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Comment by skrap | Hacker News Reader

My city just passed a bond measure which includes $36MM for a 300 space parking garage for the high school and city hall, literally meters from where a new light rail stop will be built. 25% of the city's families don't own a car. I have trouble not seeing this as a forced, direct subsidy for the lifestyle of the employees of the city. And this is supposedly one of the most transit-friendly cities around (in the US). But this is an enormous cost, for the benefit of so few... plus it will add 600 trips per day to some of our busiest local roads.

Free parking has all sorts of problems, and when government gets in on the game it only raises more questions, in my mind.

[edited to clarify that the city in question is in the USA]

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A reasonable concern, but a few thoughts:

* Increasing use of public transit benefits everyone, including by reducing greenhouse gas emissions

* Almost everything government does benefits some citizens more than others. Police help some more than others; some make more use of the water system, fire department, the courts, health care, other forms of transit, Social Security, etc. I want my society to provide those services to those who need them; I need some services myself some days.

"Increasing use of public transit benefits everyone, including by reducing greenhouse gas emissions"

Which would be a good reason to put housing and amenities near the station instead of parking...

That does nothing to help existing residents utilize the rail station.

In this case, the city is only 4.3 square miles, and there's enough homes within walking distance to saturate the new transit stop. The garage isn't a commuter rail parking lot. Rather, it's a parking lot for people working at the school and city hall, on the presumption that they won't want to take the light rail to work.

$120K per parking spot is ridiculous. Some construction firm must have very good ties with your city government.

It's a bit complicated by the location where they must be built - essentially into the side of a 1-to-1 slope rocky hillside. At least that's what the government claims is the reason for the expense. It still seems a pretty tough number to swallow given that its capacity can only serve less than half a percent of the city's population, and probably will be restricted to only city employees.

If it's structured parking on a difficult grade, that's actually a totally plausible price, no cozy cost-inflating required. Recall that you're not just building the area of each parking space, but all the aisles and space leading up to them, and that it has to be built out of reinforced materials to carry the weight. Standard aboveground parking garage spaces frequently run into $60k+ apiece.

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