From ride sharing and expanding public transit systems to thepromise of autonomous vehicles, cities will likely need lessparking in the future. The question: when and how do cities startto reduce parking requirements? Some cities have already started toreduce parking requirements, especially cities with alternativetransportation options. We talked with Chrissy ManciniNichols and Steffen Turoff ofWalker Consultants about the pathway to reducingparking requirements.

“Some cities, especially those with ample transit and walkableneighborhoods, have implemented policies that either eliminate orreduce parking minimums or cap parking at a max,” Nichols tellsGlobeSt.com. “For example, San Francisco has reduced parkingrequirements to meet transit and housing goals. Chicagohas reduced parking requirements within a half-mile of a CTA railstation. Even in smaller markets, Fargo, New Orleans, Pittsburgh,and other cities have eliminated parking minimums in downtowndistricts. Buffalo is the first city to completely eliminateparking minimums citywide. It did so to advance overall citygoals.  We're waiting to see if others follow on acity-wide scale.”