Market-Priced Parking in Theory and Practice

Performance pricing for parking is similar to congestion pricing for roads: both use prices to "clear the market" and prevent the overuse of scarce infrastructure. For researchers, SFpark provided a real-world test of performance pricing. Would raising the price for parking nudge occupancy down and vacancy up in one of America's densest and most congested cities? Many cities keep valuable street spaces free or under-priced, and as a result they fill up quickly, leaving shortages at busy times. Most cities prefer to keep roads and parking free, even though cities that have experimented with congestion tolls have seen remarkable results. Prior to SFpark, meter rates in San Francisco were like those in most cities. In short, SFpark replaced an opaque system of rates that changed infrequently and by whole neighborhoods with a more transparent system where prices changed over smaller units of time and space. It also provided something close to an experiment in priced parking.