Don Shoup and Pricing the Curb

My UCLA buddy Don Shoup has penned a missif for the IPMI which basically rehashes his decade old theories about setting on street pricing so that there are a couple of spaces always free on each block face. You can read it on page 25 of their April magazine here.  He calls it “Pricing the Curb.” He has changed all the buzz words he used in his original work “The High Cost of Free Parking” to fit the lexicon of today. Fair Enough.

He uses New York City as an example of how a lot could be funded if on street parking was charged out at a ‘fair’ rate. Most of it now is free in the Big Apple.

He proposes to charge $5.50 per day to park your can in front of your house or apartment. That would generate over $6 billion in revenues that could go a long way to covering the city’s mass transit debt.

Whereas that might not be a lot for those living on the Upper East Side or in Tribeca, I wonder how much of a bite it would take out of those who live in less heady areas. Granted Don suggests that some could be given relief on their parking fees as some are on their electricity or water bills, but I wonder just how much.

As usual, our betters have a great plan to generate revenue and most of the cost, in this case around two grand a year, falls on those least able to afford it.

The goal is, of course, to make car ownership in the city less attractive and move folks on to the subway or bus system.

Anything to get those who make less out of cars, you know the folks who really need them.

JVH