The Harm of Free Parking

While the focus of the 2010 L.A. Street Summit was decreasing reliability on cars, Donald Shoup, Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies and Chair of the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA, spoke about the harmful effects of free parking. These harmful effects included the distortion of urban form, harmful environmental effects, increased housing costs, and unpleasant walking atmosphere resulting from free parking. He explained that on average, people spend the equivalent of two days per year looking for parking. During this time, drivers are distracted, often causing accidents, and waste a significant amount of gas. If instead, cities could reach the target occupancy of 1-2 open parking spaces per block, these wastes would be greatly reduced, if not eliminated completely.
Shoup suggested three reform methods to achieve a more sustainable parking situation. First, he argues that the city must charge the right price for curb parking. The right price would mean that 1-2 spaces are constantly vacant per block. This would reduce the waste associated with looking for a space. However, setting the price to achieve this is goal varies by location. Shoup said, “a city cannot determine the right price until it sees results from each location individually.” Therefore, trial and error is necessary to find the price that will incentivize street parking to the point that a couple of spaces are left vacant. This process may be costly and time-consuming but eventually can yield successful results.
His second method of reform involves returning meter revenue to the neighborhoods that generate the income. Shoup used Old Town Pasadena as an example of how such revenue redirection can shape the development of a community. During the 1970s and prior, Old Town was considered a slum of the area, known mainly for its pawnshops, porn theaters, and tattoo parlors. Attempts to revitalize the area were led by installing parking meters. In 1993, the first round of parking meters were installed and led to mid- to upper-scale shop and restaurant owners to inhibit the area because parking revenue was spent on cleaning up the area. Old Town Pasadena is now considered a prime area for residents and visits alike to enjoy the strip of shops and restaurants. Shoup argues that other areas could greatly benefit from the funds generated by parking meters.
Finally, Shoup said that reducing off-street parking is necessary to reduce parking waste. Off-street parking often distorts the market for city-generated revenue from curb parking.
Since the first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City in 1935, streets and urban form have significantly been altered. In an ever-increasing driving culture in L.A. it is necessary to find a more sufficient method to use meters and no longer offer an abundance of free parking.