interesting responses which leads me to think that I should have included in my explanation what not to do:

1. don’t leave a lot of space between you and the car in front of you
2. don’t park in the middle of a block when there are no other cars there – pull up as far as you can to the intersection
3. don’t pull back to the beginning of a block (not sure how to best describe that in urban planning/parking terms)