Parking Perspectives

For most of the history of the automobile, parking has been remarkably simple. You drove somewhere, found a space, parked the car and went about your day. The parking space was part of the physical environment, almost invisible once you had found it. That model is beginning to change.

The search for parking usually starts with a simple question: How much does it cost? That makes sense. Parking can be an unexpected expense, particularly in busy urban areas where rates can vary dramatically from one location to another. A driver may compare a garage, a municipal lot and street parking before choosing the cheapest option. But price is only one part of what parking actually costs.

For many condo owners, a parking spot is one of the most valuable pieces of property attached to their home. In a city where parking can be difficult to find and expensive to secure, having a dedicated space can be a significant convenience. But there is another side to that equation that is easy to overlook. What happens when the parking spot is sitting empty?

For most people, parking is something that belongs to a particular place. You park in a driveway, a garage, a commercial lot, an office building or a municipal parking facility. Once you leave that space, it is no longer part of your thinking. But what happens when the person who normally uses a parking space does not need it?

There is a familiar moment that happens before almost every major event. You have the tickets, you know where you are going and you have given yourself enough time to get there. Then you start looking for somewhere to park. The first garage is full. The second is more expensive than expected. Street parking is either restricted or impossible to find. After a few minutes of circling the area, the event that was supposed to be the enjoyable part of the evening has not even star

For many businesses, the parking lot has a predictable daily rhythm. Employees arrive in the morning, customers come and go throughout the day, and by late afternoon the spaces begin to empty. By the evening, a parking lot that may have been busy only hours earlier can be sitting largely unused. The asphalt is still there, the spaces are still available and the property owner is still paying for the land, maintenance and upkeep. What changes is simply who needs the parking an

Most homeowners never think about their driveway as an asset that can generate income. It is simply part of the property, a place to park the car and perhaps an occasional spot for a visitor. Once the car is gone, the driveway usually becomes invisible. It sits there through the afternoon, evening or overnight, taking up valuable space without doing anything.

There is a strange contradiction at the heart of parking. Drivers can spend 20 minutes looking for a place to leave their car while, somewhere nearby, an empty driveway or parking space sits unused. A business may have vacant spaces after closing. An office may have dozens of spaces sitting empty on a work-from-home day. A church parking lot can be nearly empty for six days of the week and completely full on the seventh.

Finding a parking spot in a busy Canadian city can feel like a treasure hunt. You circle the block, hoping for a miracle, only to end up frustrated and late. Sound familiar? Well, you’re not alone. Urban parking is a challenge everywhere, but especially in bustling cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. The good news? There are smart ways to find convenient parking spaces without losing your mind or your patience.

The search for extra income has become a permanent part of modern life. People sell things they no longer need, freelance after work, rent out rooms, deliver food and look for ways to make better use of the assets they already own. The appeal is understandable. When the cost of living rises, even a relatively small additional source of income can make a difference.

A church parking lot can represent a significant investment. There is the land itself, along with paving, lighting, maintenance, snow removal, insurance and ongoing upkeep. Yet the lot may have its highest utilization for only a few hours each week. That does not mean the parking lot is a bad investment. It means the asset has a very specific utilization pattern.

Parking has a funny way of making people waste time without realizing how much time they are actually losing. You leave home with enough time to get where you are going, only to spend the next 15 minutes driving around looking for somewhere to leave the car. You pass a full garage, circle the block, check another street and eventually find a space several blocks away. By the time you walk to your destination, the simple act of parking has turned into part of the journey.

Parking spots are usually considered part of a business's infrastructure. It is there for employees, customers, tenants or visitors, and when those people leave, the parking lot is simply empty. Nobody thinks much about it. The asphalt remains, the spaces remain, and the property continues to serve its primary purpose.

You know the feeling. You arrive at your destination with somewhere to be, but instead of getting out of the car, you start looking for a parking spot. You drive past the destination once. Then again. You turn down another street. A sign tells you that parking is restricted. Another lot is full. The convenient option costs more than you expected. Eventually, you find a space, but by the time you park, you have spent 15, 20 or even 30 minutes doing something that should have t

There is a good chance that at least one parking space you have access to sits empty for a significant part of the day. It might be your driveway while you are at work. It might be a second parking space that you rarely use. It could be the parking lot behind a business after closing time, or a church parking lot that is largely empty Monday through Saturday. Most people see an empty parking space and see nothing. But to someone looking for a place to park, that same space ca

For decades, the way people parked their cars barely changed. You drove to your destination, circled the block a few times, hoped to spot an open space, and—if luck was on your side—squeezed into something nearby. If not, frustration (and often a hefty parking fee) became part of the experience.

In cities across North America, bike lanes have become a hot topic. Advocates say they reduce traffic, improve safety, and create greener, more livable streets. Critics often counter that bike lanes take away valuable road space and, in many cases, reduce the amount of on-street parking available to residents, businesses, and visitors.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been exploring one of the most overlooked — yet most frustrating — aspects of urban life: parking. From circling crowded city blocks to underused driveways sitting empty, parking represents both a daily challenge and a tremendous opportunity.

If you’ve ever driven into downtown Toronto—or honestly, any major city—you already know: parking sucks. It’s expensive, it’s stressful, and it eats up far more of your time (and sanity) than it should. And while Toronto is one of the worst offenders, the truth is that parking headaches are a shared experience across big cities and even their suburbs.

Here’s something we don’t talk about enough: parking spaces. You see them everywhere—vast lots, half-empty garages. But what if those spaces, instead of being dead weight, could be part of the solution? Shared parking has the potential to help not just drivers, but all of us—housing, affordability, climate, walk ability. At Parker, we believe that smarter parking can mean a smarter city.