They limited our opportunity to buy it, so now we have to steal it

AAA is at it again.

With 1.2 million drivers coming to D.C. daily for work and only 17,000 metered spaces to go around, it may not be surprising the 1300 and 1400 blocks of L St. NW, right in the heart of the business district, are the city’s most ticketed areas.

AAA says part of the reason why the area has the highest concentration of parking tickets in the city is because metered parking spots have been replaced with bike lanes.

“The bike lanes have taken up all the parking spaces,” says Mike Busch.

For starters, if you're plan for work parking is metered parking then you're doing it wrong. Then, while it is true that ~150 parking spaces (that weren't available during rush hour) were removed for the L Street bike lane, it turns out that is not "all the parking spaces". Including parking on the other side of the street, there are also parking spaces on all the cross streets and in numerous parking garages in downtown. I'd be surprised if the parking removed accounts for even 5% of the total parking in the area.

And you know what the main reason for all the parking tickets is? Drivers who illegally park. Even if there are fewer parking spaces, that's still the problem. Is AAA arguing that otherwise law-abiding citizens have been driven to crime because they can find metered parking?

You know what would free up metered parking spaces? Higher parking fees and more biking. I wait for AAA to get behind those things. 

Comments

[Kathy]

Hey, if there is that much demand for parking spaces then shouldn't the market start supplying more parking garages?

To drivers: start taking public transit, car pool, walk a little to the nearest garage, etc.

[SJE]

This is why I dropped AAA.

AAA's whine is like the lady in WashPost who complained that the bike lanes were somehow related to her getting a speeding ticket.

[UrbanEngineer]

My opinion, based on zero economic analysis of whether or not doing so would actually be profitable, is that private garages need to stay open later and have more parking options than the 1 hour for $20, All Day for $20 options, that I see frequently.

[Early Man]

The best thing about my Better World Club membership is that every couple months someone from AAA calls to get me to renew. If I put twice as many miles on my bike relative to my car why should I support an organization actively working against my interests. And I also get service calls if my bike breaks down.

[Paytonchung]

Per Downtown DC BID, "In 2006 the Washington Parking Association (WPA) estimated that there were 199 parking garage locations in the Downtown and Golden Triangle BID areas providing 45,721 spaces." That does not include the 17,000 street parking spaces. Therefore 150 parking spaces = 0.2% of downtown parking supply. In other words, 417 out of every 418 downtown parking spaces remain after "The bike lanes have taken up all the parking spaces."

Less pertinent, but per the Colliers International 2011 Parking Rate Survey, only 10% of DC CBD parking garages have waiting lists, parking availability is "fair" (middling), and average monthly rates for unreserved garage spaces are $260/month, $18/day, and $10/hour.

[MM]

I'm pretty sure 1.2 million people don't drive downtown for work each day. I've read that the entire DC population swells to 1+ million on work days (Wikipedia, I think), but close to half those trips are non-auto, and even more if you count carpooling...so I'd say AAA's numbers are either flat out wrong or very misleading.

[anon]

Bicyclist should vote with their wallet and cancel AAA membership until AAA policy of negative and false portrayal of bicyclist is changed for the better.

[twk]

Stuff like this caused me to drop AAA over a decade ago now. They have a habit of reaffirming my decision on a very regular basis.

[Nancy]

If there are fewer meters to park at, then how can motorists be getting more tickets? (If they can't park at a meter, they have to park in a garage, right?)

[JimT]

Perhaps I am missing something, but why are we complaining about AAA here?

Their statement that "part of the reason why the area has the highest concentration of parking tickets in the city is because metered parking spots have been replaced with bike lanes" is true.

Your argument seems to be with Mike Busch, not AAA.

[washcycle]

JimT, I don't agree that that is true. Explain.

[washcycle]

I was under the impression from the article that Busch works for AAA, but watching the video, I see that that was wrong.

[Mike]

There would be more incentive to add more garage parking if it weren't for all the massively-subsidized street parking. That said, when I take the family downtown it's just easier to park in a garage than driving around looking for a parking spot, figuring out the byzantine rules at any given spot, and worrying about a time limit.