There's a new enemy in the war on traffic and pollution: Free parking. Urban planning professor Donald Shoup, in his book The High Cost of Free Parking, says that charging drivers more for parking would discourage them from making unnecessary trips, says economist Tyler Cowen in The New York Times. City governments have contributed to the problem by requiring new businesses to provide a minimum number of parking spaces, which encourages urban sprawl and makes it harder for people to do anything without getting into their cars. Is it time to rethink free parking?
The math is pretty clear: The argument against mandatory parking spaces is pretty persuasive, says Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic. Forcing businesses to build a minimum number of spaces has, over the course of decades, pushed cities outward. And that has undeniably driven up "the amount of energy it takes Americans to meet their lives' basic requirements," increasing pollution and wasting gasoline in the bargain.
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