IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v21y2012icp71-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do long stay parkers pay the Melbourne congestion levy?

Author

Listed:
  • Hamer, Paul
  • Young, William
  • Currie, Graham

Abstract

The pricing of parking is a common tool used by governments to facilitate the efficient movement of traffic, raise revenue and influence travel behaviour. In January 2006, the Victorian Government introduced a ‘congestion levy’ on long-stay, off-street car parking spaces within inner Melbourne, as a means of reducing peak-hour traffic congestion. This study provides an overview of the congestion levy and examines how the levy was passed onto users in the period immediately following its introduction. Specifically, it asks the question do long stay parkers pay the Melbourne Congestion Levy since if they do not pay the levy it is unlikely to achieve the stated levy aims. The paper finds that between December 2005 and June 2008, early-bird parking prices in commercial off-street car parks increased in real terms by 11%–17% above their pre-levy level. This increase covered only 40%–60% of the total cost of the levy. Further data collected in 2009 suggests that between June 2008 and April 2009, early-bird parking prices dropped, such that by April 2009, early-bird parking prices may have increased by as little as 8% above December 2005 prices—representing just 30% of the full levy. Therefore, the study finds that although long-stay parking charges in commercial car parks have increased in real terms since the introduction of the levy, the scale of the increase suggests that some of the cost of the levy is being borne by short-stay users and the parking operators themselves. The paper also finds that across all off-street parking facilities within inner Melbourne, a majority of drivers have their parking fees paid for by their employers. These findings suggest that the way in which the levy is being implemented by parking providers is undermining the stated purpose of the levy and may be limiting its effectiveness in changing travel behaviour. The key recommendation of the paper is therefore to develop a closer link between the levy and its intended target in order to obtain the required policy outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hamer, Paul & Young, William & Currie, Graham, 2012. "Do long stay parkers pay the Melbourne congestion levy?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 71-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:21:y:2012:i:c:p:71-84
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.02.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X12000303
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.02.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gillen, David W., 1977. "Estimation and specification of the effects of parking costs on urban transport mode choice," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 186-199, April.
    2. Shoup, Donald C., 1997. "Evaluating the effects of cashing out employer-paid parking: Eight case studies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 201-216, October.
    3. Willson, Richard W. & Shoup, Donald C., 1990. "Parking Subsidies and Travel Choices: Assessing the Evidence," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3256f490, University of California Transportation Center.
    4. Shoup, Donald C., 1997. "Evaluating the effects of cashing out employer-paid parking: Eight case studies," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt2qw4w2s1, University of California Transportation Center.
    5. Wilson, Richard W. & Shoup, Donald C., 1990. "Parking Subsidies and Travel Choices: Assessing the Evidence," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5w24532x, University of California Transportation Center.
    6. Hensher, David A. & King, Jenny, 2001. "Parking demand and responsiveness to supply, pricing and location in the Sydney central business district," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 177-196, March.
    7. Janine Aron & John N. J. Muellbauer & Coen Pretorius, 2009. "A Stochastic Estimation Framework For Components Of The South African Consumer Price Index," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(2), pages 282-313, June.
    8. Verhoef, Erik & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 1995. "The economics of regulatory parking policies: The (IM)possibilities of parking policies in traffic regulation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 141-156, March.
    9. Shoup, Donald C., 1997. "Evaluating the Effects of Parking Cash Out: Eight Case Studies," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5nc6w2dj, University of California Transportation Center.
    10. Marsden, Greg, 2006. "The evidence base for parking policies--a review," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 447-457, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khordagui, Nagwa, 2019. "Parking prices and the decision to drive to work: Evidence from California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 479-495.
    2. Romain Petiot, 2004. "Parking enforcement and travel demand management," Post-Print hal-02422664, HAL.
    3. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Reimann, Felix, 2021. "On employer-paid parking and parking (cash-out) policy: A formal synthesis of different perspectives," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 499-516.
    4. Rotaris, Lucia & Danielis, Romeo, 2014. "The impact of transportation demand management policies on commuting to college facilities: A case study at the University of Trieste, Italy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 127-140.
    5. Evangelinos, Christos & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan & Marcucci, Edoardo & Gatta, Valerio, 2018. "Pricing workplace parking via cash-out: Effects on modal choice and implications for transport policy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 369-380.
    6. Inci, Eren, 2015. "A review of the economics of parking," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 50-63.
    7. Guo, Zhan, 2013. "Home parking convenience, household car usage, and implications to residential parking policies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 97-106.
    8. Button, Kenneth, 2006. "The political economy of parking charges in "first" and "second-best" worlds," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 470-478, November.
    9. Ottosson, Dadi Baldur & Chen, Cynthia & Wang, Tingting & Lin, Haiyun, 2013. "The sensitivity of on-street parking demand in response to price changes: A case study in Seattle, WA," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 222-232.
    10. Krishnamurthy, Chandra Kiran B. & Ngo, Nicole S., 2020. "The effects of smart-parking on transit and traffic: Evidence from SFpark," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    11. Edward Calthrop & Stef Proost & Kurt van Dender, 2000. "Parking Policies and Road Pricing," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 63-76, January.
    12. Brueckner, Jan K. & Franco, Sofia F., 2018. "Employer-paid parking, mode choice, and suburbanization," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 35-46.
    13. Bonsall, Peter & Young, William, 2010. "Is there a case for replacing parking charges by road user charges?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 323-334, September.
    14. Petiot, Romain, 2004. "Parking enforcement and travel demand management," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 399-411, October.
    15. Bruno De Borger & Bart Wuyts, 2009. "Commuting, Transport Tax Reform and the Labour Market: Employer-paid Parking and the Relative Efficiency of Revenue Recycling Instruments," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 213-233, January.
    16. Lehner, Stephan & Peer, Stefanie, 2019. "The price elasticity of parking: A meta-analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 177-191.
    17. Nick Petrunoff & Chris Rissel & Li Ming Wen, 2017. "“If You Don’t Do Parking Management .. Forget Your Behaviour Change, It’s Not Going to Work.”: Health and Transport Practitioner Perspectives on Workplace Active Travel Promotion," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, January.
    18. Fang Zong & Yanan He & Yixin Yuan, 2015. "Dependence of Parking Pricing on Land Use and Time of Day," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-21, July.
    19. Yan, Xiang & Levine, Jonathan & Marans, Robert, 2019. "The effectiveness of parking policies to reduce parking demand pressure and car use," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 41-50.
    20. Mingardo, Giuliano & van Wee, Bert & Rye, Tom, 2015. "Urban parking policy in Europe: A conceptualization of past and possible future trends," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 268-281.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:21:y:2012:i:c:p:71-84. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.