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Note to Store Owners: Not All Holiday Shoppers Drive

Retailers often resist bike lanes and other street changes that reduce the number of nearby parking spaces. But research shows that fewer cars are often good for business. 

Cyclists ride on bike lanes on Bloor Street in Toronto, Canada, in 2017.  Despite resistance from many local businesses, the bike lanes gave a boost to economic activity in the area. 

Cyclists ride on bike lanes on Bloor Street in Toronto, Canada, in 2017.  Despite resistance from many local businesses, the bike lanes gave a boost to economic activity in the area. 

Photographer: Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images

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Last month, with the critical holiday shopping season looming, struggling retailers near San Francisco’s Union Square turned to Mayor London Breed for help. Her response: free car parking in nearby municipal parking lots, which stands to cost the city an estimated $700,000 to $900,000 in lost revenue.

For years, cities have used the promise of free, cheap, and/or abundant parking to attract regional shoppers. But this privileged status that cars enjoy in urban shopping areas is being questioned as never before. Pandemic-era street revisions that converted parking spaces to eating or walking spaces have, in some cities, led to permanent changes. And a growing body of evidence suggests that retailers ultimately come out ahead if their neighborhood becomes more inviting to shoppers arriving by foot, bike or transit.