More Residents and Workers Using Fewer Parking Spaces in Philly's Center City

An article by Jim Saksa begins with a question: "If everyone drove to work in Center City, how much parking would we need?"

The answer is included in a new report from Center City District: "2.6 square miles of surface parking. The size of William Penn’s 1682 plan for the city? 2.2 miles." Another way of quantifying that scale of parking need: it also equals 28 Comcast-Center-Side parking garages.

That's the big ticket item is a collection of findings reported in the most recent edition of Center City Reports. Saksa calls on the expertise of Center City District Executive Director Paul Levy to explain the findings of the report. Center City, like many other downtowns around the country, is growing—both in terms of jobs and residents.

Apropos of that initial anecdote about parking: parking spaces have decreased while available parking has increased. Clearly more of the new residents and workers in Center City are choosing other modes of transportation besides the car.