Parking Garages

[texaskdog]

At the grocery store, I usually try to park next to the corral.  One, you don't have a door-dinger parked next to you, and, two, I always like to take a cart from the corral into the store with me because they often are out of the smaller carts inside the store, and I almost never buy enough groceries for a full-size cart.

I do that too...it's not how close your space is, it's where you need to finish.  Of course there are all those lazy people who don't bother to put their carts away.

[vdeane]

Yeah, it's amazing how lazy people can be.  Instead of walking their carts into a row, they just shove them in the corral, so everything's a jumbled mix of small and large carts.  Because I'm a neat freak, you can almost always tell which corral I returned my cart to, because it's the one that's been meticulously organized and straightened out.

[kphoger]

I should mention (and I only do this when my family isn't with me)...  If I see that someone has parked in two spaces at once, because they're so obsessed with their car that nobody should be allowed within eight feet of it, I do my best to squeeze into whatever is left of one of the spaces–hopefully with my side mirror a quarter-inch away from their side mirror.  If I have to crawl out the passenger's side door, so be it.

I don't mind people taking up two spaces way out in the back of the lot where hardly anyone parks, but I just can't stand it when they do it towards the front of the lot.

[jeffandnicole]

I OCD on how the corrals are placed in the first place.  Usually, they are just placed willynilly; sometimes, they are in a nice row across all the parking aisles.  Either way, you wind up being near one, or being far away from one.

Let's take an average grocery store parking lot.  For a fairly large grocery store, you may have about 5 double-stack parking lanes on average.  Smaller stores, a bit less; Targets & Walmarts, a bit more.  For my example, I'll do 4 double stacks aisles, and 2 single stacks aisles on either end.

In this example, there are 6 full (double) corrals, and 3 half ones, with the orange spots detailing my preferred placement for the corrals:



However, they are strategically placed so you are never more than 3 parking spots away from a corral!  Green spots are the cars; with the arrow showing the closest spot to the vehicle...always within a 3 spot walk!



This, personally, is how a parking lot should look.  If you have fewer corrals or a larger parking lot, the same thing could be accomplished by walking no more than 4 spots.  Or maybe 5 spots.  But once you get that far, people start getting lazy and don't want to walk it, so they just leave them in the middle, up on the curb, or whatever.

[cl94]

"Ramp" is a regionalism most common in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes states. If you say "parking garage" in Buffalo, people will look at you like you have two heads. Me? I'm from the "garage" part of the country.

As far as where I park, as close as I can reasonably get to my destination or the elevator. I'm not afraid to go up a few more levels (which many seem to have an aversion to), but I won't park on the roof if it's hot or precipitating.

[kphoger]

walking no more than 4 spots.  Or maybe 5 spots.  But once you get that far, people start getting lazy and don't want to walk it, so they just leave them in the middle, up on the curb, or whatever.

There are plenty of people out there who park immediately next to the corral but still can't be bothered to put their cart away before driving off....

I've occasionally been known to walk up to someone's car as they're getting in, glare at them briefly, grab their cart, and put it away.

[UCFKnights]

Fourth priority is if I'm familiar with the garage and there are particular spaces I know to avoid because they're hard to get out of due to the location or things like that (example might be if there's a poorly-placed pillar).

I like to take those spots as most people avoid them and I hate searching for a spot. I'm good at parking my car at tight spaces and squeezing out my door if need be, so I don't mind that part of it.

[Bruce]

Around here, a "parking ramp" refers to the ramp to and from a parking garage, often an underground one in downtown. Calling the entire garage a ramp sounds weird.

[1995hoo]

walking no more than 4 spots.  Or maybe 5 spots.  But once you get that far, people start getting lazy and don't want to walk it, so they just leave them in the middle, up on the curb, or whatever.

There are plenty of people out there who park immediately next to the corral but still can't be bothered to put their cart away before driving off....

I've occasionally been known to walk up to someone's car as they're getting in, glare at them briefly, grab their cart, and put it away.

I've often wondered what I would do if I found someone leaving a cart touching my car (I have indeed seen that happen to other people's cars). Thankfully, I have yet to find out.

I should mention (and I only do this when my family isn't with me)...  If I see that someone has parked in two spaces at once, because they're so obsessed with their car that nobody should be allowed within eight feet of it, I do my best to squeeze into whatever is left of one of the spaces–hopefully with my side mirror a quarter-inch away from their side mirror.  If I have to crawl out the passenger's side door, so be it.

I don't mind people taking up two spaces way out in the back of the lot where hardly anyone parks, but I just can't stand it when they do it towards the front of the lot.

I'm reluctant to do that only because I don't want someone keying my car or intentionally sideswiping it on the way out.

[formulanone]

I'm in British Columbia this week, and they call the multi-level parking facility a "parking garage", so "parkade" must be regional.

With whom are you speaking? While "parkade" is far from universal, I hear it fairly often in BC. I generally hear "parking garage" when at hotels. Locals speaking in relaxed conversation seem to prefer "parkade".

I asked a few people at work, and they said they use them interchangeably.

Sure enough, Vancouver International Airport uses "parkade" (which looks like a portmanteau of arcade and park).

[UCFKnights]

I should mention (and I only do this when my family isn't with me)...  If I see that someone has parked in two spaces at once, because they're so obsessed with their car that nobody should be allowed within eight feet of it, I do my best to squeeze into whatever is left of one of the spaces–hopefully with my side mirror a quarter-inch away from their side mirror.  If I have to crawl out the passenger's side door, so be it.

I don't mind people taking up two spaces way out in the back of the lot where hardly anyone parks, but I just can't stand it when they do it towards the front of the lot.

I find it just as obnoxious in the back of the lot. There's a few people who do it, and then if the lot fills up, they're taking up the last available spaces by doing that still. If you want to make it less likely someone parks next to you, parking in the back already accomplishes that. I know I had a friend who hit someone who parked in 2 spaces, he took pictures of how there car was completely not in a single space, and successfully used it to argue his liability down to a smaller percentage of the accident. If they were only on the lines, he would have been fully liable.

[jp the roadgeek]

I'm in British Columbia this week, and they call the multi-level parking facility a "parking garage", so "parkade" must be regional.

With whom are you speaking? While "parkade" is far from universal, I hear it fairly often in BC. I generally hear "parking garage" when at hotels. Locals speaking in relaxed conversation seem to prefer "parkade".

I asked a few people at work, and they said they use them interchangeably.

Sure enough, Vancouver International Airport uses "parkade" (which looks like a portmanteau of arcade and park).

It's definitely "parking garage" here in the northeast.  I've never heard the term parking ramp; it sounds like a component piece of a parking garage.  When I hear the term "Parkade", I think of a shopping plaza, because there are a couple of plazas near me called Manchester/Meriden Parkade.  In Europe, especially Britain, I've heard them referred to as "car parks".

[Buck87]

Usually just the first spot available, though if there's plenty of spots available I would try to get close to the elevator.

And it has always been a parking "garage" to me. I have occasionally heard "deck" or "structure", but never "ramp" until reading this thread 

[bing101]

I go for the roof of a parking garage though and avoid peak hours at a parking garage.

[GenExpwy]

I think the Rochester NY dialect leans toward ramp garage, as in "South Ave. Ramp Garage" .

In my opinion, that makes most literal sense:

• The word garage already means a place to park, so parking garage is just redundant. If you park your car in your garage at home, then that's also a parking garage, isn't it?
• A parking ramp could just be some highway ramp where parking is permitted.
• But a ramp garage is a garage that has ramps – what a perfect description!

[steviep24]

I think the Rochester NY dialect leans toward ramp garage, as in "South Ave. Ramp Garage" .

In my opinion, that makes most literal sense:

• The word garage already means a place to park, so parking garage is just redundant. If you park your car in your garage at home, then that's also a parking garage, isn't it?
• A parking ramp could just be some highway ramp where parking is permitted.
• But a ramp garage is a garage that has ramps – what a perfect description!

Never heard the term ramp used in Rochester for their parking facilities, they just use garage, as in Civic Center Garage, Court St. Garage, etc. Ramp is more of a Buffalo thing.

[slorydn1]

I always try to find a spot at the far end furthest away from the entrance to avoid anyone parking alongside and denting my car. This applies to all parking lots. I find it's laziness which causes cars to cluster nearest the store, elevator, stairs. No one wants to spend an additional 30 seconds walking to where they want to go.

^THIS sums it up for me^

My wife jokes that I should probably just leave the car at home and walk to the store. It might be shorter, lol.

[1995hoo]

One of the BEST parking spaces I've used was when the Total Beverage in Springfield was located on the east side of Brandon Avenue. See Street View link below–the space is the diagonal one directly ahead of the camera viewpoint between the Acura sedan and the Mercedes SUV. Unfortunately, Total Beverage moved across the street and the new lot doesn't have a space like this one. I should note that when I used to use that space, people didn't leave the shopping carts all over the grass like that. If I were to park there now, I probably wouldn't use that space after having seen this.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7806619,-77.1827658,3a,60y,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sHgTSGjWQl6EIzoPy84kT4Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[vdeane]

I think the Rochester NY dialect leans toward ramp garage, as in "South Ave. Ramp Garage" .

In my opinion, that makes most literal sense:

• The word garage already means a place to park, so parking garage is just redundant. If you park your car in your garage at home, then that's also a parking garage, isn't it?
• A parking ramp could just be some highway ramp where parking is permitted.
• But a ramp garage is a garage that has ramps – what a perfect description!

Never heard the term ramp used in Rochester for their parking facilities, they just use garage, as in Civic Center Garage, Court St. Garage, etc. Ramp is more of a Buffalo thing.

Ditto.  The first time I ever heard "ramp" was last year when someone from Region 9 was describing where to park for a rail meeting.

[sparker]

I OCD on how the corrals are placed in the first place.  Usually, they are just placed willynilly; sometimes, they are in a nice row across all the parking aisles.  Either way, you wind up being near one, or being far away from one.

Let's take an average grocery store parking lot.  For a fairly large grocery store, you may have about 5 double-stack parking lanes on average.  Smaller stores, a bit less; Targets & Walmarts, a bit more.  For my example, I'll do 4 double stacks aisles, and 2 single stacks aisles on either end.

In this example, there are 6 full (double) corrals, and 3 half ones, with the orange spots detailing my preferred placement for the corrals:



However, they are strategically placed so you are never more than 3 parking spots away from a corral!  Green spots are the cars; with the arrow showing the closest spot to the vehicle...always within a 3 spot walk!



This, personally, is how a parking lot should look.  If you have fewer corrals or a larger parking lot, the same thing could be accomplished by walking no more than 4 spots.  Or maybe 5 spots.  But once you get that far, people start getting lazy and don't want to walk it, so they just leave them in the middle, up on the curb, or whatever.

Please, please, please, please start consulting with Wal-Mart.  Their "neighborhood grocery store" outlet here in SJ has only three corrals total for six rows of parking, plus an outlying row along their property line.  As a result a normal percentage of spaces blocked by carts is about 25-33%!  That shot upwards to over a half during the recent rainstorms!  And their local "management" at the store just shrugs their shoulders in a "what can we do" attitude.  But the problem of stray carts in parking spaces seems to be widespread enough to qualify as a local phenomenon; about the only store that seems to regularly patrol the lot and pick up carts is Trader Joe's!   

[formulanone]

I forgot to mention that I avoid spaces right at the ends of adjoining passageways between levels; seems a good place for someone to clip the bumpers of your parked vehicle in dim lighting and cramped quarters. If there's a giant slab of concrete support flanking my bumper, then it's okay!

I see lots of "close calls" in airport and rental car parking garages, although usually the latter do not park vehicles very close to those kinds of passageways (San Francisco International Airport seems to be a notable exception).

[1995hoo]

Yeah, it's amazing how lazy people can be.  Instead of walking their carts into a row, they just shove them in the corral, so everything's a jumbled mix of small and large carts.  Because I'm a neat freak, you can almost always tell which corral I returned my cart to, because it's the one that's been meticulously organized and straightened out.

You would have been quite busy had you been at the Wegmans I visited this afternoon.... (This annoys me big league, though not enough to clean it up, especially since the employees were coming around to haul the carts back to the store anyway. The lighting makes it hard to tell, but both sides were jumbles of small and large carts.)

[kphoger]

I might go crazy if I pushed carts for a living these days, with different-sized carts.