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This reminds me of the early history of street parking meters: They were introduced not as a source of revenue, but rather because retail store owners complaine
by cperciva 10y ago
This reminds me of the early history of street parking meters: They were introduced not as a source of revenue, but rather because retail store owners complained that their customers had nowhere to park. In one famous instance, one side of a street was metered and the other not, and the merchants on "free parking" side of the street immediately started lobbying to have meters installed on their side too, since their potential customers were parking where space was available... and not crossing the street.
People tend to think of metered street parking as being a matter of raising revenue, but in terms of the revenue raised per square foot it's one of the least profitable uses of real estate around; but even a nominal price works wonders to encourage drivers to plan on vacating their parking spot promptly once they're finished at the local stores.
- jacobolus 10y agoIt would be great if street parking everywhere were priced to pay for the land it used. Free (or very cheap) street parking (and also large parking space requirements for businesses) has to be one of the worst imaginable land uses: creates traffic, makes road design less friendly to pedestrians/cyclists/buses, undercuts paid parking structures, wastes incredible amounts of space. It’s really nice that the commercial street near me in SF has started allowing businesses to replace parking spaces with public parklets. Much better use of space.
- kosei 10y agoI hadn't heard that before. How interesting! Do you have a source or a book that talks about this history more?
- JBReefer 10y agoThe High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup
- csomar 10y agoI agree and I noticed how really "Helpful" it is in my city. There are two parts of the city: One with metered parking (maximum stay is 2 hours) and the other with free parking. It's impossible to find empty space on the free zone. It seems that people park there and only get off by the end of day. On the other hand, I always find a parking spot on the metered zone. It seems that being non-free and a time limit makes it impossible for full day parking. So only people in need of a short trip (30-90min) will park.
- agumonkey 10y agoOne very very interesting bit of trivia. I never thought to investigate those things.
- CodeWriter23 10y agoI take it you don't have any $5/hour parking meters where you live.
- unchocked 10y agoAnd what do you think market rent is for the commercial property across the sidewalk from the $5/hr parking spot?
- tedunangst 10y agoIf you don't want to pay $40 to park for 8 hours, park somewhere else. The whole point is to prevent people from parking there for that long.
- CodeWriter23 10y agoThe point of my comment was to reply to this part of the parent comment: "but in terms of the revenue raised per square foot it's one of the least profitable uses of real estate around". At $60/day earned by the city for a 172 sq ft parking space, that translates to about $10.50 per sq ft per month, rivaling most office buildings.
- cperciva 10y agoNot at all. The parking spot may earn $10.50 per square foot per month, but the office tower earns $10 or more per square foot per floor per month.