[sustran] On vs off street parking or simply reducing on street parking.

[Sunny]

I really like Todd's idea of pricing the parking but implementing the 
same is a bit difficult in the developing cities as there is a 
increasing trend of vehicle ownership. In my opinion initially focussing 
on limiting the available parking spaces and then going with the pricing 
would be better as this firstly might control the ridership and then the 
pricing would have the economic effect.

On the other hand I doubt if parking pricing will really reduce the 
ridership because I presume that parking pricing would make the car user 
aware of the fact that they are being metered for the time they are 
spending for shopping and thereby reduce their shopping time which can 
tend to decrease the sales, yes they might shift to other modes but what 
if the other modes are not as developed as driving a car like in 
Bangkok. Secondly, providing priced or timed parking would allow the 
other car driver to feel that they might get a place to park their car 
and hence avoid them from shifting to other means. Correct me if I am wrong.

Off street parking is the worst case especially when it is free/very 
very cheap like here in Bangkok and when the price is reducing with time 
rather than increasing. but even here i have the same doubts mentioned 
above. I would be glad if someone could clarify me.

Sunny