To be honest, and this is strictly my opinion coupled with my decade and a half experience going DT at least on a weekly basis, but I think there's more parking DT than can be filled up even during major events.
I'm able to go to my regular garage even during SXSW and still see that there are plenty of places on the top two levels. If by chance the top is filled, the half of the garage going below ground usually has spaces. In the rare cases when the garage is full, I go to my backup garage and have always been able to find parking there.
The issue I see is not all of the garages are being utilized. Some are strictly for residents or hotel guests and that's fine but there are other garages I see that for whatever reason don't open up for general parking. Other garages I know of more times than not don't fill to capacity which tells me it's not a lack of parking we are dealing with. It has more to do with what people are willing to pay for parking.
The garage I regularly go to is normally a flat 5 dollar fee. During big events it's sometimes 7 or 10 dollars. I don't mind paying up to 10 if there's major events or festivals going on but I think it becomes overkill when they start charging over that. I don't blame people for not wanting to pay 15-20 dollars for parking. It's something the city should look into because if parking across DT is reasonable within 10 dollars, that opens up the garages that are overcharging. Sure some people will pay 20 bucks, but most won't so those garages don't fill up.
The other problem is that people complaining there's lack of parking DT need a reality check. Your not going to find free parking often and there are only so many metered parking spots. Fact of life is your going to need to fork out on average 5 dollars and park in a garage. Saying there isn't enough parking or that they can't find parking when they pass by garages with plenty of parking available is just ridiculous.
As stated above these are my personal observations and are not based on statistics or patterns. It's just what I observe when I'm DT. I think the city needs to be careful when it comes to more massive parking garages and really start pushing for mass transit and ride sharing options. Especially when they are removing road capacity by changing one way streets with 3 lanes to 2 way streets with one lane each side. I have no problem with the change as it has enhanced the streetscape and opened up more two way options to distribute traffic. But they are not the best roads to have parking garage entrances or exits, especially when there's several garages along the road.
It's a shame to see a building like this one being almost half garage.
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"GOOD TIMES!!!" Jerri Blank (Strangers With Candy)
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