> Parking minimums are certainly a problem, though, especially when they limit dense construction in places with excellent public transit.

If we're talking about the US, excellent public transit isn't really a thing. IMO, roughly 50% of Manhattan qualifies, and that's it.

Let's take Cambridge MA's Central Square station as an example. It's walking distance to a lot of jobs, supermarkets, parks, entertainment, etc. It has the Red Line to downtown Boston every ~3min on peak and ~6min off peak. It has multiple busy bus routes radiating out. It's not the best transit in the world, but it's easily a place you can live without a car. We should allow people to build housing without also building parking in places with transit at least this good.

If we're talking about the dense construction areas centered around train stations in the Bay Area, then excellent public transit is a thing.

Sure, most of the country doesn't have adequate transit. But some neighborhoods in most metros do. Cities should not be bound to parking minimums in those dense urban centers. If it turns out that transit is not good enough, then the market value of such housing will be appropriately low.

> If we're talking about the dense construction areas centered around train stations in the Bay Area

You mean, for example the Palo Alto Caltrain station? If you happen to work in another city center, that will suffice for your daily commute, but not much else. How do you get home from the casino at 2am? How do you get to your friend's house in the suburbs? How do you get to In-n-Out?

I'd consider this barely acceptable, far from excellent.

On some level, you have a point in here worth thinking about, but "home from the casino at 2am?" Seriously?

Employment is an excellent example of an activity which the government might want to facilitate with public transportation, and, as you point out, Caltrain is optimized for certain daily commutes. Late-night gambling-entertainment, on the other hand, belongs way down the list of priorities.

I'm not suggesting that the government should build a train to Bay101. But at the same time, it's an example of a place that thousands of people go to every day, and wouldn't be able to without cars.