Parking wasn’t as standardized as it is today, with all the
laws and regulations that come with vehicle ownership in most countries around
the world. However, it does come with a rich history.
Today, we
take a closer look at one of the underappreciated parts of vehicle ownership:
parking. Believe it or not, a lot has changed over the years!
We look back
at what was once standard roadside parking to the future of parking
in Australia.
The History of Parking
The most
common type of parking that many people have all been used to is residential
parking, where they usually keep the vehicles that they own. However, when it
comes to actually using their cars in public spaces, this is where it all
changes.
Over the
years, drivers have been parking in commercial parking spots usually provided
by business owners that we are transacting with. For example, if you go to your
local store, there is a parking slot for customers, and if you go to work,
there could be employee parking provided.
However,
crowding has started to become an issue, especially in major centers of human
activity such as central business districts, or even just significant business
activity occurring in a particular area. More humans always equaled more
vehicles, and since space became an issue, regulation soon had to follow suit.
One of the
first solutions that was implemented was paid parking meters, which allowed to
create order amongst vehicles in densely populated areas with lots of activity.
However,
this was not enough as there just wasn’t ample space to accommodate vehicle
influx in significant cities. Soon came the rise of commercial parking spaces,
which allowed for more vehicles to be packed into concentrated areas of land.
Thereafter, parking buildings soon became the norm.
Paid parking
meters, though, remained relevant even with the rise in paid parking space.
Parking Today
Nowadays,
parking is being built into high-rise buildings, with commercial parking being
extremely viable enterprises because of the need of people for vehicle real
estate. Almost all business establishments will factor in the influx of people
with vehicles coming into their enterprises and prepare for the flow by
allocating parking to their cars.
However,
there remains the problem of people needing parking on demand and an overflow
of vehicles on the road. Some highly populated cities want to advocate for
regulation wherein a buyer cannot purchase a vehicle if they don’t have private
parking in their residence.
Technology,
however, is playing a pivotal role in the way drivers are going to park their
vehicles in the future—and that’s not about cars that can park themselves.
Parking in the Future
Parking is
getting expensive and is becoming a great luxury to have, in fact, some places
even offer to park in advance because of demand.
Buildings
with automated parking systems are not exactly a thing of the future anymore,
as some countries already have them. Car manufacturers take advantage of this
to make sure that vehicles are not wasting space once they’re done from the
factory floor. Another advantage is that the manual labor required to park
these new vehicles is kept to a minimum.
However, we
might see more of these systems in major cities around the world because it
saves a lot of space by allowing a “robot” or automated machinery park your
car. There is the concern that machinery may break down and disable the access
that you have for your vehicle, but with the advent of technology, it seems as
if these problems might be mitigated if given enough thought.
This
sort of automated car park technology has been in use in Japan for at least a
decade now. We are seeing this technology being
implemented
in some cities today, where it takes about three to five minutes for a car to
be retired.
By utilizing
this method, you can pack four times as many cars into one space.
There has
also been a rise in parking applications for drivers, and this seems to have
been fueled by the need for people to find parking spaces on the fly. This has
propagated due to the number of smartphones and better internet access across
the board. Increased connectivity options have made this possible.
The
connectivity revolution has even allowed people who are moving houses to stay
connected regardless of the journey. Check out how people are staying connected
whilst moving article.
Innovation
in parking will continue to be something motorists and even vehicle owners look
forward to. As we move towards a future with more advanced vehicles, we should
see either a rise in automated parking and the ways smart cars will be stored.
They could be underground, or they could just drive themselves around!
