In Boston they’re talking about raising the rates for parking meters in high-traffic areas upwards from $1.25 hour, citing San Francisco at $7.50/hour.
The claim is that it will somehow help traffic flow; ‘cheap’ (?) meter rates mean people park longer, forcing others to constantly troll the roads looking for spaces.
This sounds like baloney. I think they just want the money. If they wanted to clear the roads up they’d get rid of the meters altogether and declare the areas ‘no parking.’
I do know that in my small town outside Boston we have free parking in the town center roads near shops, and metered parking in the town lot a little walk away. ‘Experts’ have come in and told us that’s backwards.
But what’s the scoop - are there any worthwhile studies on the effect of parking meter rates on traffic congestion in urban areas?
One thing is that most areas have both on-street and off-street parking. When on-street parking is cheap people circle around looking for an on-street parking space instead of parking in a more expensive or more distant off-street spot.
Parking is not logical. Here in St. Louis you only have to pay the meters 8am-7pm Monday-Saturday, because that’s when the meter cop patrols the street. The vast majority of traffic is on nights and weekends. So what happens is there are tons of spots open when you have to pay, but you have to park five blocks away when you want to go to a restaurant or venue at night. If they cared about traffic, you could park free during the workday, and you’d have to pay between 5pm and Midnight.
Street parking is seriously underpriced, too. Here it’s like $1 for two hours. But once the street parking fills up, I’ve seen empty lots and garages around the stadiums charge up to $25 to park for the duration of a baseball game. That’s a huge discrepancy.
NPR told me awhile ago that there is work being done, however. Advocacy groups are trying to implement parking reform. I think some cities (San Francisco?) already have meters with variable pricing, depending on the time of day, the location, and whatever events are nearby. Which makes a lot of sense to me. If a spot by the stadium is $20, parking five blocks away for $2 looks a lot more enticing, leaving the closer spot available for someone who may need it more (like the elderly or handicapped) and is prepared to spend the money. Some cities (again, I think the example was SF) have apps that can tell you the cheapest places to park and which areas have parking available, so you’re not circling around the block six times to wait for a spot to open when there are twenty available spots two blocks away.