this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
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Unpopular Opinion

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It impedes traffic. Plain and simple. Roads are built to be access-ways, not a place to store your private property.

Would you object to be storing a pallet of shingles along the side of the road? It takes up less space than your car!

It's even worse if you park in front of someone else's house, as it blocks a small bit of access/use of that property too. Now I can't put my bins out on the curb where I would like, or you parked in from of them so they were not collected.

...and it's even worse still when there is a long chain of cars parked on both sides of the street. It is plain to see that the road no longer has the same utility. It used to be bidirectional, and now it's a single lane, and the responsibility is diffuse as no one car owner feels responsible for the hindrance (it's all the OTHER cars).

It's not my fault that you have too many cars or not enough driveway/garage space on your property. Keep it out of the public right-of-way.

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[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Yes, and building permits need to be denied if they don't include adequate plans for off-street parking.

This is actually already happening, and it has played out horribly in real life. This is what has caused our north american urban sprawl and has demolished most of our downtown areas. It hurts small businesses because they can't just open a cafe in a small town, now they also need to build parking next to it. It spreads everything out and makes car dependence worse. On top of that, there is no consensus on how much parking is "adequate".

This video is fascinating, and changed my perception of parking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNXFHpUhu8

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 weeks ago

Partially agree, but this inevitably leads to unaffordable rent when developers are forced to add an 8 spot parking garage in what was once zoned for a single family home which isn't economically feasible. Instead, they have to buy up multiple lots and put up a huge apartment building. This adds to upfront cost but it works due to it's scale; however, this also bars most home owners from legally adding more homes to their property while also making it more difficult for developers to add more desity by adding that much more upfront cost. Underground structures are hellah expensive.

The real issue here is over-reliance on motor-vehicles and under-performing public transit. There is a bus I have to take to get downtown from time to time, but what should be a bus lane is a parking lane after 5pm so it's always late and I'm pretty sure having a huge accordion bus weaving in and out of traffic every 2 blocks makes traffic worse.

I haven't owned a car in over ten years, so I don't need to take up that extra space to store a vehicle. I dream of living in a dense, car-free area that has a robust cycling network, trams, etc. Only service vehicles are allowed and the only parking spots are handicap. Of course, such a place doesn't exist in the north american continent, or any where really except maybe in the Netherlands.

[–] pc486@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago

You'll end up with less housing that way. Let alone the extra costs you're taxing on people who don't or cannot drive.

Flip the law around. Deny registering a car without proof of a parking spot. No spot for your car? No car for you.