Let’s talk cars

Back then, cars were relatively affordable, gas was cheap, and you could do much of the maintenance yourself. That has all changed, though. For most, cars remain an important part of our daily lives, but the costs to own and operate them are an increasing challenge. Even used cars these days seem incredibly pricey. In addition to the much higher prices for both gas and maintenance (much of which needs to be done by a professional, if one’s car is of relatively recent vintage), registration fees and the costs of insurance have skyrocketed over the years. Finally, owning a car has considerable nonmonetary costs: the time one spends in traffic, for instance, and the challenges many have in finding a place to park.

Those high costs are having an effect on California’s car culture; they are pushing people to consider life here without a car. But the pace of change is slow. The benefits of car ownership are great, and our society has largely been constructed around the automobile. Yet it is difficult to imagine life without one — especially for those of us who grew up here and thus have been steeped in car culture for our entire lives.

When my wife and I bought our Redwood City home, it had a single-lane driveway that could accommodate two cars, nose-to-tail. Back in the 1940s, the property had included a detached garage at the rear of the parcel, but at some point, a pool was installed between the house and the garage, blocking vehicular access to it.

So for years I had to park my car on the street, leaving the driveway for my wife’s car. Our lifestyle necessitated two cars, so we eventually constructed a two-car garage along the front of our property, allowing us to finally keep both cars not only on-site, but also safely inside. That was a costly project, though. It took us 15 years to get to the point where we could afford the project (which also included a complete revamp of our master bedroom and bath).

Given my relationship with cars, when I look at a proposed development project I spend a fair amount of time considering what, if any, accommodations are being made for them. I find fascinating the different approaches that projects take. Given the surprisingly high cost to construct (or leave room for) parking — for a multistory garage, $30,000-$50,000 (or more) per space — it’s no wonder developers look for ways to reduce the amount of parking associated with their projects. That leads to extremes like Redwood City’s seven-story, 176-unit fully affordable housing project at 112 Vera Ave. that includes no parking at all for the building’s residents. It also leads to innovative parking solutions such as mechanical stackers that can store two or three cars in the space normally needed for one, and shared parking in projects such as Broadway Plaza in Redwood City. There, 274 of the project’s 1,435 parking stalls will be usable by the office tenants during the day, and then turned over to the project’s residential tenants during nonworking hours.

My kids’ generation do not seem very interested in car ownership. My own generation is likely reconsidering how many cars we truly need (now that I no longer commute, my wife and I could get by with just one, saving us serious money). Add in personal transportation-related services and technologies such as Uber, Lyft and Waymo, and California likely will, over time, see a reduction in the number of cars on its roads and parked on its streets and in its lots and garages. But such a transformation will take many, many years. In the meantime, residential and office projects with little or no parking are going to struggle to find tenants willing and able to live without a car.