" it seems to be a lot easier to find a place to park for 15-30 minutes when you want to stop by a local shop, then it used to be when you had to pay even to park 15 minutes, and I'd be surprised if local shopkeepers aren't happy tp see more customers passing through."
This doesn't quite make sense - if parking prices are reduced people will park longer, fewer people will park in total and it'll be harder to find a place. If prices are increased you end up with more free space because people don't park for as long and there are other benefits like less traffic circulating looking for parking. In short you might be seeing the effects of the rise in tariffs over the last few years incentivising shorter stays, rather than 'free' parking on its own. In that sense a structure with a cheap initial rate and steep increases for longer stays might actually be quite efficient in encouraging turnover of spaces, although not as efficient as prioritising non-car access to shops.
[of course in the case of TGT and indeed much of Chiswick the degree to which shop use is related to parking availability is vastly overstated, due to the demographics of the area, but people myth-make all the time about this and go off on one when this is pointed out.] |