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this video is sponsored by brilliant
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have you ever thought about how many
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people Park in one parking spot over the
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course of a day or how many people stay
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longer than they should and potentially
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get a parking ticket
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believe it or not the answer to these
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questions can have a major impact on
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Street design which is why we conducted
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a study to find out I say we because I
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hired a team of student assistants to
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count the number of parked cars in these
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40 spaces in downtown San Luis Obispo
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here's a roll call of all the students
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who help me out hi I'm Sabrina hello I'm
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Tiffany hi my name is Isabel hi I'm
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Hannah hi I'm Colin thanks team they
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each took a two hour shift from 9am to
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9pm on a Friday the entire length of
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time the city charges for on-street
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parking what did we find well first of
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all the number of cars parking in an
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on-street space depends on how long
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people are allowed to park there this
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isn't a big surprise we tracked parked
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cars in 10 spaces with a 10 hour limit
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on average four to five cars parked in
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each space over the 12-hour period most
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of the spaces we tracked had a two hour
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limit those spaces on average hosted
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seven cars over the course of the day
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some counts were far higher like for
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this spot here 13 cars parked in that
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spot which makes sense as the library
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was hosting its annual book sale and it
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was busy all day we also tracked two
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spaces that had a 30 minute limit and
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the average number of cars hosted per
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space was six one less than the average
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two hour spot why
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well one of those spots had 11 cars
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parked in 12 hours the other spot had
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one car parked there all day
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12 hours of parking in a 30-minute spot
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that's a bold move but that car wasn't
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the only one overstaying their welcome
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while nobody overstayed in the 10 hour
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spaces 34 cars in the two-hour spaces
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did that's just over 15 percent of all
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cars parking in those spaces
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I don't know about you but that's higher
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than I expected
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I do want to give this study one big
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caveat we studied a few dozen spaces
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over one 12-hour period this is not a
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study worthy of a journal article or
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even a city internal parking study and
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they do do those by the way but this is
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a true account of what happened in those
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12 hours on a Friday night in San Luis
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Obispo and we did notice that there were
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significant number of people who could
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have potentially gotten a parking ticket
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now a couple minutes ago I mentioned
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that these parking Studies have
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something to do with Street design and
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City Planning and I'll explain after the
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bike Bell
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Street space is a limited resource
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particularly in busy downtown areas
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streets as narrow as 60 to 80 feet need
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to accommodate the needs of drivers
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cyclists pedestrians delivery trucks
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Transit and car parking Street design is
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a representation of a community's
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transportation priorities some cities
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want to move cars through town as fast
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as possible and design streets with lots
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of car Lanes others prioritize Transit
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and have Transit only Lanes or entire
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Transit only streets each city is doing
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a form of cost benefit analysis is it
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better to have parking a bike lane bus
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lane or more car Lanes that's what this
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parking study is all about I wanted to
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understand how many people actually use
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on-street parking if it's less than say
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the number of people who use a bike lane
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maybe a bike lane is a better use of
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that space now the parking survey we did
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didn't count people it counted cars
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we're gonna have to use a multiplier to
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estimate the number of people who
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benefited from those 40 spaces in the
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12-hour period
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the easiest way is to Simply assume that
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there's only one person per car the vast
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majority of cars on the road have
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exactly one occupant the driver but some
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people do carpool so the average
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occupancy used by planners is somewhere
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between 1.25 and 1.7 occupants per
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vehicle let's use 1.5 as a nice middle
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number if that's the case about 417
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people benefited from those parking
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spaces in that 12-hour period
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let's compare that to how many people
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drove walked and biked and let's focus
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on Palm Street right here
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on that street an estimated 176 people
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use those parking spaces according to a
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city traffic study on average just over
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4 000 cars passed that segment as well
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as 1200 pedestrians and 78 bikes at face
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value it looks like those parking spaces
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serve more people than people on bikes
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it's a reasonably good use of space as
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the car lanes and sidewalks are not over
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capacity but it's important to note here
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that there are no bike Lanes if the
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parking spaces were replaced by bike
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Lanes more people would bike one study
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found that installing bike Lanes on a
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street increased the number of cyclists
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by 75 percent in the first year this
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would mean that there will be 137
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cyclists on Palm Street still less than
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the number of people benefiting from
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those parking spaces but that's only
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within the first year and some protected
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bicycle Lansing double or triple the
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number of cyclists which are what the
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number of cyclists at or above the
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number of people using parking on Palm
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Street but it's not that simple drivers
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are the only ones who benefit from
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on-street parking nearby businesses
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prefer having parking right in front of
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their shops and when we drive there's
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this expectation that there will always
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be a relatively convenient place for us
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to park and we get annoyed when this
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isn't the case business owners don't
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want it to be a hassle for customers to
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get to their store
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but his on-street parking actually
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better for businesses than say a bike
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lane maybe not one study of this Street
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in Toronto found no negative economic
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impacts associated with removing 137
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parking spaces and replacing them with
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these bike Lanes
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monthly consumer spending and the number
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of customers served both increased after
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the lanes were installed they proved
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this by surveying merchants and Shoppers
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before and after the street redesign and
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by comparing it to a comparable street
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that didn't remove parking another study
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of a corridor in Seattle found sales
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increased when a bike lane replaced
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on-street parking I'm not cherry picking
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studies that agree with me either the
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most common impact of bike lands on
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businesses is positive and the most
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rigorous studies of bike Lanes replacing
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parking are consistent
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but there's another group that doesn't
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want to see on-street parking disappear
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local governments parking revenue is not
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an insignificant source of Revenue the
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city of Los Angeles makes 57 million
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dollars a year from its parking meters
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this is why many cities have been
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reluctant to keep the covet era parklets
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that have been synonymous with outdoor
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dining in urban areas
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that parking space is now earning money
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for the restaurant and not the city
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government some cities are now asking
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business owners to pay for the spaces to
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help the city recoup its lost Revenue
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greedy greedy government right well
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there are actually some benefits to
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charging for parking as we've
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established Street space is valuable if
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you want to store your private vehicle
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there you better be willing to pay up
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free or low-cost parking encourages
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drivers to stay in one parking spot for
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a longer time and leads to less
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available parking spots
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those who get lucky enough to find a
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parking spot closer to their destination
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benefit from this but everyone else will
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need to continue driving around for a
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spot that is farther away this causes
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the unintended effect of cruising for
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parking where drivers end up using more
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gas emitting more carbon and causing
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more traffic congestion while they
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search for a parking spot
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to avoid cruising for parking a street
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parking vacancy of 15 is needed which is
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more easily done when parking costs are
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higher you probably don't want to hear
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that what is important to remember that
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essentially all other aspects of car
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ownership aren't free either and
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offering free or underpriced parking
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disproportionately shifts part of the
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cost of car ownership to everyone
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regardless of if they own a car or not
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even parking fines make sense as they
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discourage people from staying too long
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in this space overstays can reduce the
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number of customers a nearby business
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can conveniently serve and decreases the
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odds of you finding a space
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overstays also reduce the total number
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of people who can use the space
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throughout the day which again makes
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parking seem like a bad use of Road
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space compared to say a bike lane there
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are other ways to optimize on-street
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parking besides just eliminating it and
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replacing with a bike lane or charging
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higher fines and fees cities could turn
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curb parking spaces into pickup and
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drop-off zones this would be a
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particularly useful option if Rideshare
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continues to be in demand or if
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autonomous vehicles become widespread in
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the future some studies on this topic
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believe there could be an 85 percent
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reduction in needed curb parking spaces
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if autonomous vehicles and public trans
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become main forms of transportation
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another option would be to convert 10
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hour and two hour spaces to 30 minute
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spaces which can help delivery trucks in
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my video on that topic I pointed out
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that many drivers illegally Park in
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commercial loading zones forcing trucks
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to block the roadway but adding more
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30-minute spots instead means that there
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are more options for delivery drivers
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and cars alike and it could increase
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parking turnover which increases the
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number of people using a parking space
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I'm not arguing that on street parking
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is never The Right Use of Street space
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but providing parking incentivizes
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driving which leads to more traffic and
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carbon emissions so cities need to think
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critically about when they offer
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on-story parking and be willing to
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evaluate Alternatives understanding the
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true costs and benefits of on-story
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parking is certainly more complex than
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it appears on the surface and requires a
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skill set that includes logic critical
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thinking and reasoning
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if you need to practice as a problem
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solver you're going to need problems to
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practice on and you'll find those
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problems over at brilliant
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active courses you will find the
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challenges you need to become a better
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creative Problem Solver you'll also be
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learning things like probability and
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statistics logic and scientific
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reasoning all of which could help you
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redesign your local street but you can
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also learn calculus chemistry and
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computer science which could lead you to
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a career that pays more than you're
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earning now which means you'll be able
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to afford those higher parking fees the
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best thing about brilliant though is
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that every single one of their courses
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is built upon the principle of active
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learning you're not going to be
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passively watching a video or reading
00:09:55
text but instead writing code solving
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problems taking quizzes it's super
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interactive this is a proven technique
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that helps you stay engaged learn more
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and complete your objectives brilliant
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is running an offer where the first 200
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people to sign up will receive 20 off
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their annual premium subscription now is
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the best time to sign up and take
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advantage of that great deal if you want
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to maximize your creative problem
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solving and support this channel head
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over to brilliant.org citybeautiful to
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start learning today I'll post a link
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link on screen too thank you so much for
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your support