June 18, 2008
GottaPark Invites More Parking Spaces, More Traffic to SF
Well, this is a nifty idea. Sort of. San Francisco resident John Somoza came up with a practical and much-needed way for all of you vehicle drivers out there to find some extra parking: a site where people can rent out their unused spaces. The name of the site is GottaPark. What it does is this: provides San Francisco residents with an an online system that allows them to rent out their driveways (by the hour, day, week, month) anytime it's not in use.
Looks like a clever idea, yes; but it makes us sad. Anything that brings more cars into the city means slower traffic, slower Muni, dirtier air, less walkable neighborhoods, and more accidents.
We asked Somoza what he thought about the impact his site might have on increasing traffic in San Francisco. "I wish I knew the answer to your question. We don't want to encourage additional driving. On the other hand, when I drive within the city or when I come back from out of town, a lot of my driving time is spent circling around looking for parking," he tells us, going on to say, "at the very least, our system would allow San Francisco residents to benefit from the traffic."
True. And it's very shrewd, but and also very selfish. We'll probably use it, but every time we do we'll be embarrassed and ashamed. What about you?
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His response was well thought out and articulate.
I would never, ever drive in this city. Thank god SF's public transportation worksish.
Nope. Then again, I live in Rincon Hill, walk to work, and casually ride Muni or walk for the non-work hour adventures.
I remember hearing about a CL-advised attempt at doing this that ended up petering out. I think the hard problem of getting enough people to regularly use / care about such a system makes it unlikely the city will suffer from increased traffic or pollution.
Clever.
I'd use it if it proved reliable. (You don't want to park your car in somebody's garage and come back the next day to find it stuck behind all the garage junk, for example.)
Of course SF will come down on this like a ton of bricks. They'll have to collect parking tax and provide a machine printed receipt, for one thing.
No way they get enough spaces to make this work...I walk through the Richmond all the time and all I see is people with garages stuffed to the rafters with no room for the cars....sure, some of these folks may not have cars but I think that we ought to turn Supe Daly on these people and pass a law that makes it illegal to park on the street if you have a garage!
Shame is circling North Beach for 45 minutes praying for a spot to open up. At $4++ a gallon, somehow this makes financial sense to me. Then again, I sold my jeep when I moved into the city.
Gee... if I plan to drive in, I already have a parking plan (garage, spot outside someone's house, etc) so I suppose in theory this gives me another option. But I don't know; I'm kinda put off by this idea.
If someone is renting their house, can they ethically sublet their driveway/garage?
And what if the person I'm renting the space from has a psycho ex? A strange car in the driveway would be an inviting target, nu?
Have to think more about it...
Yeah, I concur! Good thing there's absolutely no need for a service like this, since we live in a city that has public transportation with an impeccable safety and on-time record. And the street parking is both abundant and safe.
GottaPark, you so crazy! Trying to use up parking spots that already exist so there's no call for further parking garages.
haha, mamcart.
i like the idea of renting out my driveway, but i'm afraid i'm ultimately going to lose money renting it to myself since my carhole is such a mess and gottapark.com gets a piece of the action.
Hey Katy - Can a landlord ethically charge $2800 for a 500 sq foot studio in Pac Heights? The ethics train left SF a very long time ago. ;)
OK, no, s/he can't. But how else are we going to bring ethics back to this town unless we drag her in? Behave ethically, and ... OK, well, in this town, you'll get screwed. But you'll be on the moral high ground!
This will most likely reduce traffic, because the cars will be parked, and not circling the block looking for a space.
This is why I don't have a car... so I don't have to worry about stuff like this!!
SF is actaully not a tough town to drive in or to park in really other than a few bad areas. At least this is true compared to other big, rich cities of the world. Try owning a car in Paris or Toyko
People who think this likley grew up in an American suburd where cars were king
Buy a scooter. You'll have rockstar parking every time. Not to mention you'll spend only $5/wk on gas.
Am I the only one imagining "gotta park!" sung like "Gotta Dance!"?