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Comment by jrockway | Hacker News Reader

Well, what cities do now is make parking the first n stories of a building, and then build the rest of the structure on top of that as normal. Over the last 5 years, I have watched many of the parking lots in my neighborhood become parking lots with condos on top (and retail stores below the parking).

This seems to be the best of all worlds -- the parking doesn't take anything away, it just makes the buildings 5 stories taller. Why anyone would drive their car in a major city, though, is beyond me.

Now if only the roads could be moved underground and replaced with parks (and a bicycle path); that would be really nice.

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I wish more cities would build connecting mass transit/parking garages on the outskirts of the city. When I live in Boston, I used to drive into Alewife all the time and then take the Red Line into Cambridge or downtown. Now that I'm in the Bay Area, I'll usually park at Daly City and then BART in when I have an occasion to go into the city.

Now if only BART covered more than that narrow corridor near downtown...

Some major cities still lack adequate public transportation, like Seattle and Los Angeles. I live in the latter, about 10 miles from downtown due to cost (about $600-$700 cheaper on rent) and I have to drive in because public transportation would include taking light rail to subway to bus and tack on an extra hour to my commute and cost literally hundreds a month. Far cheaper and faster to drive, even with the abysmal LA traffic.

I've been to Seattle and didn't see any problem with the public transportation. Those buses with trolley poles are cool!

(The reality is that not every city has the population and demand to have a Tokyo-like subway system. Sometimes, buses are enough.)

I lived in Seattle for 6 years, 2 of which were completely car free. It's possible, but you're swimming upstream. I'm now in NYC, and it is far easier.

If it's within three miles or so on each end, you could also try riding a folding bike to and from the train station.

> Now if only the roads could be moved underground and replaced with parks (and a bicycle path); that would be really nice.

That was the Big Dig in Boston- it worked, but it was really expensive.

I mean the surface streets. Although you would have to call them something else after moving them below the surface :)

Woulda been cheaper to raise the city!

IF you can build underground. Here in South Florida, going down isn't a good idea, unless you like the idea of a personal sub for commuting purposes.

I am, however, seeing more parking garages being used down here.

It doesn't necessarily have to be under ground.

Parking within buildings is still lousy because it is very hard to build buildings that have the necessary doors and ramps for car access and still have any space left over for an active-use ground floor. Without active uses at sidewalk level, the streets are dead and you might as well drive everywhere anyway.

This isn't that hard to do. Many of the new condo and coop buildings in NY suburbs have a simple driveway that leads down a ramp to the parking garage (below ground). The ground floor is used for retail space like a coffee shop or deli, floors 2-X are used for condos, and all parking is underground.

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