Want Less Traffic? Price Your Parking Right

UCLA Professor Donald Shoup demonstrates that by pricing curb parking too low, cities are contributing to traffic and pollution and losing out on revenue.

1 minute read

March 30, 2007, 6:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera

"...a surprising amount of traffic isn't caused by people who are on their way somewhere. Rather, it is caused by those who have already arrived. Streets are clogged, in part, by drivers searching for a place to park."

"As is often the case, the prices are wrong. A national study of downtown parking found that the average price of curb parking is only 20 percent that of parking in a garage, giving drivers a strong incentive to cruise."

"If cities want to reduce congestion, clean the air, save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve neighborhoods - and do it all quickly - they should charge the right price for curb parking, and spend the resulting revenue to improve local public services."

FULL STORY: Gone Parkin’

Thursday, March 29, 2007 in The New York Times

Transportation United States

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