WEF has found a new enemy: parking spaces. You see, parking spaces slow down climate progress and “hold back urban mobility.”

[link to igorchudov.substack.com (secure)]


The challenge: In many cities, on-street parking is either underpriced, or there’s an over-abundance of off-street parking. On average, parking takes up around a third of city land mass and with around eight spots for every car. Spaces optimized for cars reduce the ability for cities to accommodate other types of transit, or solutions such as bike sharing or scooter sharing docking stations or vehicle charging stations, says Shin-pei Tsay, Global Head of Cities and Transportation Policy, Uber Technologies.

“Let them eat cake” is the most famous quote attributed to Marie-Antoinette, the Queen of France during the French Revolution.

Similarly to Marie-Antoinette, the WEF thinks that if you cannot find parking, you would ride electric scooters instead:

Shared mobility — such as ride-sharing services and e-scooters — could be key tools in the pursuit of net-zero emissions in our cities.

But can everyone ride a scooter or afford to order numerous daily Uber rides?