ABSTRACT
Free curb parking in a congested city gives a small, temporary benefit to a few drivers who happen to be lucky on a particular day, but it imposes large social costs on everyone else every day. Some critics argue that charging market prices for curb parking will hurt poor people. Most really poor people don't own cars, and, if they do own cars, they drive them far less than rich people do. Rather, parking requirements force-feed the city with parking spaces, and removing a parking requirement simply stops this force-feeding. Cities can remove minimum requirements without imposing maximum limits, and opposing minimum parking requirements should not be confused with supporting maximum parking limits. Some cities refer to the policy of setting prices to produce one or two open curb spaces on every block as performance pricing. Using performance prices to manage curb parking can produce a host of benefits for businesses, neighborhoods, cities, transportation, and the environment.
