How many parking spaces has Plante removed?
Despite moral panic about Projet removing parking spaces, the total number that were abolished between 2018 and 2022 add up to 5834 – between 1.1% and 1.2% of the total. This piece estimates the city as having between 475,000 and 515,000 parking spots.
Meezly 09:32 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
I imagine even one lost parking spot is too many for anti-cycling car advocates.
Ian 09:36 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
While I do agree that this hot button topic is blown out of proportion,this justification is predicated on a seriously flawed analysis. If that amount were dispersed equally across the island, sure – but it’s not. It’s easy to game the numbers by conveniently expanding the dataset.
I’m pretty sure that percentage is much higher in say, Rosemont & the Plateau than in Mercier or VSL. Or directly on Bellechasse, say.
Not unlike talking about “medians” as an indicator of anything meaningful, this kind of handwavey self-expulcation is predicated on the assumption that the general population is innumerate.
Ian 09:37 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
That’s a straw man argument.
Kate 09:52 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
Are you arguing with yourself, Ian?
Ian 10:14 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
Oh sorry, when I posted that Meezly’s post came in after mine…. but looking at the timestamp I’m guessing that was my connection, not your server.
bumper carz 12:24 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
How Cities around the world are eliminating parking
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/27/cities-eliminating-car-parks-parking
Alex L 14:08 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
@Ian the central neighbourhoods are under far more pressure for space than places like Mercier or VSL. In many cases, parking is permitted or tolerated where it shouldn’t, and probably counted in the statistics when it is removed (ex. inside 5 meters of a crossing).
I’ve already had to contact my councillors because some paid parkings were installed within 1 meter of a pedestrian crossing and it was hazardous. In that case, the parking was probably counted in those statistics, but didn’t follow the CSR guidelines, so shouldn’t have been put in place since the beginning.
https://journalmetro.com/local/le-plateau-mont-royal/858192/pres-de-10-des-parcometres-en-zone-de-stationnement-interdit/
Ian 14:39 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
Be that as it may, it’s not the argument being made in this article.
Your argument, Alex, is fair and makes sense in terms of local pressures. I also see legal parking too close to corners. Heck, I saw a cop car parked in a crosswalk at the end of my block this morning. The article, on the other hand, is basing its arguments on false equivalencies anad the assumption that most readers don’t understand math.
Similar logic, flipped:
In 2022, 392 people were killed on the roads of Quebec according to the SAAQ. With our population of 8.8 million according to the ISQ that’s only 0.00445454545% of the population, so who cares?
Whether you agree with the gist of an article or not isn’t the point, making spurious arguments based on questionably evaluated stats is a disservice to the cause you are promoting, in that it is insulting the intelligence of those you are attempting to persuade.
Alex L 15:30 on 2023-10-27 Permalink
Ian you’re right, that statistic may be used wrongly, I suspect it is to counterbalance the negative and very often biased discourse about removing parkings. But if we use more local numbers, what scale do we use? Le Sud-Ouest, for example, integrates many different neighbourhoods with distinct housings, density, etc. Ville-Émard or Lasalle aren’t at all similar to Griffintown or Pointe-Saint-Charles.
Non central neighbourhoods tend to have fewer on-street parking spaces, since many have newer housings that integrate parking requirements. If you remove a parking space on a street that has very few to start with, let’s say 5, the percentage is high. I don’t have any numbers to back my assumption, but I suspect central neighbourhoods are the ones who actually have more on-street parkings. Many streets in Mercier don’t even have on-street parkings.
Ian 08:58 on 2023-10-29 Permalink
How about the percentage of spots in those specific neighbourhoods where bike paths were put in? It seems pretty obvious.