Lesson from Japan?

Most of the time I generally ignore the Roadshow column in the San Jose Mercury News. It ends up being mostly compilations of the same old complaints on local roadways. But Sunday's column caught my eye. Local residents were complaining about neighbors using traffic safety cones to reserve parking spaces in front of their property.  After reading a couple of readers letters, two immediate thoughts came to mind; How cities don't realize the negative consequence of free public goods; in this case on-street parking. 

Since parking is free, soon residents begin to think that the free parking rights are included with the property. Wrong. But try convincing a car dependent homeowner otherwise. 

The second though that came to mind was how we solve problems and challenges in this country. We very rarely look to other cites, states, or countries to see what others have tried and figure out why it did or didn't work. 

In Tokyo you would not have a problem with neighbors reserving parking spaces;  because no one is allowed to park overnight and daytime parking is allowed only in metered spaces. That's right, no on-street parking at any cost. It's called the "Proof of Parking Law" and it was explained to me by Nobu the oldest son of the family I lived with while a student in Tokyo. He said that before you can by a car in Tokyo you have to present you Proof of Parking Permit (Shako Shomei-sho) issued by a local Tokyo Police Department office. This is top of many other taxes and required permits.

Do they have these type of problems in Japan? No not at all.

A Google Street View of my residence while a student in Japan.

When parking is so freely available, whether at work, at home, or at the grocery story it is difficult for a city to reduce vehicle miles traveled or VMT. No matter how ambitious you General Plan is, if the system is set up to subsidize private automobile operation getting people out of their cars will be an uphill battle.