Pay to park?
It's been tried before. Has the time come again for parking meters in Downtown Ventura?That's the plan adopted by the City Council when it approved the Downtown Specific Plan earlier this year. Last night, UCLA Professor Don Shoup presented his findings on the advantages of paid parking at Ventura City Hall.
Shoup, the author of "The High Cost of Free Parking," has earned renown as "a parking rock star," according to the Wall Street Journal. "Cars are parked 95% of the time, but 95% of the academic research studies when they are moving," he told the Ventura audience last night. As a result of his research into this neglected realm of transportation policy, Shoup says charging for street parking will:
- Reduce wasted vehicle travel, cutting congestion, air pollution, gas consumption and greenhouse gase emissions
- Improve public services by providing new funding for added police protection, streetscape amenities and routine cleaning and maintenance of our Downtown
Shoup advocates pricing at a price high enough to ensure that there is always at least one space open on each side of a block. That eliminates the circling of the block that research shows averages about three minutes per car over the course of the day (eight minutes during peak parking usage.) While that may seem like a small improvement, Shoup's study of Westwood showed that 45% of the cars during peak hour traffic had already arrived and were looking for a convenient place to park. Over the course of a year, that consumed a million miles of excess vehicle travel, which is the distance of four trips to the moon.
Shoup detailed case studies in Redwood City and Pasadena where paid parking strategies have been successfully implemented. Pasadena, for example, now generates more than a million dollars of paid parking revenue per year to fund added public services in their downtown.
Shoup concluded that cities face a choice. Which would you rather have -- a million miles a year of wasted travel or a million dollars a year to improve Downtown?
posted by Rick Cole at
2:26 PM
8 Comments:
While paid parking is not liked by most, I think most of us understand why we need it. However, please make it easy to pay so we don't have to go find a bunch of change all the time. With all the electronic options, it sure would preferable to pay a little more but have an easy payment method.
Absolutley the City of Ventura should not only add parking meters but also install a paid parking program for our parking lots. The cost of maintenance for lots, streets, sidewalks, etc are entirely too expensive to continue with a free parking program. Some people will gripe about the fee for a short time but will get used to the idea rapidly. They pay for parking everywhere else they go.
Rellis Smith
While there is no silver bullet to solve our land use problems, charging for parking comes close. Parking lots devour so much beautiful open space that we wish to preserve in this county. By not charging for parking, we are subsiding driving and penalizing public transport, bicycling, and walking. This is completely inconsistent with our smart growth vision for the future. Right now, our cities sprawl for miles because everything is laid out on a "car scale" not a “human scale”. Walking or bicycling across big open parking lots such as the ones found near the auto malls on Rose and Rice is a very scary experience. Cities have perverse minimum parking rules rather than restricting parking. The solutions are clear - charge for all parking, whether it is at the downtown, at the mall, school, church, or at work! If everyone charges for parking, no businesses can claim a comparative disadvantage. Use funds from parking to fund parks, alternative transport, extension of the MetroLink, and community programs. Convert existing parking lots to tiered parking structures or underground parking. Where parking lots can’t be removed, insert shade trees in cut-outs in the concrete or asphalt. Place a permanent moratorium on the provision of free parking at new projects approved by the City Council. We’re on a great journey to transform our economy from a car-based one to one with a range of transportation options. It starts with ending the parking subsidy.
While there is no silver bullet to solve our land use problems, charging for parking comes close. Parking lots devour so much beautiful open space that we wish to preserve in this county. By not charging for parking, we are subsiding driving and penalizing public transport, bicycling, and walking. This is completely inconsistent with our smart growth vision for the future. Right now, our cities sprawl for miles because everything is laid out on a "car scale" not a “human scale”. Walking or bicycling across big open parking lots such as the ones found near the auto malls on Rose and Rice is a very scary experience. Cities have perverse minimum parking rules rather than restricting parking. The solutions are clear - charge for all parking, whether it is at the downtown, at the mall, school, church, or at work! If everyone charges for parking, no businesses can claim a comparative disadvantage. Use funds from parking to fund parks, alternative transport, extension of the MetroLink, and community programs. Convert existing parking lots to tiered parking structures or underground parking. Where parking lots can’t be removed, insert shade trees in cut-outs in the concrete or asphalt. Place a permanent moratorium on the provision of free parking at new projects approved by the City Council. We’re on a great journey to transform our economy from a car-based one to one with a range of transportation options. It starts with ending the parking subsidy.
If we require people to pay for parking, we would see a dramatic change in our priorities. Suddenly, you'd see folks carpooling, bunching their chores, and generally being more efficient with their driving. Let's get on with it. Even if the amount charged is nominal, I have seen this change create a positive behavior change. You have our vote of support.
I totally appreciate Mr. Cole's summary of Dr. Shoupe's presentation on, "The High Cost of Free Parking". My husband and I went to the presentation, which was very thought-provoking. We have lived in various places, and been exposed to many models of urban development. Although we love Ventura overall, one of our biggest frustrations with land use here, is the incredibly large amount of land devoted to parking lots! This is a "land use habit" which obviously decreases the opportunities for walking, makes malls less attractive (and walker-friendly), increases pollution and greenhouse emissions, etc. Therefore, any move to discourage the use of vehicles is welcome. However, I also have an important comment regarding where I believe the income from the parking meters should mostly go: to make it fair to low-income folks, as well as to maximize the environmental advantage, I believe we should use these monies to improve our Counyt's mass transit system and to subsidize its cost. My kids and I have started taking the city bus once per week, and although the adult price is reasonable ($1.25), the children were charged the same, which would make the total cost prohibitive for a low-income family. Hence, let's charge for the true cost of parking, and thus allow public transport to more fairly compete!
As Joni Mitchell said so many years ago - "We paved paradise and put up a parking lot". Thirty years ahead of her time, her words still ring true.....
Hey Rick (and the city council), you'll see some opposition to charging for parking. However, its the right thing to do. Climate change is upon us. No point beating our chests and wailing about being green as long as we let SUVs and one ton pickups park for free on our streets.
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