Mark comments on Randall O’Toole and Shoup – see blog post just below:
Sometimes I agree with this guy and sometimes I don’t, this time I do AND I don’t. He is criticizing Shoup’s theories because they don’t apply everywhere (I agree, they don’t), but he’s making the argument from the perspective that parking should always be a matter of individual choice and the free market (I disagree). Parking, like roads is infrastructure and is a commodity that needs to be managed. It is also a commodity for which the demand is likely to fluctuate on a regular basis but not necessarily at regular intervals, in other words the demand on a sunny afternoon in May is completely different from the demand on a cold November afternoon.
Anybody that’s been in this business for even a week understands that the concept of the “typical” parking day is nothing more than a myth, the only sure thing is that everyday is going to bring different challenges and stresses. There is no “answer” that will completely solve the parking issues for any town or any business, and if you do happen to miraculously find a solution that works today you can be pretty certain that something will happen tomorrow that will require you to adjust your approach. Doesn’t matter if it’s the rates you charge, the hours you are open, the level of staffing you have on site or the schedule for cleaning the elevators, something is going to change every day or even several times a day that will require some sort of adjustment (temporary or otherwise) in order to make it work. The simple fact is that most of these “theories” miss a key piece of the equation, and that is that NOBODY gets in their car and drives somewhere to park.
They park in order to go somewhere else, and “somewhere else” is always in flux. The parking demand at the beach on a summer weekend during the day is a completely different animal than that same location at night. The parking demand for a sold out Kenny Chesney concert isn’t even remotely close to the demand for a sold out Miley Cyrus concert in the same arena.
The free market should be what establishes the demand, but you still have to manage that demand. Shoup’s theories offer a means to do that, albeit they are not the absolute and only answer. To simply say that the free market should be the guideline without providing a means of managing the end result is like selling as many tickets as you can to a football game without giving any consideration to how many people the stadium can hold.
Mark Rimmer
RTA Consulting
We have apples and oranges here. Mark is talking about market based parking and the examples he uses are “off Street” Although Shoup addresses off street and his concerns about parking requirements, his market based model is focus, I think, on “On Street” parking. Certainly Miley Cyrus and staffing levels are important when considering pricing for a facility support a venue or office building, but “on street” pricing can, I think, be accurately and literally driven by the market. Isn’t Miley the “driver” in a venue’s parking market? When there is little going on in a neighborhood, say at 10 AM or 4 PM in Hollywood, prices can be down. However when the clubs open at 9 PM and the neighborhood is jammed, prices can go up. The same is true based on day of the week, or the weather.
I would suggest that parking costs less at a parking structure after 5 pm, when most of the businesses in the building it supports are closed, than they cost at noon. Monthly rates are less than daily rates based on market demand. Early bird rates are market driven. We see this in New York when the rates change hourly on small lots as they fill during the day.
Up until recently it was not possible to “adjust” rates quickly based on the facility’s (or street’s) current occupancy. However technology has caught up and we can now do it reasonably and quickly.
Of course conditions change, but aren’t they mostly due to the market. Miley is playing Saturday, it is snowing, Star Wars opens at the theater across the street, Most of your staff calls in sick, All these are factors that affect the market. And if you are quick on your feet, your pricing can be adjusted to accommodate them all. If you want more cars, lower the rate, if you are overwhelmed (by Miley) raise them.
I know a fellow here in LA who runs a surface lot across the street from Staples Center when the Lakers play. He can tell, based on how well the team is doing, how many cars are in his lot at a certain time, and whether its raining or now, exactly when to raise or lower his price in the middle of the influx for an event. His lot is almost never empty. That market pricing at its best.
JVH
