Research suggests that more and more parking won't solve the woes of struggling commercial corridors, even if it's difficult for business owners located on those corridors to believe.
>What we found was that, in general, the streets with the least parking available actually had the lowest vacancy rates, and vice versa. >"These findings may seem counter-intuitive. But there are a number of reasons why parking may not help retail business, and can even be harmful," according to Stewart.>For one thing, more parking means more cars, more cars means more traffic, and more traffic generally creates a less pleasant atmosphere. Noise from traffic makes sitting on a summer terrasse less enjoyable. More traffic makes for a more dangerous environment, particularly in the anarchic world of parking lots, as well as broadly for children and those with impaired mobility. Additionally, more parking makes for narrower sidewalks, resulting in the jostling for space that is typical on any Saturday on Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest. And in terms of charm -- well, we’ve all seen plenty of Montreal’s beautiful commercial streets on postcards, but not too many featuring parking garages.https://www.locallogic.co/blog-post/does-more-parking-bring-more-business 