CONTENTS Acknowledgements xvii 1. The Twenty-First Century Parking Problem 1 The Car Explosion 4 The Commons Problem 7 Skewed Travel Choices 9 Cures That Kill 9 The Twenty-First Century Parking Solution 13 Part I : Planning for Free Parking 19 2. Unnatural Selection 21 The Genesis of Parking Requirements 21 Huddled Masses Yearning to Park Free 22 Planning without Prices 23 Planning without Theory 25 First Strategy : Copy Other Cities 27 Second Strategy : Consult ITE Data 31 Five Easy Reforms 64 Conclusion : The Immaculate Conception of Parking Demand 65 3. The Pseudoscience of Planning for Parking 75 Three-Step Process 75 Circular Logic 84 Estimating Demand without Prices 87 Professional Confidence Trick 88 Planners in Denial 89 Parochial Policies 92 Mobility versus Proximity 93 Systemwide Effects of Parking Requirements 94 Parking Spaces Required for a Change of Land Use 97 Quantity versus Quality 101 Conclusion: An Elaborate Structure with No Foundation 111 4. An Analogy : Ancient Astronomy 119 A Parallel Universe 120 The Muddle Is the Message 121 5. A Great Planning Disaster 127 Bundled Parking and the Decision to Drive 128 Distorted Urban Form 129 Degraded Urban Design 136 Higher Housing Costs 141 Paralysis by Parking Requirements 153 Limits on Homeownership 157 Damage to the Urban Economy 157 Harm to the Central Business District 158 Harm to Low-Income Families 165 Price Discrimination 167 Prices and Preferences 169 Precedent Coagulates into Tradition 171 An Analogy : Bloodletting 173 Conclusion : First, Do No Harm 175 6. The Cost of Required Parking Spaces 185 How Much Does a Parking Space Cost? 185 Monthly Cost of a Parking Space 191 External Costs of a Parking Space 194 Conclusion : The High Cost of Required Parking Spaces 200 7. Putting the Cost of Free Parking in Perspective 205 Total Subsidy for Parking 205 Capital Cost of the Parking Supply 208 New Parking Spaces Compared with New Cars 210 Free Parking Compared with the Cost of Driving to Work 211 Parking Subsidies Compared with Congestion Tolls 215 Simple Arithmetic 217 Conclusion : A Great Planning Disaster 218 8. An Allegory : Minimum Telephone Requirements 225 9. Public Parking in Lieu of Private Parking 229 Benefits of In-Lieu Fees 231 Concerns about In-Lieu Fees 232 How Do Cities Set the In-Lieu Fees? 233 Why Pay the Fee rather than Provide the Parking? 236 The Impact Fees Implicit in Parking Requirements 237 Conclusion : The High Cost of Parking Requirements 246 10. Reduce Demand Rather than Increase Supply 251 Transit Passes in Lieu of Parking Spaces 251 Parking Cash Out in Lieu of Parking Spaces 262 Car Sharing 266 Policies Appropriate to Their Locations 267 Conclusion : Offer the Option to Reduce Parking Demand 267 Part II : Cruising for Parking 273 11. Cruising 275 Cruising through the Twentieth Century 276 Detroit 279 Washington, D.C 280 New Haven and Waterbury 281 London 281 Paris 283 Freiburg 283 Jerusalem and Haifa 283 Cambridge 284 Cape Town 284 New York 285 San Francisco 288 Sydney 289 Cruising without Parking 289 Conclusion : A Century of Cruising 290 12. The Right Price for Curb Parking 295 Is Curb Parking a Public Good? 296 Time Limits 296 The Right Price 297 External Costs of Curb Parking 303 Demand-Responsive Prices 304 Can Prices Manage Curb Parking Demand? 307 Two Later Observations 314 Conclusion : Charge the Right Price for Curb Parking 315 13. Choosing to Cruise 321 To Cruise or to Pay 321 Equilibrium Search Time : An Example 323 The Wages of Cruising 324 Rent Seeking 329 Two Pricing Strategies 330 Elasticities 331 A Numerical Example 333 Complications 335 Is Cruising Rational? 339 The Role of Information 340 Conclusion : An Invitation to Cruise 342 14. California Cruising 347 Park-and-Visit Tests in Westwood Village 348 Cheaper Curb Parking Creates More Cruising 350 Cruising for a Year 351 Side Effects of Cruising 361 Solo Drivers More Likely to Cruise 362 Market Prices Can Attract More People 363 Wages of Cruising in Westwood Village 367 Perception versus Reality 367 Turning Wasted Time into Public Revenue 369 Conclusion : The High Cost of Cruising 369 Part III. Cashing in on Curb Parking 377 15. Buying Time at the Curb 379 First Parking Meter 380 The Technology of Charging for Curb Parking 382 Not Technology but Politics 390 Conclusion : Honk if You Support Paid Parking 392 16. Turning Small Change into Big Changes 397 Parking Benefit Districts 397 A Logical Recipient: Business Improvement Districts 401 Pasadena : Your Meter Money Makes a Difference 403 San Diego : Turning Small Change into Big Changes 418 Conclusion : Cash Registers at the Curb 427 17. Taxing Foreigners Living Abroad 433 A Market in Curb Parking 434 Residential Parking Benefit Districts 435 Benefits of Parking Benefit Districts 453 Conclusion : Changing the Politics of Curb Parking 464 18. Let Prices Do the Planning 471 Space, Time, Money, and Parking 471 The Optimal Parking Space 473 Greed versus Sloth 474 Parking Duration and Vehicle Occupancy 475 The Invisible Hand 479 Classic Monocentric Models 480 Efficiency 483 Practicality 484 Enforcement 486 Banning Curb Parking 489 Where Would Jesus Park? 494 Removing Off-Street Parking Requirements 495 Conclusion : Prices Can Do the Planning 499 19. The Ideal Source of Local Public Revenue 505 Henry George's Proposal 505 Curb Parking Revenue Is Public Land Rent 508 Parking Requirements Act Like a Tax on Buildings 509 What Would Adam Smith Say about Charging for Parking? 512 Revenue Potential of Curb Parking 513 Division of Curb Parking Revenue 519 Similarity to Special Assessments 522 Property Values 523 An Analogy: Congestion Pricing 523 Appropriate Public Claimants 527 Parking Increment Finance 528 Equity 530 Opportunity Cost of Curb Parking 539 Economic Development 540 Monopoly, Free Parking, and Henry George 543 Conclusion : The Revenue Is under Our Cars 547 20. Unbundled Parking 559 Parking Costs Unbundled from Housing Costs 560 Parking Caps or Parking Prices 568 Effects of Unbundling on VMT and Vehicle Emissions 569 Objections to Unbundling 572 Conclusion : The High Cost of Bundled Parking 575 21. Time for a Paradigm Shift 579 Parking Requirements as a Paradigm 580 Retrofitting America 582 An Illustration : Advising the Mayor 583 A New Style of Planning 584 Part IV : Conclusion 587 22. Changing the Future 589 Curb Parking as a Commons Problem 590 Enormous Parking Subsidies 591 Unintended Consequences 592 Enclosing the Commons 594 Public Property, Not Private Property 595 Commons, Anticommons, and the Liberal Commons 596 Public Property, but without Open Access 599 Other Commons Problems 600 Two Futures 601 Three Reforms 602 Appendix A : The Practice of Parking Requirements 607 Three Steps in Setting a Parking Requirement 608 662 Land Uses 609 216 Bases 610 Convergence to the Golden Rule 612 Parking Requirements and Regional Culture 614 Parking Requirements and Parking Technology 614 What Went Wrong? 617 Appendix B : Nationwide Transportation Surveys 621 Drivers Park Free for 99 Percent of All Automobile Trips 621 Cars Are Parked 95 Percent of the Time 624 Appendix C : The Language of Parking 627 Appendix D : The Calculus of Driving, Parking, and Walking 631 Elasticities 633 Complications 633 The Price of Time 635 Appendix E : The Price of Land and the Cost of Parking 643 Break-Even Land Values 643 Land Banks 645 Cost of Complying with Parking Requirements 646 Appendix F : People, Parking, and Cities 649 Share of Land in Streets and Parking 650 People and Land: Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco 653 Appendix G : Converting Traffic Congestion into Cash 659 Use of the Toll Revenue 664 Estimates of the Toll Revenue 666 Income Distribution and Political Support 668 Appendix H : The Vehicles of Nations 673 References 683 Index 713