ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests market prices are a much fairer and more efficient way to allocate parking spaces. Market prices for parking therefore draw carpools and short-term parkers to the more convenient central spaces, while solo drivers and long-term parkers migrate to the cheaper peripheral spaces. Because more persons in the car and shorter parking durations both lead drivers to park closer to their destination, market prices tend to allocate the best parking spaces to carpools and short-term parkers, a sensible outcome. With market-clearing prices for curb parking, drivers' individual choices will lead to a spontaneous, self-organized pattern of parking locations, with no help needed from planners. In contrast to the self-organizing efficiency of a market, most cities now require at least enough off-street spaces to satisfy the peak demand for free parking at every site, and the cost is shifted into higher prices for everything else.
