Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Free Parking Blamed For California Traffic Congestion

In a post yesterday where I blogged about interviewing Berkley, CA Economist Dena Belzer on Spokane transportation issues, the topic of the "high price of free parking" came up. So is it coincidence that today I ran onto this article about a report that says free parking is leading to street-clogging solo car commuting in California? I think not.


Parking guru and UCLA professor Donald Shoup blames crowded highways on company parking perks, saying, ”If you can park free at work, it’s an invitation to drive to work alone. And almost everybody who does drive to work has this invitation."

So why isn't a law working that requires companies that provide free parking to also offer a cash payment to those who forgo the incentive? Read the article to find out. 

2 comments:

Charles said...

Take a look at the Valley mall, absolutely no place for pedestrians, only cars, and Karl was very apologetic about where they put the bus stop, because no place for the bus either.

SRTC Staff said...

I've walked through that parking lot after getting off the bus right around 5:30 p.m. when it's getting dark and it is dangerous! No safe place for pedestrians and drivers aren't expecting to see walkers on the outside fringes of the lot so they drive fast.


About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.