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We complain about parking Downtown, but is it really that bad?
Downtown parking has a PR problem. Think about it: You roll up to Walmart, snag an open spot at the back of the lot and stroll the distance to the door. That trek clocks in at an average 550 feet (aka ~1/10 mile).
Now, imagine you’ve got a reservation at Brewery Bhavana on Blount Street—and, naturally, the on-street parking is taken, so you circle and grab a spot in the Wilmington Street Station Parking Deck (117 S. Wilmington St.). Get this: It’s a mere 444-foot jaunt to the restaurant—meaning 100+ feet shorter than that Walmart walk. Yet people always peg the latter as the much bigger headache—and many are unwilling to even do it.
“Parking, even before COVID, was the most persistent, largest, complaint we’d get in our annual survey,” notes Downtown Raleigh Alliance President/CEO Bill King. But in a city teeming with “free” public retail lots, it comes down to perception vs. reality.
“People often gravitate toward the path of least resistance,” imparts Village District GM for Regency Centers Brooke Conn, who references Donald Shoup’s highly influential The High Cost of Free Parking, in which he makes the case that “free” parking is never truly free—the costs are instead absorbed elsewhere: higher housing prices and increased goods and service costs. Worse still, not only does parking revenue bolster cities’ ability to thrive, but those free spots are subsidies that distort urban development and encourage urban sprawl, car dependency and congestion, all at the expense of walkability and public transit—two of Raleighites’ biggest pleas.
To be fair, Downtown’s mix of city-owned and predatory private lots and metered spots along with an apparent maze of parking apps can seem more daunting than pulling up to, say, North Hills, Crabtree or your big box store of choice. And Downtown parking wasn’t always free. But both of those realities have been remedied.
Requiring no app, Downtown public decks have long been free on weekends and post-7pm on weekdays. And, beginning last fall, a pilot program allows you to post up in any of the five city-owned decks free for the first two hours (City Council recently voted to extend the program through the end of the year)—covering any retail, lunching or happy hour needs—or even the entire evening if you pull up at 5pm or after.
It’s a benefit some residents are willing to actually “pay” for. “I hope City Council opts to keep the first two hours free program,” says Raleighite Bill O’Donnell in front of the vote—“even if that means paying more after the first two hours during the week [or] some amount on weekends. It’s made it much easier to stop Downtown for lunch, a haircut, etc.”
As for street parking—also cost-free after 6pm and on weekends—only one app, Passport, is needed. And before you scoff, the app’s ease and appeal are infinite. Once your license plate and credit card info are stored, it takes you ~30 seconds flat to pay from inside your warm locked car—without having to fumble for your wallet, get out your card or mess with an outdated meter. You simply type in the four-digit zone visibly labeled on the adjacent meter—and voila. It’s that simple.
“I definitely agree on the frustration I feel when I hear people refer to a perceived lack of parking options Downtown,” adds O’Donnell. “There’s plenty of parking—and most of it is inexpensive, although I think the more predatory lots rightly scare some people off.” The solution for the latter is to zoom right by them and save yourself the nightmare of actual app chaos and a $100+ ticket.
The key is to stay the course. “Are people just giving up because spots within 50 feet of the restaurant are taken?” asks local Eric Spain. “I don’t think I’ve ever been unable to find free parking within two to three blocks at most. While some areas are more difficult…Downtown Raleigh parking isn’t bad at all!”
Essentially, the steps you’ll clock, say the 0.1-mile block-and-a-half from Beasley’s to Kings, aren’t any more than those you’d take in the free surface lots sprawled across the city—and you’re likely supporting a local business to boot.
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