More parking on the curb/sidewalk since Covid?

[jmecklenborg]

Has anyone noticed an uptick in rogue curb and sidewalk parking since the anti-police stuff? The police of course are now pretty much never pulling anyone over for anything, but not ticketing people for parking on the sidewalk shouldn't be controversial.

[llamaorama]

My prediction is economic circumstances result in more people driving in working class urban neighborhoods. People need a place to park. It might also be rent cost inflation and people living with roommates so you have multiple adult residents in these old apartments that historically just came with one parking spot.

Despite inflation and the popular narrative, real wages for bottom income earners are still higher than they were 10-15 years ago. The COVID came and disrupted transit and people started scraping money together to buy cars and never went back. I know that in Dallas and Fort Worth that was a thing, our local news interviewed some guy who worked as a hospital janitor. After 2020 he just had enough of the DART buses being late or noexistent and managed to buy a beater used car.

I can't find and cite it anymore, but I remember a newspaper article from a while back looking at Charlotte and how its CATS bus system ridership collapsed because for decades it was mostly used by black people living in very low density neighborhoods who tolerated long, slow commutes because they lacked options. But as wages at the bottom went up more people started driving. Now CATS ridership is dominated by light rail users in the uptown area, some of the suburban bus drivers could go all day and only pick up like 5 people and the agency had to axe those routes and replace them subsidized ride-sharing zones.

I suspect that Cincinnati is in a weird spot because it has a lot of these old dense neighborhoods but it's one of those places where you'd be crazy to not have a private vehicle.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I suspect that Cincinnati is in a weird spot because it has a lot of these old dense neighborhoods but it's one of those places where you'd be crazy to not have a private vehicle.

Yeah, I'm guessing it's some of this. There are some really dense towns in NE PA, where almost all the housing was built pre-auto, but the bus service is garbage, and you see vehicles parked in the oddest locations. Also a lot of recent Carribean Latino arrivals from NE corridor. Places like Wilkes Barre, Hazelton, etc.

Also, I do believe the Covid disruption + Uncle Sam cash led to more working-class people buying old cars, and they haven't returned to transit.

[202_Cyclist]

This is an unfortunate trend to see the limited space for pedestrians getting taken over by cars. Part of it my be the increasing size of vehicles, especially SUVs and trucks make it difficult have enough room to park on the street.

I moved to New Rochelle, NY, last month. One thing I have noticed there is how many people double park. In a one block section, there might be 6 - 7 vehicles double-parked at the same time.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

One thing I have noticed there is how many people double park. In a one block section, there might be 6 - 7 vehicles double-parked at the same time.

Haha that's a NY area phenomenon. NYers refuse to circle the block. NYers even refuse to park in an open spot that's right in front of them if they're only staying temporarily. They'd rather inconvenience everyone around them because they're the priority, especially when it involves driving.

In Philly, double parking is a much less common phenomenon than it is in NY. I think most people in Philly realize you can just circle the block easily as everything is one way or tuck into the dead space near the closest intersection or even in front of a fire hydrant. I am convinced when I do see double parking in Philly that it's a native NYer whose driving the car as there is so much movement between the two cities.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Haha that's a NY area phenomenon. NYers refuse to circle the block. NYers even refuse to park in an open spot that's right in front of them if they're only staying temporarily. They'd rather inconvenience everyone around them because they're the priority, especially when it involves driving.

In Philly, double parking is a much less common phenomenon than it is in NY. I think most people in Philly realize you can just circle the block easily as everything is one way or tuck into the dead space near the closest intersection or even in front of a fire hydrant. I am convinced when I do see double parking in Philly that it's a native NYer whose driving the car as there is so much movement between the two cities.

Are you talking about double parking in general, or on a street that is too narrow for people to easily pass around you? I think double parking instead of taking a space you don't need is actually polite considering how tight parking can be in this city. A very small minority of people double park in places they shouldn't though and block traffic. Everybody else hates those people.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Haha that's a NY area phenomenon. NYers refuse to circle the block. NYers even refuse to park in an open spot that's right in front of them if they're only staying temporarily. They'd rather inconvenience everyone around them because they're the priority, especially when it involves driving.

In Philly, double parking is a much less common phenomenon than it is in NY. I think most people in Philly realize you can just circle the block easily as everything is one way or tuck into the dead space near the closest intersection or even in front of a fire hydrant. I am convinced when I do see double parking in Philly that it's a native NYer whose driving the car as there is so much movement between the two cities.

Unfortunately, I have to agree. NYC drivers tend to be d-bags when it comes to double parking even when there is a spot or fire hydrant spot open. Maybe they want to pre-empt being blocked in by another double-parker.

I also noticed that certain Middle Eastern or Islamic communities love to double park around here. Many of these are taxi and Uber drivers waiting for their food orders.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

I moved to New Rochelle, NY, last month. One thing I have noticed there is how many people double park. In a one block section, there might be 6 - 7 vehicles double-parked at the same time.

Street cleaning? People commonly double park for street cleaning in the five boroughs. If you double park next to someone it is customary to leave a card with your phone number visible in case someone needs to get out of their space.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Street cleaning? People commonly double park for street cleaning in the five boroughs. If you double park next to someone it is customary to leave a card with your phone number visible in case someone needs to get out of their space.

No, it is all day, every day. As 3rd&Brown said, I think it is part of the culture here.

[edale]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I suspect that Cincinnati is in a weird spot because it has a lot of these old dense neighborhoods but it's one of those places where you'd be crazy to not have a private vehicle.

Yes this is definitely part of it. Cincy is also just kind of a ratchet city where lots of things are either kind of DIY or janky, laws aren't enforced, etc. I don't mean that pejoratively-- it's part of the charm of the place, I think. This sidewalk/curb parking thing is certainly nothing new there, though I have no way of knowing how much worse it may have gotten in recent years.

[isaidso]

It's happening in every area of Toronto. Not just entitled people parking on/half on the sidewalk, but drivers thinking it's fine to take an entire lane of car traffic out. They'll be driving in front of you, come to a complete stop, and get out and use it as a parking spot. It's causing total chaos on our streets and making gridlock much worse. They're effectively cutting the capacity of busy city streets in half. Police do nothing and these 'Karens' know there won't be any consequences as there aren't enough parking enforcement officers to catch them.

The worst offenders are those that think pulling into or parking in the bike lane is ok. I've even seen police do this to run in to get a coffee. I suppose some 10 year old kid needs to die before they put a stop to it. Maybe that won't even be enough. These people should get stiff fines, car impounded immediately, and their licenses suspended. Repeat offenders? Minimum 1 year driving ban.

[SIGSEGV]

ah, reminds me of my home country (Romania...). Basically after the revolution the number of cars increased by a huge factor but there is no place to park all of them...

[mhays]

This is the douchebaggiest thing a person can do. I fuc*ing hate these people. Thankfully it's not common in my area.

[JManc]

This was always pretty common in my hometown up north especially in the winter when street parking was limited due to plowing.

[hipster duck]

Yes, decorum and civility are noticeably worse now compared to before the pandemic.

[sopas ej]

I haven't noticed this in my area.

And what's up with this?

Like those few inches really make that much of a difference? It just looks like a bad parking job, why don't they park it properly?

And with those taller curbs, I would imagine those people would be ruining their wheel alignment.

This reminds me of some cities in Europe, where people do park with their two wheels up on the sidewalk, presumably so they don't block traffic on those narrow streets. And even then, when I first saw that, I thought 'geez, they must spend a lot of money on wheel alignment.'

[Steely Dan]

I don't really ever see this in Chicago.

Probably because:

A. Roughly 95% of side streets have a narrow grass parkway (aka a tree lawn) in between the street curb and the sidewalk

B. On commercial streets where the sidewalk directly abuts the street curb, you will absolutely be given a ticket if you park your car up on the sidewalk.


One exception, in a few places there are narrow streets with two way traffic where the city has actually come back and poured a second curb with a thin concrete strip to give street parkers a little extra room to keep the street ROW more open for two way traffic.

Example: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9647...5409&entry=ttu

But this isn't really the same thing as parking on the sidewalk, as the city has done this specifically to give people more room to park out of the traffic lanes. No idea why the city didn't just widen the street altogether rather than poor a second curb with an extension, but perhaps it's cheaper than re-engineering the whole street?

[ilcapo]

"The police of course are now pretty much never pulling anyone over for anything"

Is this true overall or just a feeling? Or just limited to certain cities?

[giallo]

Originally Posted by ilcapo

"The police of course are now pretty much never pulling anyone over for anything"

Is this true overall or just a feeling? Or just limited to certain cities?

It's definitely true in Vancouver. I never see the police pull people over and/or issue fines/tickets anymore.

Driving in Vancouver these days is a little hectic. Gotta drive defensively.

[Doady]

Drivers being assholes and ruining public spaces not at all a new thing. See also: the amount of trash strewn on the ground surrounding every drive-thru.