I came across a slide as part of a presentation by Tim Barton, a transportation planner at Bunt & Associates, at the Canadian Institute of Planners – and did a double take.
What it says has big implications for traffic projections, road size and capacity, parking demand, housing costs and other significant factors in the shape and cost of our cities.
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click to enlarge
From Tim:
My presentation … looks looks at the vehicle trip rate for condo units that is quoted in the Institute of Transportations (ITE) Trip Generation Manual and compares it to locally collected data in Metro Vancouver.
To make the numbers more ‘real’ rather than quoting a per unit rate, I have applied it to a hypothetical 200-unit condominium. As noted, the ITE rate is more than double the average rate of the locally collected data.
Most of the local examples are close to rapid transit stations, but then again, that’s where the majority of towers are being built. The exception is UniverCity where the rate is comparable to the others even without the benefit of Skytrain.
ITE does recommend using local data where available. The problems arise where some municipalities still prefer to use the base ITE rates.
Big implications for the cost of housing, too, when underground parking can cost over $50,000 a space – and may not be needed.
Tim is doing a version of his talk next Thursday at the Tri-Cities Greendrinks Group.
Thanks Gord!
Same story everywhere. Traffic lower than projected, overbuilt parking. (Can we see the slide for peak occupancy rates? I am assuming there is one.)
UniverCity may not have SkyTrain, but it does have a certain regional destination rather close by. I expect similar numbers for Wesbrook Village near UBC. Lots of new buildings, very few new car trips. My completely anecdotal, low frequency observation is that most of the car traffic in Wesbrook village is from other west side neighbourhoods.
In 2012 on the block south of the village, 40% of traffic is through traffic shortcutting from Marine to 16th.
http://planning.ubc.ca/sites/planning.ubc.ca/files/documents/transportation/reports/Fall-2012-Transportation-Status-Report-25-Mar-13.pdf
Instead of measuring car trips, why not just directly count empty overnight parking stalls? Wouldnt that be a more accurate measure of parking requirements?
As Vancouver resortificates, places like Coal Harbour pied a terres might have cars parked but rarely used. Same goes for other expensive areas and buildings with retired seniors.