Parking
Basics
Americans Can’t Afford the High Cost of Parking Requirements
Building a single parking spot can easily cost more than many Americans' life savings. In the latest issue of Access Magazine, retired UCLA economist Donald Shoup brings this point home to illustrate the huge financial burden imposed by minimum parking requirements, especially for poor households.
June 6, 2016
A Sunday Afternoon in the Land of Parking Craters
Ah, a relaxing day at the park -- in modern America.
March 11, 2016
Social Engineering! Cities That Build More Parking Get More Traffic
Build parking spaces and they will come -- in cars. New research presented this week at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board finds a direct, causal relationship between the amount of parking in cities and car commuting rates.
January 13, 2016
New Philly Mayor: Politicos Can No Longer Park on the City Hall Sidewalk
The Jim Kenney administration is off to a promising start in Philadelphia. One of the mayor's first acts in office was to end the thoroughly obnoxious practice of letting government honchos park on the sidewalk "apron" around City Hall -- a public space.
January 7, 2016
Congress Expected to Level Tax Benefit for Transit and Car Commuters
A federal policy that has encouraged Americans to drive to work instead of taking the bus or the train won't tilt the playing field toward car commuters so much.
December 16, 2015
2-Minute Video: Why Parking Minimums Are the Worst
"Minimum parking requirements act like a fertility drug for cars," Donald Shoup wrote in his celebrated investigation of parking economics, The High Cost of Free Parking. The above video, from the city of Ottawa, does a good job explaining exactly why that is and the problems it causes.
December 14, 2015
Arkansas Town Breaks Ground By Eliminating Commercial Parking Minimums
In an effort to boost development downtown, leaders in Fayetteville, Arkansas (population ~80,000), last week eliminated minimum parking requirements for commercial properties citywide.
October 9, 2015
Park(ing) Day Scenes From Coast to Coast
Today is a very fun day in cities around the U.S., when advocates for better public spaces unleash their imaginations on the dreary places where we normally store cars. Park(ing) Day is "an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks," according to its organizers.
September 18, 2015
Seattle Policy Honchos Look to Parking Reform to Make Housing Affordable
Buried under headlines about Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s plans to battle “economic apartheid” are little-noticed reforms that would reduce or do away with parking quotas that inflate the cost of housing.
July 15, 2015