> One survey of the literature suggests that drivers in the typical American city spend an average of eight minutes looking for parking at the end of each trip.
Maybe it's just me, but this doesn't sound realistic at all. If there is a place where I would spend eight minutes looking for parking, I would rather not go. And that's average, meaning some people spending twice as much? 16 minutes to look for parking? Who would do that?
> If there is a place where I would spend eight minutes looking for parking, I would rather not go.
What happens when that place is your own home?
Do you routinely cancel necessary appointments or meetings with friends because you cannot find parking?
Eight minutes sounds excessive, but I don't think it's as uncommon as people think. Sitting at a traffic light or circling a single city block can take five minutes. There are paid parking structures which take ten minutes to enter, find a space, park, and then exit the structure.
I've lived in places where I wouldn't be able to park if I drove home late at night. In that case, I wouldn't drive to events where I would arrive home late at night. And since public transportation tends to be poor late at night, that would mean either I'd carpool or not go.
This is why I love having my moped. Easy, abundant parking. Door to door travel.
I virtually always have a more convenient parking spot than the best car parking spot, and it's always available, always free, bc my scooter takes 6 square feet to park, or less, and is freakishly maneuverable.
Ppl think it's a strange choice, but I think that sentiment says more about them than me.
Yeah, lots of people underestimate that part of the trip. Google says the trip takes 5 minutes, so in the heads of many that means it's 5 minutes total. But door to door it's probably the double.
I have a mall 10 minutes biking away. "Why bike when it's only a 5 minute drive?", well, because I've locked my bike at the entrance while you're still circling for parking, and then you have a walk to get inside. And my biking is consistent, but driving at the wrong time suddenly takes 20 minutes home due to rush.
Consider how many people wait in line or drive a few miles further for "cheaper gas" without ever thinking of the value of their time, or the cost of gas and wear and tear on their vehicles they spend doing so, and that may make this theory more plausible for you.
EDIT: An even better comparison is the number of people who will sit in a parking lot waiting for someone to vacate a spot rather than parking in plentiful available spots another 50-100 meters away
My wife would do that to avoid having our baby sit in a freezing cold shopping cart for a long time while she wheeled him into the store. He’s 25 lbs now and he will be getting heavier so it’s not easy to just carry him anymore. She usually parks next to cart corrals to grab a cart right as she gets out of the car.
In my area it’s freezing cold most of the year. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to wait a minute or two for a spot instead of literally walking an extra two football fields in harsh weather. Increased fall risk, etc.
No such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. Seriously, 10,000 years of human history without cars and you're complaining about a little wind. Get a decent hat; most of the country would be absolutely fine.
Not complaining. Just other people might have other needs that or they might be in a rush or maybe they would rather be warm at home enjoying their hobbies opposed to trudging 200 meters through through feet of snow. For why? To not wait for two minutes? Are we really so impatient that waiting for 2 minutes is somehow seen as a waste?
Waiting for 2 minutes, idling an engine pumping hydrocarbons into the air, because you won't walk a few minutes (often a shorter walk in time than the time you're waiting) is absolutely lazy and a waste.
People with legitimate handicaps are the minority of cases (and are eligible for handicap placards entitling them to spaces closer to the entrance), and winter is a strawman. The majority are fully mobile people on summer days in a Walmart or Costco parking lot waiting minutes in a car to save fewer minutes on foot.
I grew up in the midwest when it snowed every winter and the number of times there was actually enough ice on the ground to be significantly more risky walking than on the dryest summer day was at most a few times a year. The areas that get snow know how to plan for snow and ice - especially businesses who don't want to get sued by litigious people.
I just straight up refuse to drive into the nearest big city. I will happily take public transit[0] rather than spend 10 minutes looking for a place to pay $20/hr to park. And I'm the only one in my social circle like this. Everyone else will just spend the time in the money, even if they could have, for example, parked for free at a commuter rail lot and ridden in for $5.
I believe it. I have seen people circle parking lots multiple times or sit parked in the middle of the road waiting for a spot to open up rather than just drive another 5 minutes farther away and then walk.
I lived in a neighborhood ~5 years ago where I didn't have a dedicated parking space. I generally had to park a 10-15 minute walk away from where I lived. Many people would rather just circle for 15 minutes instead.
If you parked 15 minutes away, and they circled for 15 minutes, they came out ahead - because they would have a short walk back to their car, you'd have a 15 minute one.
People like convenience, they don't like being reminded they often have to pay for it.
For example, people are willing to pay more for a dedicated parking space than they are to pay per use - even if they're basically the same.
This gets pushed to a ridiculous degree at costco. They actually cause congestion waiting three deep in the rows for one spot to open up. Meanwhile I will skirt around them, park immediately in the ample available parking around the back where the employees take their smoke breaks, and walk right into the store probably while they still wait and stew.
I remember my vacation in Spain, 20-30 minutes circling around for parking spot each time. Total madness, I'd rather pick different place, had I known that.
It's not. It's obviously BS. You'd have to be traveling somewhere pretty specific at high demand times, fairly frequently spending 15+min or occasionally spending an hour or more to get an 8min AVERAGE. That such a situation applies to a statistically relevant amount of people simply doesn't pass the sniff test.
That said, the inclusion of such BS doesn't really affect the overall point of the article.
Maybe it's just me, but this doesn't sound realistic at all. If there is a place where I would spend eight minutes looking for parking, I would rather not go. And that's average, meaning some people spending twice as much? 16 minutes to look for parking? Who would do that?