You should be paying MORE for parking.
credit: Open Cage
Think about the city nearest you and ask yourself: is there enough parking? Do you dread going to restaurants or music venues downtown because you have to drive around for ten minutes, circling the block or waiting for someone to load up the car and leave?
“Enough” parking is actually an economic and environmental question, and urban planner Donald Shoup has what may sound like an unappealing solution: eliminate free parking. What’s more, he thinks we should charge significantly more than the average dollar an hour accepted by most parking meters.
According to Shoup:
American drivers park free at the end of 99% of their vehicle trips. Just because the driver doesn’t pay for parking, doesn’t mean the cost goes away… One estimate of the total cost of free parking in the US is somewhere between what we pay for Medicare and national defense.
Shoup studied a shopping district in southern California and timed how long it took to find parking. At 3 minutes, it didn’t sound like a lot of waste, but he points out that if YOU are searching for parking, so are a lot of other people. He estimates that over the course of a year, this search for parking adds one million vehicle miles (with the associated fuel use and pollution) just for a 15-block shopping district. That’s equivalent to 4 trips to the moon.
Luckily, he’s got a few solutions up his sleeve.
1. Set the right price for curb parking
Cities can use variable pricing at different times of day or days of the week that will encourage drivers to find alternative means of transportation. As a rule of thumb, he says prices should be as low as possible, while still preserving one vacant space per block. That way, parking usage and revenue are maximized (no one can complain about a shortage in parking!) while that fruitless search for a space is eliminated.
2. Spend all the meter revenue for public services on the metered block
The biggest complaint about metering or rate increases usually comes from the restaurant and shop owners concerned about driving customers away. In truth, knowing a spot will be available may help them to attract customers, but the promise of additional services also helps. Meter money could be used for cleaning, sidewalk renovation, aesthetic improvements, green spaces, and public transportation to bring additional customers. Rather than sinking the revenue into city coffers, the businesses themselves benefit and are more likely to go along with the idea.
3. Reduce off street parking requirements
Cities often impose limits with minimum parking requirements for any new development. This, of course, drives up the cost of all development just to reduce the price of parking. Aside from preventing renovation or growth, cities are basically ensuring that we will all continue to drive individually for years to come, rather than seeking alternative forms of transportation. It’s like buying cigarettes for kids and then making them promise not to smoke.
Shoup gives a great example in the video of a city district that was opposed to metering, but benefited by the addition. It basically revitalized the neighborhood by attracting new business and customers.
So what do you think? Would it work in your town? As much as I hate paying for parking, knowing that spaces were available but that they’d cost me might affect how often I drive to downtown Chapel Hill.
Can't get enough? Try these related posts:
