Parking Is Hell Analysis
Parking is Hell Donald Shoup, an urban planning professor at UCLA and a parking guru explains that the price of parking is too low. Cars spend 95% of their lifetime parked, yet parking causes so many challenges, takes extra time, causes confusion, and contributes to pollution. He says that prices for parking should be increased to the price at which 1 to 2 parking spots are left open on every block. He described the SF parking system that changes parking prices depending on location and time of day. This method, called dynamic pricing, would change based on the demand for parking at different times of the day and in different locations. As many people find incentives not to pay for parking, such as the misuse of disabled passes and credentials,
the parking situation still poses challenges. However, as further studies and analyses are conducted, principles in economics can help improve parking situations around the country. If something is sold that makes a mess for everyone, it is being sold for too little money. The parking situation is an example of supply and demand. In places where parking is in high demand, the supply of parking spots is not large enough to meet the demands. There are two ways to fix this: lower demand or increase supply. Increasing supply is not very realistic in large cities where parking spaces are limited, which leaves decreasing demand. The law of demand states that as prices increase, demand will decrease. Therefore, Stoup suggests increasing the price for parking so the demand will decrease and less congestion will take place with regards to parking. This will force people to consider the marginal benefit of parking in a convenient location because they will have to be willing to pay or they will not park and look for other methods of transportation or find a different location. This will also create allocative efficiency because raising prices will increase the supply for parking spots for those who are willing to pay for them, maximizing happiness of the customer. Another way this relates to economics is through incentives. Incentives like free parking are given to people to help them when they are physically disabled to make it easier on them in difficult parking situations. However, an indirect incentive of this is that people who are not disabled find ways to get disability tags and misuse them to avoid paying for parking.
the parking situation still poses challenges. However, as further studies and analyses are conducted, principles in economics can help improve parking situations around the country. If something is sold that makes a mess for everyone, it is being sold for too little money. The parking situation is an example of supply and demand. In places where parking is in high demand, the supply of parking spots is not large enough to meet the demands. There are two ways to fix this: lower demand or increase supply. Increasing supply is not very realistic in large cities where parking spaces are limited, which leaves decreasing demand. The law of demand states that as prices increase, demand will decrease. Therefore, Stoup suggests increasing the price for parking so the demand will decrease and less congestion will take place with regards to parking. This will force people to consider the marginal benefit of parking in a convenient location because they will have to be willing to pay or they will not park and look for other methods of transportation or find a different location. This will also create allocative efficiency because raising prices will increase the supply for parking spots for those who are willing to pay for them, maximizing happiness of the customer. Another way this relates to economics is through incentives. Incentives like free parking are given to people to help them when they are physically disabled to make it easier on them in difficult parking situations. However, an indirect incentive of this is that people who are not disabled find ways to get disability tags and misuse them to avoid paying for parking.