# San Jose becomes largest city to abolish minimum parking requirements **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2022, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198 "2022-12-08T09:48:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/41 "2022-12-10T18:13:36Z")
Apparently San Jose had the highest minimum requirements in the state. From the articles it seems this change is intended to reduce the cost and increase the density of new housing developments more than anything else. New businesses are affected as well and there are now minimum requirements for bicycle parking (which is great), but the main thrust is to address the shortage of housing. Businesses have a continuous incentive to provide adequate parking for their customers. One concern is that housing developers do not. Hopefully there are other aspects in this initiative to compensate for the increased density. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/42 "2022-12-10T21:23:00Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I’m looking at the BART stations on the line currently being extended through San Jose (at stupendous cost due to bad decisions like putting stations in [jumbo-sized tunnels that are so deep they can only be reached by huge banks of elevators](https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SJM-L-BARTSJ-0315-90-01.jpg)) and I’m not really seeing this lack of parking. Not every station, but the once terminus Fremont BART station was notorious for it. > **[Tips to Find Late Morning BART Parking Spots](https://patch.com/california/unioncity/tips-to-find-late-morning-bart-parking-spots)** > > Local BART riders offer advice on how to find parking spaces at local BART stations. _Bart ridership is up and some would say that fact is evident when you drive by a local BART station and try to find a parking space._ _In Fremont and Union City, the parking lots fill up fast – with the estimated parking fill times being 6:30 a.m. in Fremont and 7:30 a.m. in Union City, according to [BART.gov](http://www.bart.gov/)._ _Tri-City residents sounded off about the parking issue at BART stations and shared numerous tips after we shared a story about having to drive to the Hayward BART station just to find parking mid-morning. Their solutions ranged from reserving parking spaces to driving to south Hayward._ So, you may look at something and t_hink_ there is plenty of parking, but anyone who has _actually used it-_ knows differently. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/43 "2022-12-10T21:25:18Z")
I used to live along one of the Metro-North train lines, and the same thing was true there; the parking lots or garages at the stations were usually full. People were on the waiting list for _years_ before they could get a monthly permit. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/44 "2022-12-10T23:42:13Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not every station, but the once terminus Fremont BART station was notorious for it. Are you saying San Jose BART parking is bad now or 10 years ago? They’ve added a lot of capicity in recent years, before a lot of people started WFH’ing from home. I’m curious if anyone has experience today? In Chicagoland ridership is going back up, but there still is a lot of parking capacity. In any case, this policy will create a parking crunch in residential areas before it affects business and BART parking. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/45 "2022-12-11T00:22:38Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > feel this is a uniquely North American ‘problem’. ‘Too much parking’ is literally a phrase I have never heard anyone in Europe utter, ever. I do not think I have ever heard anyone say this in the US either. The most I can say is that people sometimes comment that there is enough or plenty of parking as some locations. “Too much” is not something I have ever heard anyone say. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/46 "2022-12-11T00:39:21Z")
This depends a LOT on where you live. There are plenty of areas in the USA where the idea of hunting for a parking space is virtually unheard of. And other areas where it’s normal daily life. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/47 "2022-12-11T02:03:18Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Are you saying San Jose BART parking is bad now or 10 years ago? There wasn’t a San Jose BART station 10 years ago. I’m sure there wasn’t a parking problem during the pandemic - but almost no one used BART then. When I went into the city pre-pandemic, my wife dropped me off at BART. No big deal since we live close to the aforementioned Fremont station - but it was still double the car use versus being able to get parking reliably. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/48 "2022-12-11T04:39:27Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Are you saying San Jose BART parking is bad now or 10 years ago? Before the new terminus BART station was built. Before2 020, when Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José stations were built. I do not have present knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/49 "2022-12-11T14:45:16Z")
Destination resort areas have the same problem. The county I work in has 4 major ski areas. The only way to get here is by bus (yeah, right) or drive. We have free bus service in the county, but that only hopes locally. Parking has become a major problem during ski season. They did start to charge for parking on the street a few years ago to try to make skiers use the designated ski parking lots (you pay for that too of course). Our ‘population’ at least quadruples during Christmas season and spring break. COVID made it worse. People did not want to fly or do their normal vacations, so after the initial shut down, people flocked here because they could just drive up to the mountains for a few days. It’s madness. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198/50 "2022-12-11T18:10:13Z")
With luck you might get to “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/san-jose-becomes-largest-city-to-abolish-minimum-parking-requirements/976198.md?page=2)