Longtime readers who pay attention to my peculiar obsessions know that I really don't have anything against cars - they're very useful things! - but instead what I really hate is parking. Specifically, I hate land use regulations which require new residential developments to have multiple spots per unit and require new commercial developments to have massive parking lots for workers and customers. It's one thing to have such requirements in car-centric suburbia and exurbia, it's quite another to have them in existing dense areas where a substantial number of residents do not own cars. My block could not legally be built new today. Parking takes up an immense amount of space, and substantial reduces the quality and walkability of a neighborhood. Underground parking garages are somewhat better, but they're very expensive to construct and can reduce the economic viability of any project. Above ground garages, if done right, are marginally better but are also quite expensive.
So it's good that some municipalities are willing to reduce parking requirements by allowing developers to include carsharing spots. Less required parking = more potential for "good density" = less need for cars = fewer cars = less need for parking!
