I work at "the university down the peninsula" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14975881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14975881). Stanford—in my opi

I work at "the university down the peninsula" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14975881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14975881). Stanford—in my opinion—has a similar situation. We are affected by the "General Use Permit" (https://gup.stanford.edu/the-project/reference-documents https://gup.stanford.edu/the-project/reference-documents) which, among other things, limits the number of parking spaces that campus can have. As a result, Stanford has a number of programs to encourage people to commute: • Paying for a Caltrain Go Pass (https://transportation.stanford.edu/transit/free-transit-incentives/caltrain-go-pass https://transportation.stanford.edu/transit/free-transit-inc...) and VTA Eco Pass (https://transportation.stanford.edu/transit/free-transit-and-incentives/vta-eco-pass https://transportation.stanford.edu/transit/free-transit-and...). • Running the AE-F (https://transportation.stanford.edu/marguerite/aef https://transportation.stanford.edu/marguerite/aef) and EB (https://transportation.stanford.edu/marguerite/eb https://transportation.stanford.edu/marguerite/eb) lines to the East Bay. • Coordinating AC Transit for the two Dumbarton Express lines (https://dumbartonexpress.com https://dumbartonexpress.com), and the U line (https://transportation.stanford.edu/transit/free-transit-incentives/line-u https://transportation.stanford.edu/transit/free-transit-inc...) lines. • Various car- and van-pooling options (https://transportation.stanford.edu/rideshare https://transportation.stanford.edu/rideshare). And there's also the various Marguerite lines (X Express & Limited, Y Express and Limited, and S) that supplement normal service. There're also other things that I've forgotten about. All of those options are pretty well used, and it shows that for the main use cases, it is possible to "charge for free parking", but I think the important thing is that you do have to have some external constraint. In Lyft's case, it was a lack of spaces. In Stanford's case, it's a negotiated restriction. Either way, that avoids the "Facebook alternative", where you don't have any outside reason you can point to. The best example of this is the Stanford Research Park: If you're a Stanford employee who works off-campus (and the Stanford Research Park counts as off-campus), then you don't qualify for the $300 yearly credit, even if you use bus/train/vanpool all the time (see https://transportation.stanford.edu/commute-club/about-commute-club/are-you-eligible https://transportation.stanford.edu/commute-club/about-commu...). So I guess the lesson (or at least the correlation) is, you need some external restriction, or else "most" people will drive!