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Parking isn't as important for restaurants as the owners think it is
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this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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The mark up on drinks, especially alcohol is where a lot of profit is. If people don’t need to drive, they probably drink more too.
When restaurants complain about a lack of parking, they really mean a lack of access. Make them accessible and they’re happy.
A lot of previous footpaths and parking spots have been repurposed as dining areas here in Sydney. I don’t think the restaurants are complaining about that and it adds vibrancy to the area that makes them more attractive too.
The real problem is that they grossly overestimate how much of their patronage comes via driving currently. So they actively fight against improved access in the form of things like bus lanes, light rail, and bike paths.
The data says that restaurant owners think over half their patrons currently drive, but that in reality it's less than one in five.
There was a similar article about store owners last year (or maybe early this year) that said they make the same mistake. That was specifically done in the context of the installation of some fairly mediocre bike paths in the Brisbane CBD (the "CityLink Cycleway"). Many had petitioned against the cycleway at first because of their misunderstanding.
Educating business owners, or disregarding their feedback entirely when they're stubbornly arguing against their own best interest, is the direction we need to be moving in.
The owners also think that people who drive spend more per person than those who walk or take public transit, but the reality is reversed.
If I'm reading the data right, they actually thought public transport users spent the most per person (they thought they were 15% of customers but made up 19% of revenue, or 1.27% of revenue per percent of customers, versus cars which had 1.13% rppc), but their gross underestimate of public transport patronage meant an underestimate of overall revenue despite this.
For fun, the rppc stats in reality were:
Which is interesting, because it does differ from what other studies have said, which is that cyclists and public transportation users tend to spend more than drivers, where in this study they spent less per person. I wonder how quality of infrastructure and service would impact that. Pedestrians still spent the most per person, though.
Ah, I found the CityLink Cycleway feedback source. It wasn't an article, it was mentioned in a Brisbane City Council meeting YouTube link with timestamp (roughly 1:32:00). Businesses on the relevant streets in the Brisbane CBD estimated 43% of their customers arrived by car, when it was actually only 19%.
Council meeting minutes (warning, Microsoft Office Online link) has slightly different figures of 44% and 19%, respectively.
Incidentally, then-Councillor Sriranganathan's speech immediately after Cr Murphy shares his figures gives a pretty good explanation of some of the reasons I described the CityLink Cycleway as "mediocre".