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Today I happened to be parked in a workplace parking lot, next to a newly built residential area in a major Swedish city. As the Tesla did not turn off the lights, I was thus harassed by locals who desperately asked if I would move so they could park in the workplace parking lots. Which raises some questions about these new parking-free residential areas and the desperation shown by the car-owning middle class – those who can afford these homes drive from the former industrial area with little access to public transport.
We don’t really have that problem with the farm – we’ve probably had about 30 cars at most, and then it wasn’t full or required adult tetris for people to come and leave.
Two-thirds of all the cars in the workplace parking lot were covered in snow after the night’s snowfall, and thus did not belong to those who were actually there working, but were permanently parked at the workplace, which is located in an industrial area, next to which there has been a major development with new multimillion-dollar apartments.
But no parking lots have been built. There is a parking lot with high fees on the edge of the area, but otherwise it is car-free and there are footpaths between the houses.
When I found a parking space before 17:00, I sat down and waited to complete my mission, while car after car desperately circulated in the parking lot starting from about 17:00. No less than two of the locals got out and asked if I was going to drive off soon, because the Tesla’s lights didn’t shut down as long as I stayed there. The last of them was very convincing, so I moved and fully parked in front of some of the cars with 20 cm of snow on top.
Seems like a brilliant idea to build housing on the outskirts of a major city, in an area that lacks good public transport, and not build any car parks.
And honestly – if you buy homes in that price range, you have two white-collar jobs. That both have a workplace within walking distance or with good public transport, when the alternative is to just hop on the ring road and drive directly to work, is unlikely. So it’s cars that matter.
But also many of those long-term parked snow-covered cars.
It’s not young people with bicycles who buy apartments for three million kroner.
Wonder how the people who actually work at the place feel about their parking lot always being full of local people’s cars? No P permit was required, although it is clearly signposted with the name of the workplace at the entrance and nothing else.
Ironically, there are several hectares of unused flat green space around the site, which costs money in the form of mowing. But they should be exploited too. For more housing. Without parking spaces.