totheskies Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I can't understand this for the life of me. All of the street meters are only $1.50/hour to park. They're free after 7pm every weeknight, and free all day on Sundays... regardless of any events that may be going on. If the city is so far in the red, why aren't they charging more money for these meters? Don't get me wrong, I've benefitted from them plenty of times, but If you really want to encourage more pedestrian activity and transit usage in downtown, you have to charge more for parking!!!!! Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I think it's a good deal. I'm almost always in downtown. Cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Don't get me wrong, I've benefitted from them plenty of times, but If you really want to encourage more pedestrian activity and transit usage in downtown, you have to charge more for parking!!!!! Parking downtown is set so inexpensively to encourage people to visit downtown. The more people that visit, the more stores and businesses get built, the more reason there is for people to come downtown...whether by car, by transit, by bike, or by foot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Free after 6. Great for parking and coming to Critical Mass tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totheskies Posted January 29, 2010 Author Share Posted January 29, 2010 Parking downtown is set so inexpensively to encourage people to visit downtown. The more people that visit, the more stores and businesses get built, the more reason there is for people to come downtown...whether by car, by transit, by bike, or by foot. Yeah, maybe I'm jumping the gun here... we need more people and more stuff in downtown first, and if insanely cheap parking/lax enforcement encourages that, then Amen (so be it). But still, it's a shame that every week can't be like Rodeo weeks for the MetroRail. They make a killing during the Rodeo b/c people decide that they'd rather park somewhere else and ride the train. Hopefully downtown will be like that one day. Those two surface lots at Bell station are particularly offensive. Free after 6. Great for parking and coming to Critical Mass tonight! ^Too true... but alas, I'm rehearsing with the Houston Ebony Opera Society, so I miss critical mass yet again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 If the city is so far in the red, why aren't they charging more money for these meters? Thoughts? The city is bankrupt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 I can't understand this for the life of me. All of the street meters are only $1.50/hour to park. They're free after 7pm every weeknight, and free all day on Sundays... regardless of any events that may be going on. If the city is so far in the red, why aren't they charging more money for these meters? Don't get me wrong, I've benefitted from them plenty of times, but If you really want to encourage more pedestrian activity and transit usage in downtown, you have to charge more for parking!!!!! Thoughts?and if you want to run off customers from downtown then charge more. so you drive down there and benefit but want others to take transit? hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Parking downtown is set so inexpensively to encourage people to visit downtown. The more people that visit, the more stores and businesses get built, the more reason there is for people to come downtown...whether by car, by transit, by bike, or by foot.I don't think it is "set" inexpensively as much as it being a normal outcome of oversupply. I've never seen any downtown as much dedicated to parking as Houston's. Hence,it is cheap.I can't understand this for the life of me. All of the street meters are only $1.50/hour to park. They're free after 7pm every weeknight, and free all day on Sundays... regardless of any events that may be going on. If the city is so far in the red, why aren't they charging more money for these meters? Don't get me wrong, I've benefitted from them plenty of times, but If you really want to encourage more pedestrian activity and transit usage in downtown, you have to charge more for parking!!!!! Thoughts?If you want to encourage pedestrian activity and use of transit the answer isn't to make parking downtown more expensive, it is to make parking everywhere in the city more expensive. Impose a tax on parking places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfastx Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 To answer the OP's question, the reason downtown parking is so cheap is because ther is so much of it, especially on the weekends, when the downtown lots that are usually full of workers are all empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 I don't think it is "set" inexpensively as much as it being a normal outcome of oversupply. I've never seen any downtown as much dedicated to parking as Houston's. Hence,it is cheap.That's true in some parts of downtown more than in others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totheskies Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 and if you want to run off customers from downtown then charge more. so you drive down there and benefit but want others to take transit? hmm.I take transit to and through downtown all the time. Since I spend a fair amount of time there, I would say 2/3 of the time I use transit to get there, and 1/3 of the time I use my car. There are some rare instances where an HGO rehearsal will run past the time I can catch the 40 or 36. So on nights when I have a very late rehearsal, I choose to use my car instead of have to pay cab fare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 so you don't have a problem running of customers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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