The transportation expert on the SDAT team made some comment about lack of coordination between parking options in downtown, and I'll admit that I didn't really understand what she was talking about. My thoughts about parking tend to stray in the direction of keeping the perceived need for it from destroying other planning goals.
But I recently stumbled across the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership's reserved parking program, and I have to admit, it's a pretty cool idea for making people more comfortable with coming into a downtown. Basically, if you know you're going to need a downtown parking spot, you can reserve one in any garage through a phone call or e-mail to one place, 24 hours in advance.
What I don't get is why it's only active for 10 am - 2 pm. It seems perhaps (since you can park for free after 2 pm) that demand drops off steeply in the evening and it's not hard to find a spot. Even though that's true here too, I still think in Albany the ability to have a guaranteed spot at the nearest garage might encourage people who want to go to a show at the Palace or the Times Pepsibocker.
Of course I'd also like to see the bus schedules extended to allow for evening excursions like that, but I know that's not going to capture a large percentage of the entertainment crowd any time soon.
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