A ‘hot topic’ in the parking industry, especially in the application of planning principles and theories to the pricing of urban parking, is the ‘make parking more expensive’ argument. Refer to our recent blog posts, San Francisco City Parking Report, and Head out of the sand please, Mosman residents!
Coined ‘Out of the car thinking’, the approach is all about making cities more attractive for people and less attractive for cars. By raising parking costs, investing in public transportation, and making cities more livable, you’re solving a higher-order problem. It’s not the quantity of cars that needs to be parked; it’s the attitude towards cars and our dependence on them for transportation.
An excerpt from Parking Today’s blog summed up this long term solution, pioneered by Prof Donald Shoup, quite nicely:
“It involves not only changing how we drive but how we live. Make cities more attractive and people will move there. The first step – raise parking costs. Make it more difficult to park, and people will find alternatives and change their habits”.