melbourne: don't miss the rock-star of parking

Donald Shoup, author of The High Cost of Free Parking, will be at a full-day seminar at Melbourne Town Hall on November 4.  Details here.

Comments

[Paul Barter]

I am glad to hear that Prof Shoup will be visiting Australia. His policy suggestions are as relevant there as they are in North America. For those who haven't heard, he suggests:
* eliminate off-street parking requirements, so that parking becomes 'unbundled' from other real estate
* price on-street parking to ensure a few vacancies and eliminate cruising for parking ('performance-based parking pricing')
* return the street-parking revenue to local benefit districts (in order to create political constituencies for parking pricing).

I think it important for transit planning folks to pay more attention to parking policy.

It can be confusing, but I have been doing a lot of thinking about the implications of Shoup's ideas.

Aspiring parking policy wonks might like to take a look at http://www.reinventingparking.org/search/label/Shoup

Paul

[K]

Are you coming to Melbourne for this Jarrett? Come on now, get Southern!

[Ben Smith]

Cool story:

Earlier this week I had my university orientation, and I planned on taking an express bus from a commuter transit station to the school. I drove to the station to find that the ticket machine only sold fares for the train, and that the ticket booth closes after the rush hour. In the end, I drove to the university instead.

After the orientation and taking care of a few things, I went to the parking pay terminal. I was there for about 5 hours, and the total came to $14! The bus would have cost $8.60, almost half of that.

The moral of the story is that pay parking can be a great incentive to encourage people to find alternative modes of transport into areas with sufficient public transit.

[AB]

I saw Shoup speak in New York several years ago (but after his book was published) and he was great - not only good ideas but really entertaining as a speaker! My wife came along and expected to be bored but instead really got into the topic. So, for anyone who can make it, I think it will be worth the trip!

[tomtakt]

I saw Shoup at TRB this year, and it felt a little like seeing a celebrity, having recently read most of his book and some other works for a research paper.

Sadly, I think some people write him off because he seems to be almost the only person so outspoken on this topic (they see him as 'a kook'). And, admittedly, I found his book to be unnecessarily long-winded.

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