The news article was based on the work of Don Shoup of UCLA who is the leading author on the free parking issue. You can find one of his papers, The Trouble With Minimum Parking Requirements, here
http://www.vtpi.org/shoup.pdf this is the abstract Urban planners typically set the minimum parking requirements for every land use to satisfy the peak demand for free parking. As a result, parking is free for 99 percent of automobile trips in the United States. Minimum parking requirements increase the supply and reduce the price–but not the cost–of parking. They bundle the cost of parking spaces into the cost of development, and thereby increase the prices of all the goods and services sold at the sites that offer free parking. Cars have many external costs, but the external cost of parking in cities may be greater than all the other external costs combined. To prevent spillover, cities could price on-street parking rather than require off-street parking. Compared with minimum parking requirements, market prices can allocate parking spaces fairly and efficiently. Alex -- Dr. Alexander Tabarrok Vice President and Director of Research The Independent Institute 100 Swan Way Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
