Parking Perceptions Don't Match Parking Realities in Charleston

The city of Charleston has an oversupply of parking, according to a recently completed study. Some lots fill up and some neighborhoods have more on-street parking permits than on-street parking spaces. "But the entire peninsular parking system — garages, surface parking, private parking and on-street spaces — doesn’t typically fill up beyond about 75 to 80 percent of capacity," according to an article in the Post and Courier.

The city’s downtown peninsula is the hardest place in the region to find parking, but the study shows that even that part of the city has excess capacity. The paper speculates that the city would be better off investing future resources in public transit or other transportation assets. "That excess capacity carries both direct and indirect costs for residents by eating up valuable real estate and reinforcing car dependency — and the associated congestion, accidents and expensive traffic fixes," the Post and Courier argues.