ABSTRACT
Cruising introduces unpredictability into the traffic flow, and the drivers who are focused on spotting a curb space may fail to notice bicyclists and pedestrians. The higher value that drivers place on reducing the time spent searching for parking helps explain why they think they spend longer cruising than they actually do—time appears to slow down when a driver is cruising. The external cost is especially high where curb parking is so crowded that drivers stop traffic in their lane while waiting for another car to leave. The high external cost of crowded curb parking suggests that the appropriate price for curb parking is at least the price that leads to a 15 percent vacancy rate. A parked car about to leave causes "parking foreplay" in which a cruiser stakes a claim to the space by waiting just behind it while it is being vacated.
