3mo ago

Chicago will no longer require new buildings near transit to include parking.

chi.streetsblog.org

Chicago's vote to totally eliminate parking mandates near train stations & bus routes is a great response to our city's housing crisis and traffic woes - Streetsblog Chicago

Making space for storing large metal boxes is no longer mandatory.

Chicago @midwest.social

Davriellelouna @lemmy.world

3mo ago

Chicago will no longer require new buildings near transit to include parking.

chi.streetsblog.org /2025/07/18/chicagos-vote-to-totally-eliminate-parking-mandates-near-train-stations-is-great-news-creating-transit-friendly-housing

25 comments

Hell yeah! My city
- I'm so jealous of the L. I was only there a week and I fell in love.
But wasn't the point of having parking lots there, to allow people who have cars to still use trains?
- No, that's only the case on the outskirts of the city, for the people coming out of the city to park and take the train into the city
- Yeah I have mixed feelings about this too. I hope they have data to show that that is not necessary. If I were in charge I'd have large parking structures around the perimeter of the transit network so people can get to it from outside of town and are able to use it easily without the friction of finding a spot. That way more people can get to it and use it but fewer people need cars within it.
  
  @makyo @kresten The "data" used to create most residential parking mandates was collected in car-dependent suburban areas and is completely inappropriate for application to dense urban apartment buildings near transit where many residents don't own cars. Eliminating the costly mandate to construct parking that often goes unused on valuable land only restores choice. A developer isn't prohibited from building as much parking as their market research tells them they can profitably sell or lease.
  
  Read the article. This is about housing near transit. What use case would there be for a park-and-ride at their home? Are they supposed to be driving from their door to the far side of the parking lot?
  It's also a bureaucratic change rather than functional. It used to be a permit you'd have to apply for, which added costs. Now it's just not required to build parking within a 5 minute walk of transit
- It means apartment buildings next to the train station don’t need private garages anymore. Doesn’t mean anything for the train stations themselves.
This is massive boost to urban density, and therefore affordable housing. A driveway + garage is a massive square footage ($$$) sink that is not needed for most people when micromobility is sufficient to get anywhere, and density means more walkable destinations as well. Montreal island is denser than most places, and car sharing extremely popular there. Robotaxi future also means less individual cars.
Things that are good:
Density
Micromobility
Cleaner air
Less noise
Less traffic
Eliminating pedestrian/bike/scooter deaths
More public transport
More safety
Only if there is no on street parking otherwise it’s a mess!
- At least street parking for residents should cost a significant amount of money.
  
  Chicago sold their street parking rights to a private equity firm for a period of 100 years. Lmao
  
  With double the cost for a large vehicle like a RAM or SUV.
  
  in Chicago, it does
- In case of my country, they just park illegaly wherever they can.
They should couple this with the requirement to give prove of having a designated parking spot for their car. Be it a rented one or a garage on their property or whatever. You don't have your own parking spot? No car for you.
- WTF, no!. That's going to increase demand for parking spots, if anything.
  
  In the best case it's gonna reduce the amount of cars.

25 comments