Tuesday, March 10, 2009

"The High Cost of Free Parking"


That's the name of the book by UCLA Professor Donald Shoup, which four years since being published is seeing its influence filter into the policies of some American cities, most notably San Francisco. Shoup argues about the misuse of valuable real estate that is given away as "free" parking which causes a cycle that starts with subsidizing parking, promoting driving / decreasing transit ridership, laying more asphalt for expansion, and repeat -- ultimatley winding up with us asking why our cities are so anti-pedestrian friendly and ugly. Anyways InTransition just published a great article on this subject and how some cities are looking at the solutions provided in Shoup's book so as to combat the problem of excess parking.

InTransiton: Putting Parking into Reverse