Tag: parking space dimensions

• Physical space is a funny thing

  It is often difficult to grasp. This is why when you look at an empty piece of land, it can sometimes be difficult to visualize actually fitting a building on it. And why when you look at an empty room, it’s common to think, “there’s no way that furniture will fit in here.” But in the end, it does fit.

  It also tends to be relative. Here in North America, it is common to argue over things like parking space dimensions and drive aisle widths. We’ll say things like, “well, people like their big cars.” But then you travel to Europe and you find streets like this:

  

  And this:

  

  The first is only marginally bigger than the width of a parking space in Toronto (2.6 meters). And the latter is only marginally bigger than the width of a typical two-way drive aisle (6 meters). So are these too small? Well, it depends on your perspective.

  If your basis of measurement is the size of cars, then these streets will seem too small. Cars also keep getting bigger, so you have this inflation factor to deal with. But if your basis of measurement is something else, such as walkability, then maybe they’re just right.

  2024.09.10

• On-street residential parking is too cheap

  The minimum size of a parking space in Toronto is 2.6 m wide x 5.6 m long. (It can change based on other factors, but this is all you need to know for today’s post.) This works out to 14.56 square meters or ~157 square feet in area for a typical spot.

  Building a parking space of this size in an underground or structured parking garage is very expensive. I have seen the former cost over $200k per space once you include everything else that goes along with building below-grade parking.

  However, this opinion piece reminded me that if you’d like to rent an equivalent area on the streets of Toronto, you can do that for a lot less. If it’s your first vehicle permit and you have no on-site parking where you live, the 2024 cost is $22.19 (plus HST) per month.

  That works out to a monthly land rent of approximately $0.14 per square foot.

  2024.07.20

• Why cars keep getting bigger

  

  Last week we spoke about parking space dimensions. And my point was that these dimensions can dramatically change parking designs in new developments. In the comment section of this post, you’ll now find a number of examples of how these dimensions vary by city.

  But the reality is that cars do keep getting bigger — at least in this part of the world. In the 1970s, SUVs and trucks made up less than a quarter of new car sales in the US. Today, this number is greater than 80%. It has become the standard kind of car.

  So this week, let’s touch on why this has happened.

  One argument might be that this was just what consumers inherently wanted. But there’s lots of evidence to suggest that this wasn’t really the case; it was instead encouraged by government policy.

  One specific example is the creation of Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (also known as CAFE). This was first introduced in the 1970s, but importantly, it was done with two different fuel economy standards: one for cars and one for light trucks.

  Since the light truck standard was less onerous (see above chart), this created a strong incentive for car makers to just make and sell more light trucks. And curiously enough, that’s exactly what they did.

  For much more on this topic, check out this comprehensive Vox article by David Zipper.

  2024.04.29

• How big (or small) are your parking spaces?

  There is an ongoing architecture/development joke that the way you design a building is by first starting with the parking. Once you’ve figured out how the parking will work, you can then move on to, you know, the secondary stuff, like figuring out how actual humans will occupy your development. I’m calling it a joke, but there’s obviously some truth to this. Parking is almost always a challenge, especially if you’re developing in a city that still has parking minimums.

  Previously, I’ve talked about the benefits of “unwrapped” above-grade parking. This is generally counter to how most cities like to think about parking. But for a few reasons, it can make a lot of sense. However, to be clear, I’m not advocating for more parking. My point was simply that — if you absolutely have to build parking — then maybe you should look at spaces that give you some flexibility in the future.

  At the same time, there’s another more nuanced thing to consider: how big are your actual parking spaces? Here in Toronto, a standard parking space is 2.6m wide x 5.6m deep (about ~157 sf). This is larger than some apartments. But these minimum dimensions can vary greatly by municipality. Oftentimes you’ll hear planners say, “well, people here like their big cars.” The problem with this is that these dimensions will dramatically change your parking design.

  So today I thought it would be interesting to gather a few data points from all of you. What are the minimum parking space dimensions in your city? Please leave a comment below so that everyone can see. As far as I know, there isn’t a globally accepted set of dimensions for parking spaces. Perhaps because some places like big cars and other places don’t care. But maybe there should be.

  2024.04.23