E=mc 2 (and sometimes Y)

I hesitate to assume what Einstein’s reaction would be, but I think he’d agree when I said, “Where you have a lot of cars, you have a lot of traffic.” Now when I first publicized this observation, colleagues scoffed, but not Einstein (at least not to my face).

You see this phenomenon playing out almost everywhere. For instance, one reader recently asked, “Do larger parking lots attract more customers?” Well, are there a lot of cars there? Is there a lot of traffic? You answered your own question (I told him). Some say I confused him. But the look on his face as he backed away indicated something else — a deep, inner, “Aha!” moment. One he will soon not forget…

But let’s take a deeper look at his question — and please note, as always, insights are backed by undocumented research and sometimes Twitter…

Think of the places you love to go — is parking a problem or is there plenty? Does it even matter to you? And since it’s a place you love to go, maybe parking availability has little to do with your decision? Or it has a lot to do with it…

A recent study observed that the greater the parking, the less likely the success of the business. Wow! The greater the available parking, the greater the traffic, and greater traffic can create a Less Pleasant Atmosphere (LPA). Think about it — do postcards featuring your town depict landscaped streets and shops or do they depict parking garages? Other studies suggest that ‘drivers’ spend less money than ‘pedestrians.’ Therefore, incentivizing ‘drivers’ (via increased parking) might just be bad business…

Consider this flower-buying scenario: I could, A) park in front of the flower shop, buy flowers, and be on my way, or B) park in the general area, and thus become a ‘pedestrian,’ and walk past a coffee shop, perhaps buy a coffee (correction: definitely buy a coffee), make my way to the flower shop, buy flowers, and while walking back to my car heck, I may even visit a few more shops…

So, if there are complaints about “available parking”, what is the solution? It’s not black and white. The answer is not, “Build a parking garage” (although it could be).

Successful retail areas are, by definition, “busy” (in a good way). There seems to be a fine line between available parking and too much parking. Yogi Berra said it best, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”

Today’s shopper wants to spend time in areas that are inspiring and beautiful. Areas that are busy and even a little bit congested. Simple observations of successful shopping areas seem to back this up. More parking is not always the answer. 

Chet Skwarcan (traffic engineer, author, unique insights) with over 25 years of traffic engineering experience he continues to solve (or prevent) traffic problems. He can be reached at Chet@TrafficEngineering.com

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