Parking Policies Are Devastating U.S Cities

The High Cost of Free Parking, published today by the American Planning Association (APA), is the first book on the economics and politics of parking. The 733-page comprehensive national examination is by Dr. Donald Shoup, FAICP, a UCLA professor who has spent a quarter century studying the impact our cars have, mostly when we aren’t driving them. He reports that in 2002 between $127 billion and $374 billion a year was spent nationally to subsidize off-street parking, as much as the U.S. spent on Medicare or national defense that year.

"The book challenges traditional thinking that cheap and plentiful parking is smart public policy. It comes at a time when cities and companies are studying how much parking to provide workers and how to encourage wider use of mass transit."

Thanks to Chris Steins