My Car Parking Theory

<RANT>

It's as simple at this:

This can be applied to any car park, a flat level one, a multi-storey one, wherever you go, wherever there are a lot of cars trying to park into already busy carpark.

What really winds me up is the fact that almost everyone always parks in the first space that they find when searching for a space in a car park.

But I think that it would actually do the majority of people a favour by saving them time and stress if you didn't park in the first space that you find in car park.

After much thought about this (mainly when queuing to park in car-parks) I came up with this simple rule:

"When parking and you find a space, check you rear view mirror. If there is someone behind you, do not park in it, but drive on, until you find the next space".

Let me demonstrate why I think this should be:

Three cars enter a car park (Red, Blue, and Green). There are nine bays to park in, three of which are free (Number 1, 2 and 3 here) - enough to accomodate the cars which have just entered.

Now here's what might typically happen:

Red car comes to space number 1, and stops and parks into it, whilst the blue and green cars wait patiently for him to finish before they can drive on.

Then the blue car finds space number 2, and stops are parks into, whilst the green car has to wait again for him to finish.

Eventually the green car carries on, finds space number 3 and can park into it (whilst holding up no one behind them!)

OK... so now let's apply this with my rule.

Red car gets to space 1 - he has blue car car behind him, so he carries on. Blue car gets to space 1 - he has green car behind him, so he carried on.

Green car get to space 1 - he has no cars behind him! So he parks in space 1, and note that he has not had to wait for any cars in front of him to park, nor does he hold up anyone behind him.

Meanwhile, Red car has come to space 2 - He has blue car behind him so carries on.

Blue car gets to space 2, and as Green car has now parked in space 1 he has no car behind him and therefore parks in space 2. Note that he has also not had to wait for any cars in front of him to park, nor has he held up anyone behind him.

Red car get to space 3, there are no cars behind him as the blue car and green car have now parked, and so he goes into space three, he hasn't held up anyone.

Ok, so he has had to drive a further to get to that space, but when you calculate the time involved you can see the difference.

Timings Comparison

• From the entrance to the first space it takes 30 seconds to drive.
• Each space that you drive past takes 5 seconds.
• It takes 60 seconds for a car to see a space, stop, and reverse park into it successfully.

Without using "Geoff's Rule"...

Red car:
From entrance to space number 1: 50 seconds
To park into space number 1: 60 seconds
Total time taken to park: 110 seconds

Blue car:
From entrance to space number 2: 125 seconds (He has had to wait 60 seconds for the red car to park)
To park into space number 2: 60 seconds
Total time taken to park: 185 seconds

Green car:
From entrace to space number 3: 185 seconds (He has had to wait for both the red car and blue car to park)
To park into space number 3: 60 seconds
Total time taken to park: 245 seconds

Total time for all cars to park: 110 + 185 + 245 = 540 seconds

Using "Geoff's Rule"...

Red car:
From entrance to space number 3: 75 seconds
To park into space number 1: 60 seconds
Total time taken to park: 135 seconds

Blue car:
From entrance to space number 2: 65 seconds (He has not had to wait for anyone in front of him to park this time)
To park into space number 2: 60 seconds
Total time taken to park: 125 seconds

Green car:
From entrace to space number 3: 50 seconds (He has not had to wait for two cars in front of him to park this time)
To park into space number 3: 60 seconds
Total time taken to park: 110 seconds

Total time for all cars to park: 135 + 125 + 110 = 370 seconds

Overall, it's quicker using my rule by 170 seconds.

The red car admittedly has a longer drive time, but both the green and the blue have a quicker drive time.

This though is a very simple example. I'm sure that if I could be bothered to expand it I suspect that there are greater time savings to be had with a model with more cars and spaces involved.

</RANT>

Some additional thoughts:

If you're not having to wait behind anyone whilst they park in a multi-storey, you won't get caught half way up a ramp and have to put your hand-break on, and then pull away without rolling back into the car behind you.

The driver in the front of the queue knows that they are normally holding everyone else up when they attempt to park in the first space that they find and getting stressed by this it puts pressure on them to park quickly - sometimes meaning that they make more of hash of it than they normally would, taking them longer.

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My idea about how time could be saved when parking your car in a multi-storey (and similar) car parks.