Here is a good rule of thumb: when parking in private garages is the same cost as on-street meter parking, we are close to some sort of equilibrium. Even better: when spots are about 85% full, street parking is priced correctly. That is the argument of Donald Shoup, and it is the rationale behind brilliant programs like SF's new demand-pricing model:
SFpark Overview from SFpark on Vimeo.
I, for one, would love to see Somerville charge more and keep the meters on longer.
I think the big issue with demand-pricing parking strategies is that it is difficult to convince people that the city/town is implementing it as a response to actual parking and congestion management issues. Rather, most people assume, and rightly so in many cases, that it is just another way for the local government to improve its revenue stream at the expense of local business owners and their customers. For demand-pricing to be successful there needs to be a clearly recognized parking issue identified by the local residents and the extra revenue from the parking increases needs to go right back to the district and not be funneled into a general fund.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right. It's like a major zoning change - you have to treat it like a campaign, making the benefits clear.
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