Badly designed modern multi storey car parks
Discussion
My local one was built 4 years ago so rather new. On entry, rather than a simple ramp in with a ticket machine and barrier they have installed kerbs, steel bollards, islands etc... That have no need to be there other than to make entry difficult. Upon exit it has 2 lanes and you need to turn left to get out. The first lane could have had a nice smoothly sweeping kerb up to the ticket machine, but no, it has a nice 10" high steel plated kerb with a 90 degree angle, with posts along it, so nobody uses it. The second lane you would think is better, but its not much. The island between the 2 exit lanes juts out into this lane so you need to take a wide swing to the right to avoid catching your back wheel on the island, except there are more pointless steel plated kerbs and bollards on the right (no reason for these as there is nothing behind them) limiting the angle that you can approach the exit. Then there's the position of the ticket machine, it's so close to the barrier that it lines up with your wing mirror, not your shoulder.
Spaces within the car park were designed for cars with no doors, the up and down ramps have pointless kerbs that stick out into the natural 'turn' of a car. Next time I'm there I will take a dashcam video and post it.
When in the USA (and other countries) I always notice how well car parks are designed, not just because they generally have more space, but they seem to be designed around a car and the way they move.
I quite agree - some car parks seem needlessly difficult to thread a large modern car through. It's not just multi-stories, though - some of the regular car parks around here have pointless kerbs on the entrance and exit for no apparent reason at all. It rather puts me off going to them, to be honest.
I had great fun in a Freelander 2, which OK it's a 4x4 but not exactly massive. Before getting one my concern was about the height but it's turned out the height is fine the issue is managing to judge all the bollards and kerbs and bits of random s
te that they seem to have put in place to make it as awkward as possible to navigate in and out of the car parks.
te that they seem to have put in place to make it as awkward as possible to navigate in and out of the car parks."Centrale" in Croydon
Single lane "Helter Skelter" all the way up about 5 stories to the 2 entrance barriers. So if a car ever breaks down on it. The whole place is bksed! And why 2 entrances since it's single fking file all the way up anyway I dunno!
THEN
When you get in there's no route around the floors that allow you to see all the spaces. So everyone just ends up driving to the 2nd floor (near the escalators) then trying to find a space there. There's probably 1/3rd of the bays empty but people just don't know where they are!
THEN after the exit barrier another Helter Skelter all the way back down. Of couse neither ramps are constant radius so you end up having to alter your line constantly the whole way up or down.
I'm old enough to remember the original car park that was there before they renamed and rebuilt the ajoining shopping centre and that was just so simple it worked. Multiple entrance/exits, Good route round the floors so you could find a space easily. Whichever cock faced architect designed this new one wants throwing from the top!
On a good note, clear day you can see Wembley Stadium
Single lane "Helter Skelter" all the way up about 5 stories to the 2 entrance barriers. So if a car ever breaks down on it. The whole place is b
ksed! And why 2 entrances since it's single fking file all the way up anyway I dunno!THEN
When you get in there's no route around the floors that allow you to see all the spaces. So everyone just ends up driving to the 2nd floor (near the escalators) then trying to find a space there. There's probably 1/3rd of the bays empty but people just don't know where they are!
THEN after the exit barrier another Helter Skelter all the way back down. Of couse neither ramps are constant radius so you end up having to alter your line constantly the whole way up or down.
I'm old enough to remember the original car park that was there before they renamed and rebuilt the ajoining shopping centre and that was just so simple it worked. Multiple entrance/exits, Good route round the floors so you could find a space easily. Whichever cock faced architect designed this new one wants throwing from the top!
On a good note, clear day you can see Wembley Stadium
I recently started working in the parking industry and with few exceptions they work on yield/space multiplied by spaces to work out how much money you make from a car park. Eg - squeeze more spaces in and by their calculations they make more money.
This of course ignores the fact that for most of the year a car park will be running at a fraction of capacity, and the cars that will come once and never come back because you have narrow spaces.
This of course ignores the fact that for most of the year a car park will be running at a fraction of capacity, and the cars that will come once and never come back because you have narrow spaces.
0a said:
I recently started working in the parking industry and with few exceptions they work on yield/space multiplied by spaces to work out how much money you make from a car park. Eg - squeeze more spaces in and by their calculations they make more money.
This of course ignores the fact that for most of the year a car park will be running at a fraction of capacity, and the cars that will come once and never come back because you have narrow spaces.
There's a multi storey carpark in Maidstone that used to work to this calculation. Lots of concrete pillars with three very narrow spaces betweem them. Fortunately they have seen sense and now there are just two nice wide spaces. I'd be quite happy for them to increase the price in that particular car park and I'd still go there instead of all the others.This of course ignores the fact that for most of the year a car park will be running at a fraction of capacity, and the cars that will come once and never come back because you have narrow spaces.
Theres a multi-storey in Windsor which is the worst I've ever experienced and happens to be my local.
Lots of paint scrapes and corresponding dings on near side rear wheelarch of many local yummy mummy wagons and spaces that I can only assume were designed for the average car from the 1950's.
Lots of paint scrapes and corresponding dings on near side rear wheelarch of many local yummy mummy wagons and spaces that I can only assume were designed for the average car from the 1950's.
When I am parking at a multi-storey, I take my battered 2004 Smart - narrow enough to navigate easily and the plastic panels withstand some abuse from inconsiderate drivers who open the doors wide and bang into my little car.
Cannot change the car parks, so have adapted my thinking to them.
Cannot change the car parks, so have adapted my thinking to them.
Steer well clear of them. The one in Leeds, the light, has an entrance that tapers in. I'm sure I could get the car in, but would be a bit worried about catching it. Then there's the ramps, tight turns (my car has one of the worst turning circles known to mankind I think) and the risk of someone dinging my P&J in the tight spaces.
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