Donald Shoup
Streetsblog Basics
Refresher: What is Congestion Pricing?
There seems to be some confusion by both friends and foes of congestion pricing as to what it actually is. "Congestion pricing" is a term of art that refers to congestion tolls, road pricing or road tolling or other road user fees. It is a concept distinct from charging for parking. The foremost expert on charging more for on-street parking, UCLA professor Donald Shoup, explains as much in the "Congestion Pricing" section of his book The Cost of Free Parking. But if Shoup is not enough, the USDOT's Federal Highway Administration has provided a handy web site containing its definition of congestion pricing. Since the USDOT has promised NYC $354.5 million if it adopts a congestion pricing scheme covering the Central Business District of Manhattan, the agency's definition of congestion pricing matters.
October 17, 2007
Pricing Friends and Foes Find Common Ground in Shoup
Matthew Schuerman at the Observer reports that New York City congestion pricing opponents sought to commission UCLA urban planning guru Donald Shoup to do a study of New York City's parking policies. Shoup declined their request. Presumably, congestion pricing opponents hoped a Shoup study might show that New York City could solve some portion of its traffic congestion problem through changes in on-street parking policy.
October 3, 2007
How Much Potential Park(ing) Space is There Anyway?
Writing for the Christian Science Monitor, Mark Clayton takes stock of the nation's paved parking lots and asks "does America's four-wheeled fleet really need all that extra elbow room?" This article comes on the heels of International Park(ing) Day, a one-day grassroots event in which urban dwellers all around the world transform metered, on-street parking spaces into pocket parks and public plazas as if to suggest that, in a crowded city, there might be better uses for publicly-owned land than storing privately-owned motor vehicles:
September 24, 2007
Jessica is Lappin’ up the Congestion Pricing Anxiety
At a City Council transportation hearing yesterday Manhattan City Council Member Jessica Lappin expressed anxiety about the effects of congestion pricing on her Upper East Side district. The ill-informed Lappin, who clearly has not read Donald Shoup's 750-page masterwork, The High Cost of Free Parking, asked DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan if the city would be building new municipal parking garages to accompany Mayor Bloomberg's traffic-reduction plan. Metro reports:
May 23, 2007
StreetFilms: Interview with Parking Guru Donald Shoup
"I don't see why people have to pay market rents to live in a neighborhood but the cars should live rent-free. In New York you have expensive housing for people and free parking for cars. You've got your priorities exactly the wrong way around."
March 20, 2007
Parking: If You Build it They Will Come… in Their Cars.
This is the second in a three-part series on New York City parking policy.Part 1: The New York City Parking Boom
March 12, 2007
The New York City Parking Boom
The first in a three-part series on New York City parking policy.
March 8, 2007
Pay Here to Park for Free
George Costanza, who never pays for a garage, fights for on-street parking on Seinfeld.
March 6, 2007