Is More Parking a Panacea for Arlington?
During this whole Mass Ave discussion there has been a widely held opinion that the businesses in East Arlington are solely reliant on curb side parking on Mass Ave. In order to satisfy my curiosity as to the validity of this assumption, I did what any good Engineer would do, take some data and make a spreadsheet. Here is my data:
| Businesses in Capitol Square | Number of Legal Parking Spaces | Arlington Population Density/sq mile |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | 100 | 8151 |
Here are my assumptions:
| Length of business day | Turnover Rate for Parking Spots/hr | $ Spent/visit |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 1 | $15 |
Here is some math:
| Total number of parking spaces on Mass Ave | 100 spaces |
| Length of business day | 12 hrs |
| Space turnover | Once per hour |
| Days per week | 7 |
| Weekly car trips | 8400 |
| Amount spent per trip | $15 |
| Total weekly money spent by motorists | $126,000 |
The current plans call for very few legal places to be lost (single digits), to be conservative let’s say 10. This would mean a loss of 10% of the spaces, let’s assume that directly translates to 10% less revenue from motorist, $12,600 per week. So what is an easy walk, 15 minutes? Assuming an average speed of 3 mph, that is ¾ of a mile. Check out what a ¾ mile radius centered on the Capitol Square looks like, granted as the crow flies, but you get the picture.
As you can see it is basically all of East Arlington and N. Cambridge to Trolley Square
So what if we are asking residents in this area to frequent Capitol Square just 10% of the time by walking, just once a week. What does this do?
The math:
| How far are you willing to walk? | 15 min |
| Walk Circle Area | 1.77 sq mi |
| Population within the walk circle | 14405 |
| Percentage of trips per week by walking | 10% |
| Weekly number of trips walk circle | 1441 |
| Amount spent per trip | $15 |
| Total weekly money spent by walk circle patrons | $21,608 |
As you can see this is close to double the losses due to removal of 10 parking spaces. We can easily offset the loss of these spaces (net gain of $9,008) if the Mass Ave Project can convince 10% of our neighbors to walk 15 minutes once a week to the Capitol Square.
If we assume that these walkers were previously drivers, the math works even more in the favor of the business community. If the walkers were making up 10% of the drivers, 840 trips to the Square, then there is no lost revenue from the loss of spaces and the net gain is the amount the walkers bring to the square, $21,608.
The streetscape and pedestrian improvements along the corridor will help make the Capitol Square the shopping destination that everyone wants it to be, residents and business owners alike. So parking isn’t the answer. No plan proposed could dramatically increase the available parking on Mass Ave. The business community should embrace making the district more inviting to walkers as they are their best means of expanding their customer base.
Did you take in to consieration weather? Did your data show you that we do not live in San Diego? You can’t expect a parent with children to take the kids to Za in the rain or a 20 degree day can you? Ever walk with 3 kids under 10 for 15 minutes? You are an engineer as you have told us several times now. So you must understand what entropy means no? Any data for that?
What is the correlation between removed spaces and walking? How does one lead to the other?
Did your data include how far people (and more importantly how long) are willing to walk when they do not have an extra 45 minutes to walk?
Did your data take into consideration items purchaced too heavy or bulky to carry back home?
Mike, thanks for posting your questions/opinions.
A couple of comments:
The basis of this post is showing that if 10% of local residents only make 1 trip per week by walking rather than by car to Capitol Square then then loss of even more parking spaces than the plan calls for would not hinder business in the district. EALS supports the retention of as many legal parking spaces as possible on Mass Ave. Furthermore, we believe that improved pedestrian access will benefit the business district, not only by bringing more people by foot, but leaving more spaces available to people that need to drive.
Weather: there are plenty of cold rainy places in the world where people transport themselves by foot. There are lots of pedestrians amenities in places like Toronto, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Portland. Surely their weather is no better than ours, and they surely have just as many screaming kids.
I do understand what entropy means, but I don’t see how that is relevant to this discussion. I think the perfect example of entropy is the current state of Mass ave now. It is amazing how things degrade with they haven’t been improved for 40 years or so.
The data does include how far people are willing to walk. I would consider a 15 minute walk not too far. Especially since it could easily take 2/3 of that time load up in the car, driving, parking and getting to your destination, even within the circle I suggested. I don’t think 45 minutes was stated anywhere in this post. I stated 15 minutes max, each direction, 30 minutes max total. The delta between walking and driving is even lower.
I don’t think assuming that 10% of people can return home with the goods that they bought is unreasonable. One can easily spend $15 in the district without leaving with anything. Quebrada, Capitol Theatre, Monroe SaltWorks, Christos, Flora, Francesca, the jeweler, Arlingtion Vision, Dagg’s Deli, Vicent’s, Arlington Bakery, Za, Arlington Diner, Giles, the locksmith, Leader Bank, Thailand Cafe, 13 Forest (they sell small jewelry), Maxima, Art Beat, Whatta Wing, Tall Tree Guild (they sell small stuff too), Barismo. Plenty of things to buy that don’t need a vehicle to transport them. We are not speaking about IKEA or the lumberyard.
Mike, the simple point here is parking is not the only reason that these businesses survive. Like I said before, the plan retains almost all of these legal spaces, so that shouldn’t change. The point is many people in this neighborhood can support these businesses without the use of this parking. It should be something promoted by everyone. An improved Mass Ave for pedestrians will help.
Cheers