Obsolete: Car Parks

PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN

Born: Late 18th century (for steam-driven cars).

Death: Auckland is considering banning kerbside parking on main streets, to make more room for buses and cycling.

Use: To store one car, or 12 bikes.

Description: Carl Benz is usually blamed for inventing the car in 1885, but steam-driven cars were invented a century earlier, in 1769, from which time their owners began leaving them lying about the place, blocking others’ progress — and taking the keys with them, so they couldn’t be moved. At least an inconveniently positioned horse could be click-clicked along to the next hitching rail.

The first parking restrictions were put in place in Nineveh, ancient Assyria, in 700BC by King Sennacherib. His signs read "Royal Road — let no man decrease it" and the penalty was death followed by impaling outside one’s own home.

In Japan there is a near-total ban on on-street parking and motorists are required to prove that they have a garage before being allowed to register a car.

Parking haters, be careful what you wish for: a busy street with no parked cars can be a dismal place, with traffic whizzing past pedestrians’ elbows. Parked cars don’t run people down, and they are good at separating lanes from the footpath. If all parts of a road are for moving vehicles, what happens when the road needs digging up? With no parking, there’s no spare capacity that can be temporarily cleared for diverted traffic.

Comeback: Some retailers are considering providing parking for their own customers, instead of expecting ratepayers to do so.

 - Peter Dowden