One of the common complaints made about Saskatoon’s downtown is the “lack of parking” available to would-be shoppers and patrons of dining and entertainment establishments. Though in-spite of this common conception of the downtown, it remains a vibrant and well populated area throughout most hours of the week and is bursting at the seams most weekend evenings.
Over the past couple of years, even more parking has been added to the downtown at the expense of some buildings – the old Folk’s Curling building (20th and 2nd Ave), the corner of 5th Ave and 24th St, and the old Chinese restaurant just north of 2nd Ave and 22nd St (lost to a fire originally, but not rebuilt to date).
To examine the charge of the lack of parking in downtown Saskatoon I decided to do a detailed assessment of all surface parking space, both public and private property. For these purposes I have defined downtown as the parcel of land bordered by 25th St. W. to the north, Idylwyld Dr to the west, and the river to the south and east. Using Google Maps, Corel Draw, and Google Streetview, I stitched together a composite map of this area. I then systematically outlined all surface parking using green boxes based on my knowledge and confirming with Google Streetview for those areas I was unsure of. Additionally, I have included all street parking. I have not included parking garages or parking structures.
Here is what I came up with:
Without having the ability to calculate the actual percentage of area covered by surface parking (which could be done with some software by calculating the amount of green relative to the background colours) I would hazard a questimate of between 25 – 35% of the entire downtown is dedicated to parking. This seems like a fairly substantial amount by any stretch of the imagination.
So why the common mis-conception that there isn’t enough parking downtown?
As I am sure most people who venture downtown can attest to (especially on weekends), there never seems to be any parking on 2nd Ave between 25 and the river, nor along 21st St. (the main commercial drag downtown). You are either forced to park at the Mid-town parking lots (20th & 2nd, 23rd and Ontario) or farther out along Spadina or along 24th, which necessitates walking (5-10 mins) into the main commercial area.
This requirement to walk and the need to pay for parking (Saskatoon has some of the lowest parking rates amongst Canadian cities, but that is another post altogether), appears to be the real barrier to those who complain about the lack of parking.
So maybe we should refine “there isn’t enough parking downtown” to the more accurate complaint of “there isn’t enough parking right beside the place I want to visit”.
Having lived in and visited numerous cities across Canada, I find Saskatoon’s downtown to be fairly vibrant and active. There are few vacated store fronts, a good mix of retail, bars, and entertainment, and most would feel safe walking around in the evening. However, we need to be cautious when we start looking to change what appears to be a good thing. Examples include:
1. The proposed removal of the centre median at 3rd Ave. and 21st St. This was originally installed to slow down traffic for pedestrians and to limit the amount of through traffic on 21st, thereby creating a low-speed parking street. Increasing the amount of through traffic increases the speed at which people move through the area. According to Jan Gehl, you get away from the commercially successful “5 km/h” traffic.
2. Creating additional parking by removing existing buildings. If this type of development is allowed to continue unabated in Saskatoon’s downtown, at some point we will reach a critical mass whereby our commercial, entertainment, office space, and residential space will start to decline – losing the vibrancy we already have in our downtown.
3. Creating too much parking – Part of what makes the downtown so successful is that the current parking arrangement forces people to walk a few blocks to their destination. By doing so we introduce that “5 km/h” traffic into our downtown, people are more likely to explore the downtown, stop at additional businesses, and interact with others around them. If we start moving towards creating at-venue parking (such as the proposed parking associated with the Destination Centre/Persephone Theatre) we start limiting this amount of travel through the downtown and driving away customers. Added to that, surface parking is unattractive and usually an area that people will speed up to get past.
So next time you hear someone say “there isn’t enough parking downtown” take a second before agreeing with them or, better yet, challenge them on their mis-conception.
Downtown Saskatoon Surface Parking – More than you think
One of the common complaints made about Saskatoon’s downtown is the “lack of parking” available to would-be shoppers and patrons of dining and entertainment establishments. Though in-spite of this common conception of the downtown, it remains a vibrant and well populated area throughout most hours of the week and is bursting at the seams most weekend evenings.
Over the past couple of years, even more parking has been added to the downtown at the expense of some buildings – the old Folk’s Curling building (20th and 2nd Ave), the corner of 5th Ave and 24th St, and the old Chinese restaurant just north of 2nd Ave and 22nd St (lost to a fire originally, but not rebuilt to date).
To examine the charge of the lack of parking in downtown Saskatoon I decided to do a detailed assessment of all surface parking space, both public and private property. For these purposes I have defined downtown as the parcel of land bordered by 25th St. W. to the north, Idylwyld Dr to the west, and the river to the south and east. Using Google Maps, Corel Draw, and Google Streetview, I stitched together a composite map of this area. I then systematically outlined all surface parking using green boxes based on my knowledge and confirming with Google Streetview for those areas I was unsure of. Additionally, I have included all street parking. I have not included parking garages or parking structures.
Here is what I came up with:
Without having the ability to calculate the actual percentage of area covered by surface parking (which could be done with some software by calculating the amount of green relative to the background colours) I would hazard a questimate of between 25 – 35% of the entire downtown is dedicated to parking. This seems like a fairly substantial amount by any stretch of the imagination.
So why the common mis-conception that there isn’t enough parking downtown?
As I am sure most people who venture downtown can attest to (especially on weekends), there never seems to be any parking on 2nd Ave between 25 and the river, nor along 21st St. (the main commercial drag downtown). You are either forced to park at the Mid-town parking lots (20th & 2nd, 23rd and Ontario) or farther out along Spadina or along 24th, which necessitates walking (5-10 mins) into the main commercial area.
This requirement to walk and the need to pay for parking (Saskatoon has some of the lowest parking rates amongst Canadian cities, but that is another post altogether), appears to be the real barrier to those who complain about the lack of parking.
So maybe we should refine “there isn’t enough parking downtown” to the more accurate complaint of “there isn’t enough parking right beside the place I want to visit”.
Having lived in and visited numerous cities across Canada, I find Saskatoon’s downtown to be fairly vibrant and active. There are few vacated store fronts, a good mix of retail, bars, and entertainment, and most would feel safe walking around in the evening. However, we need to be cautious when we start looking to change what appears to be a good thing. Examples include:
1. The proposed removal of the centre median at 3rd Ave. and 21st St. This was originally installed to slow down traffic for pedestrians and to limit the amount of through traffic on 21st, thereby creating a low-speed parking street. Increasing the amount of through traffic increases the speed at which people move through the area. According to Jan Gehl, you get away from the commercially successful “5 km/h” traffic.
2. Creating additional parking by removing existing buildings. If this type of development is allowed to continue unabated in Saskatoon’s downtown, at some point we will reach a critical mass whereby our commercial, entertainment, office space, and residential space will start to decline – losing the vibrancy we already have in our downtown.
3. Creating too much parking – Part of what makes the downtown so successful is that the current parking arrangement forces people to walk a few blocks to their destination. By doing so we introduce that “5 km/h” traffic into our downtown, people are more likely to explore the downtown, stop at additional businesses, and interact with others around them. If we start moving towards creating at-venue parking (such as the proposed parking associated with the Destination Centre/Persephone Theatre) we start limiting this amount of travel through the downtown and driving away customers. Added to that, surface parking is unattractive and usually an area that people will speed up to get past.
So next time you hear someone say “there isn’t enough parking downtown” take a second before agreeing with them or, better yet, challenge them on their mis-conception.