Quote:
Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
Anytime I've went there I've always been coming down Barrington, so i'd either have to take the long way to avoid the parking lot and gas station, or take the most direct route by going through it. which is what I do. And that's what i was getting at. Inconveniencing pedestrians for the sake of catering to automobiles. It isn't a matter of whether one has to walk thru the parking lot or be forced to walk an extended walk way, but rather having people diverted and forced to walk extra distance to get to an entrance that should have been built at the street, like on Quinpool.
Just because there's a need (or perhaps desire is a better term than need) to provide parking, it doesn't mean the parking has to be front and centre and be the focus of the development. And some would also argue that the concept of demand inducement applies here. If you invite people to do things a certain way, make it the most visible/obvious way and make it easy for them to do it, then chances are many will do it. From what i can tell, Pete's Frootique doesn't have any parking at all, but I'm 100% certain that if it did, the lot wouldn't sit empty either. So, that would be proof that it was needed?
Besides, things that are built in an auto centric manner are often to some degree functional; my criticism is of how they function. If it didn't function at all then the store would go out of business and we'd have no need for discussion.
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So the bulk of your argument is based on the idea of for whom the store layout should be more convenient, pedestrians, cyclists, or motorists. Fair enough.
I suggest the best design would be to put pedestrians first by having the store frontage right up to the sidewalk, as suggested. Then have parking to the rear or underground, as suggested, to accommodate motorists, motorcyclists/scooters, and bicyclists. The reason I would put bicycle racks at the rear entrance is to avoid conflict with pedestrians. I have had a few close calls with bicyclists who ride their bikes on pedestrian access areas for their own convenience with little regard for pedestrians - I see it happening regularly. A bonus for pedestrians is that the cash registers will likely be less busy at the front entrance so they will get out of the store more quickly than their petrol-consuming and pedal-pushing counterparts.
FWIW, both Pete's locations have ample parking. The Bedford location is in Sunnyside Mall, which has parking on upper, lower and underground levels. The Halifax location has parking in the parkade which is located within the building. IIRC, Pete's gives a discount coupon for parking with purchase.