How many parking spaces are enough? How much should parking cost? Why are decisions about parking vital to the future of our communities?
In this presentation, Donald Shoup will discuss how New York City and surrounding communities can cope with complex parking issues. Shoup argues that the average parking space costs more than the average car. When we shop, dine out, or see a movie, we pay indirectly for parking because its cost is included in the price of everything from hamburgers to housing.
He also shows that free parking has other costs: it distorts transportation choices, warps urban form, and degrades the environment. Shoup estimates that if all U.S. parking spaces were combined into one surface lot, it would be the size of Connecticut. He also estimates that every year we spend as much to subsidize off-street parking as we spend for Medicare or national defense.