The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup

Author:Donald Shoup
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Part III

Cashing in on Curb Parking

Plans are policies, and policies, in a democracy at any rate, spell politics. The question is not whether planning will reflect politics, but whose politics it will reflect.

—NORTON LONG

Chapter 15

Buying Time at the Curb

I’ll tell you how to solve Los Angeles’ traffic problem. Just take all the cars off the road that aren’t paid for.

—WILL ROGERS

Free curb parking is like rent control for cars. High demand for a limited supply of free curb spaces predictably leads to shortages, and to deal with this problem cities impose off-street parking requirements that increase the cost of housing. Free parking for cars thus raises the cost of housing for people. But suppose cities remove off-street parking requirements and begin to charge market prices for curb parking. If cities charge prices to keep about 15 percent of curb spaces vacant—flexible prices to balance the variable demand for curb parking with the fixed supply of curb spaces—drivers will always be able to find an available curb space at their destinations. Market-priced curb parking will save time, reduce traffic, conserve energy, improve air quality, reduce housing costs, and increase public revenue. But two major problems—one practical, the other political—prevent cities from charging the right price for curb parking. The practical problem is how to collect the revenue, and the political problem is that everyone wants to park free. This chapter describes new technology that has removed the practical problem. The following two chapters will propose a new strategy for distributing curb parking revenue to overcome the political problem.

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