HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-02-22 Public Comment - M. Egge - How to Price Parking to Maximize BenefitsFrom:Mark Egge
To:Agenda; Mike Veselik
Subject:How to Price Parking to Maximize Benefits
Date:Sunday, October 2, 2022 11:21:28 AM
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City Commissioners—
Any accolite of Donald Shoup will tell you that the "correct" price forparking is one where the price is just high enough that there is one or two
empty parking spaces on every block. Any lower and you're failing to
achieve the purpose of charging for parking (to ensure that parking is
available); any higher and you're unnecessarily discouraging folks fromdriving and spending their dollars downtown.
What is this perfect price? Well, it depends! It varies from block to block,
by the time of day, and by the season. The only guarantee is that if youpick just one price it'll be wrong most places most of the time!
Fortunately, it's easy to determine what the price should be. You begin by
setting a price—$1.75 per hour, say. Then, observe the results. If a blockface is full, increase the price by $0.25 per hour. If a block face has many
empty spaces, lower the price by $0.25. The price will vary from block to
block, by time of day, and time of year.
This strategy is known as "demand responsive" pricing. During periods of
peak demand the price is higher; the rest of the time, the price is lower
(or free).
When San Francisco implemented demand responsive pricing several years
ago, two things happened:
1) The City began generating more revenue from parking.
2) Overall utilization rates of city parking went up. Even though totalrevenue went up, the average cost per hour (across all locations and times
of day/year) went down—and more people used city parking as a result.
These results are an unambiguous win-win for both parking users and theCity.
Demand responsive pricing is clear modern best practice for parking
management. It's also easy to implement using the technology that wealready have (or will acquire for the implementation of paid on street
parking).
Reviewing and setting prices for parking is already a primary responsibilityof the Transportation Board (Parking Commission). In San Francisco,
prices are adjusted once per quarter based on the recent history ofoccupancy data. In Pittsburgh, my impression is that the prices are just
set automatically by algorithm.
Implementing paid on-street parking as one of numerous parkingmanagement strategies for downtown will benefit all downtown users. The
benefit will be maximized if we get the price right—and demand responsive
pricing is the way to do so.
Mark Egge
219 E Story St
Bozeman, MT 59715