Mexico City is creaking under the number of cars on its streets. For details, see this post. So what to do about it?
The metro is already a modern miracle and is being expanded. Notably more middle-class people appear to be riding it. It should be expanded faster, but there are practical limits to how fast that can be done.
Road-pricing is a distinct possibility, but would be politically, administratively, and technically extremely difficult in this town. Mexico City is much nicer than it was, but it still ain’t London. Although they have managed to close off major streets in the city center on Sunday.
Which leaves you with ... limit parking! In a brilliant move, the Ciudad de México just moved to limit parking spaces in new residential construction. Current regulations mandate minimums, on the assumption that people will drive no matter what. (For offices, it was one spot for more-or-less every 300 square feet.) The newest office tower downtown, for example, has more than 3,000 parking spaces.
Now there are no minimums. The maximum is three per apartment (which is rather high) or one per 300 square feet of office space. (See pages 7-8 of the new regulation here.) You can build more, but you need to pay a tax.
The literature says that this should discourage driving. European cities have de facto parking limits, and they do indeed have fewer auto trips than American ones. The question for Mexico is whether this is enough to keep all of the future middle class from commuting by automobile. The question for the rest of North America is whether this policy can or should be emulated.
Thoughts?
Great idea provided that there is actually a way to get around to most destinations without a car.
Vignette: yesterday we went to frolic in Queens and it took three buses and two trains (IRT repairs to blame for two of the buses) to get home; by the end the kids were miserable.
Posted by: JKR | July 31, 2017 at 10:49 AM