He Tallies Hidden Costs of Free Parking - One Space at a Time

This article by Mark Clayton in the Christian Science Monitor is about a researcher who "is counting parking spaces to determine if America has a surplus."

For Dr. Shoup, the issue is cost. Free parking, he says, doesn't turn out to be so free.

"We all pay for it, not in our role as drivers, but as residents, taxpayers, and customers," says Shoup, who documents the phenomenon in his book "The High Cost of Free Parking." Big parking lots hike building costs and get passed through to the consumer, sometimes through higher rents in their apartment buildings or bigger costs at their grocery stores. "Every place we drive and park free, we really pay for that parking as something other than as a driver," he says.

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Nevertheless, some cities, including Pasadena, Calif.; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Boston, are making progress by revamping parking regulations, charging more for on-street parking, and adjusting the amount of parking required in new developments. In Portland, for instance, maximum parking limits vary with the distance from light-rail stations. There's less parking required to be built near the stations, more several blocks away, the EPA reports. In Palo Alto and Iowa city, the idea of "land banking" – or setting aside land for parking to be built only if it is really needed has meant minimum parking requirements are waived or relaxed.