CARTEEH logo with green car and plant

Center for Advancing Research in Transportation Emissions, Energy, and Health (CARTEEH)

A USDOT University Transportation Center

Increasing Parking Charges

Increasing parking fees can be a method to discourage driving and influence commuters to change how they travel. Making it more expensive to park in certain areas of a city can reduce the need for extensive parking availability and leave this space for other uses. Additionally, the additional revenue from increased parking charges can be used by the city to develop green space areas, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and other beneficial community resources.1,2

Considering this strategy will help achieve the goal of the following objectives

  • Less Contamination
  • Less Emissions
  • Less Traffic Noise
  • Connectivity and Inclusion
  • Healthy Destinations
  • Less Traffic Violence
  • Active Transportation
  • Green Space

Transportation lifecycle phases

This strategy is associated with the following transportation lifecycle phases:

  • Construction
  • End of Life
  • Maintenance
  • Material Selection
  • Operations
  • Policy and Planning
  • Project Development

Who's involved

  • Car owners
  • Local governments
  • Policymakers
Increasing parking fees can be a method to discourage driving and influence commuters to change how they travel. Making it more expensive to park in certain areas of a city can reduce the need for extensive parking availability and leave this space for other uses. Further, the additional revenue from increased parking charges can be used by the city to develop green space areas, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and other beneficial community resources.1,2

How it Helps

By deterring road users from parking in city centers, it will lead to more individuals choosing alternate forms of transportation like biking, walking, and public transit. This will mitigate traffic congestion in busy urban areas, resulting in less exposure to vehicle emissions and noise pollution.3

Implementing

Enforcement:
Parking charges can either be variable, where rates vary depending on location or time of day, or fixed, where rates do not vary.4 Additionally, there are different payment methods that can be put in place, depending on the level of technology the local government can afford. For example, payment can be enforced through human attendants, on-street electronic meters, pay and display tickets, or other similar methods.

Equity Concerns:

A downside of implementing higher parking charges is that it is a regressive approach that will disproportionately impact lower-income individuals. More affluent individuals may not be deterred from driving if they have to pay a higher price to park than before. Therefore, there should be methods in place to ensure that lower-income individuals do not suffer an unfair burden and are still able to travel where they need to go. For example, parking prices should be variable depending on location within the city.

Potential Barriers:

Introducing parking charges in urban areas will likely be met with some degree of public protest, so there should be strategies in place to mitigate or address this reaction.

Examples

1) Amsterdam Parking Prices
In order to reduce traffic congestion in the city center, Amsterdam increased parking prices by 65% in 2019 to make the city more car-free. This was found to significantly reduce parking demand and number of kilometers driven.
1. Lui, Y. (2020). Impact of Parking Fees on Social Benefits Based on the Emergence of Shared Parking. Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, 151, 54-74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26868295
2. SmartCitiesWorld. (2018). Can an increase in parking fees improve quality of life? https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/news/can-an-increase-in-parking-fees-improve-quality-of-life-3536
3. Lim, X. (2021). The hidden climate costs of America's free parking spaces. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/05/us-free-parking-spaces-climate-cost
4. KonSULT. (2016). Parking Charges. University of Leeds. http://www.konsult.leeds.ac.uk/pg/25/