Now I say this as a big supporter of a more progressive and urban Calgary and someone who went without a car for 7 years and only bought his first car at 29.
My primary beef with high Calgary parking prices is not necessarily that they are high, it's that there's not much of a realistic alternative to driving in most instances, but you still pay for parking like there is. It's one thing to discourage driving by providing a viable alternative, but it's another when that alternative is not really there yet, and you're still asking citizens to pay a "mega city" price.
In a place like NY, you don't need to drive, because there are plenty of ways to get around. You can take a fantastic subway, a (less fantastic but still common) bus network, ride your bike in numerous bike lanes, chose from a wide array of taxis (as well as community car services were people basically just drive around in their wife's van), or just walk to a lot of places. Driving is often the worst option, both in terms of convenience and time. I can see why prices are high…you have to be a real lazy or privileged ass to drive.
In Calgary on the other hand, unless you're going back and forth from a few select suburbs to downtown, you pretty much drive. Sure, you can wait 30 minutes to take a bus for an hour to get somewhere, but who amongst us goes shopping regularly via bus? Part of the reason of course its Calgary's sprawling footprint, but it's not realistic to expect someone to do that.
Now sure, Calgary is not NY. But we seem to have NY-level parking prices while providing a fraction of their public transportation network. And I know Calgary is slowly and surely working on these alternatives, but can you really justify those rates? Higher than San Francisco? Toronto? Boston? Come on now….
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