IB次元官网网址檓 an (occasional) car driver and I want parking to be less convenient. Parking needs to be harder to find, and definitely not free (especially downtown), if we care about the planet and our city.

Easy vehicle parking is the gateway drug for a high carbon society.

ItB次元官网网址檚 a societal addiction.

Our greenhouse gases are not dropping, and transportation is a key reason why. Our streets have ample room for trees and people and transit lanes and scooters and patios and passenger drop-off zones. But we canB次元官网网址檛 have all that and have ample parking too.

We need to change the conversation about parking. LetB次元官网网址檚 improve the safety, health and livability of our streets B次元官网网址� and not complain when those improvements eliminate car parking, especially downtown.

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We also need to stop referring to B次元官网网址渃yclistsB次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址渕otoristsB次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址渨alkersB次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址渢ransit users.B次元官网网址� We are all people and many of us (me included) use all these forms of getting around. Moving around Greater Victoria needs to allow for all modes, while making the low carbon modes the easiest.

We say we believe in lowering our carbon footprint but, irrationally, we donB次元官网网址檛 want to actually change our car driving behavior. We want to have convenient, low cost parking and lower GHGs too.

It wonB次元官网网址檛 happen.

Parking B次元官网网址渄rivesB次元官网网址� car usage B次元官网网址� pun intended. If we change parking, we change car usage. People who canB次元官网网址檛 easily park their vehicle shift to other modes B次元官网网址� take a bus, hire a cab, bike, get a friend to drop them off, walk B次元官网网址� or some creative combination of the above. IB次元官网网址檓 one of those people B次元官网网址� a car owner, bike owner, transit user, walker. If parking is too cheap and easy, we all use it B次元官网网址� and therefore use our cars even when alternatives are available.

Each of us can make personal changes but we get the biggest benefit if we make a community-wide shift away from cars and into healthy, people-friendly street sharing.

Would the intentional reduction of parking be B次元官网网址渟ocial engineeringB次元官网网址�? You bet B次元官网网址� the best kind. Social engineering is what broke our growing addiction to cigarette use. Remember when pub owners wailed that anti-smoking bylaws would kill their businesses?

As a community, we should be designing for the healthiest possible city. Less convenient car parking helps get us there.

Lorne Daniel

Victoria

- Lorne Daniel is a Victoria resident who walks, bikes, drives a car, takes transit, and has been a wheelchair user. His work in urban change has won awards from national and international organizations. He is founder of Greater Victoria Placemaking Network.