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The following article was published in our article directory on May 23, 2010.
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The Myth Behind "Free Parking"

Article Category: Society

Author Name: Mark Trumper

We've all heard that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but with 99% of motor journeys ending in "free parking", just how free is free?

From private businesses to public ordinances – free parking has become a subject of a great deal of policy debate for the country. This is after 30 years or more of parking being a comatose issue, but as car usage comes under increasing scrutiny as part of overall federal and State environmental and planning concerns, where we park the wheels is now high on everyone's agenda.

Some quick stats will throw this into perspective for you aside from the 99% of journeys ending in free parking:

• the difference between cruising for cheaper curbside parking and offstreet parking in NYC translates to a $100,000 salary increase for employees;
• parking spaces available are unused for most of the time because planning dogma requires enough parking for the busiest time of the year, i.e. the Christmas shopping period;
• the cost of complying with California parking ordinances is increasing the cost of new developments by 10% to 20%; and
• cars are left unused, i.e. parked, for more than 95% of the time.

It is not just California which is feeling the cost of "free" parking with inflated development costs passed on to buyers. Parking regulations, especially those governing parking densities and the allocation of spaces for the disabled (again, which are largely left unused) has had a significant effect in increasing costs for everyone across the country.

Strangely enough, curbside parking meters were not introduced by any municipal office – a retailer introduced them in 1935 by a store owner in Oklahoma. He was looking to make sure that there was always a "free" parking space for new customers and the best way of ensuring this was to charge for parking and thus, make sure his parking spaces were not monopolized by the few. Despite fears that parking meters are a means of increasing municipal revenues, they are in fact a primary tool for controlling the level of air pollution caused by automobile emissions. Something which was picked up by New York City and others when it came to implementing Clean Air Act controls – the best way to minimize emissions was to effectively block car use in the downtown area by restricting parking availability.

There is also the cost associated with the traffic congestion which is created by providing excessive parking facilities, especially in downtown areas. The more parking available, the greater the incidence of car use as opposed to public transport, and the greater the traffic congestion at peak times – during the morning and evening commutes as downtown business employees travel to and from work. Congestion easily accounts for the doubling in commute times for car drivers, and congestion affects the entire efficiency of the area affected. There are the costs associated with reduced productivity and higher road maintenance costs, as well as the impact on environmental quality which directly impacts healthcare costs across all residents and commuters.

Boulder, CO demonstrates an interesting take on parking policy: downtown retailers and merchants found they were unable to compete with out-of-town malls for parking facilities, so they purposely restricted downtown parking. Parking revenues generated by charging for what had been, "free parking" were then directed into improving the public transport links by rail and buses, into the downtown area using "Park and Ride". This increased business in the downtown area because it reduced the journey time (due to reduced congestion), and improved the shopping experience with reduced traffic and increased pedestrianisation.

Keywords: free parking, labels, car decals, comatose, policy debate

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