The Brattleboro Planning Services Department is conducting a study on the Downtown Parking system. We value your input! Please take time to fill out the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G6769RR.
The survey will be open until August 31, 2017.
The purpose of this survey is to collect and analyze data about the users of the parking facilities available downtown, and to understand the characteristics that are important to you. Your answers will help guide the consultant’s recommendations to Town officials on how parking is being utilized, determining if the existing supply of parking is sufficient to meet demand, and possible options for the future.
For drivers and non-drivers
There are questions on the survey, sort of, for non-drivers. So, even if you don’t have a car, you might want to weigh in with your point of view. There are some questions about walking and bikes. Not many, but a few.
The survey does seem to have an assumption that we need parking for automobiles, and that it must be paid for by those parking.
I’m not sure why parking should necessarily be paid for by those parking. Sure, they have the cars, but also, providing free parking is a big perk to shoppers. Malls don’t charge for parking – it’s part of the way they attract shoppers – by making it painless and easy to slide right in.
It would be fun to see the math for a free parking system. We’d drop enforcement (except when necessary, by police) which would save in salaries and benefits. PR about free parking would get picked up and people would remember it.
Of course, we could be more bold and start putting pressure on car owners to look for alternatives. We could reduce the number of parking spots, turn some lots back into business properties (and collect taxes), we could put buildings above lots, or we could put lots outside of town and provide public transport in.
Invest how much time on the survey?
There seems to be no indication of how long the survey is, or the amount of time it is likely to take. I got up to question #22 and had to stop as I had already put in a lot of time, there was no indication telling me whether i was halfway through or 95% done, and I had work that I needed to get back to.
I wonder if more people would
I wonder if more people would leave their cars at home if we had a public transportation system that actually got people where they needed to be in a reasonable amount of time.
There is often a wait of an hour and a half between buses- who has that much time to waste?
With the closing of the taxi service it means now that people have to drive to the train or bus stations .
I wish the town would work on being proactive about a reliable public transportation.
We’re a large town – we should be able to get from point A to point B without driving s car!
I vote trolley
I’d like a trolley that passes by the end of the street every 30 minutes.
They aren’t that expensive to build, relatively speaking. Some rails and some ties. Upkeep is the cost, but if we we’re paving anymore…