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What if you repurposed so much city that you could open up ski lanes?
In 2016 Mitch Osur (Director of Parking and Downtown Services for Aspen, Colorado) doubled the parking charges in the centre of the city. He faced a backlash from businesses who feared that they would lose business. But in fact, business went up. By 17%.
Mitch’s latest battle is with delivery trucks, which are taking up increasing amounts of space on the curb. He has partnered with Coord, an online platform to help manage curb space. Coord have developed an app that lets delivery driver see the location and availability of parking or loading zones.
Drivers can see a parking space that’s available near where they want to go, they can reserve it, and when they get there, they can book in and pay for the space. This way they have a greater incentive and information to go to those safe and legal loading spaces rather than blocking crosswalks or double parking.
The app doesn’t just benefit drivers, it also helps cities get more information about what’s happening at their curbs.
Officials can use the app to find out the length of stay. How long are these trucks staying? Are they staying for 15 minutes or are they staying for two hours? What time of day are they coming?
COVID has encouraged many authorities to experiment more with their streetscapes. As Mitch states “I think that in Aspen in particular, the COVID experience has really opened people’s eyes. Just this winter, we’re thinking about actually grooming some of the streets so that people can cross-country ski on some of the roads around town”.
And why not? ;-)
