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Downtown Parking in Auto City

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Arnott

    (Boston College)

  • John Rowse

    (University of Calgary)

Abstract

This paper develops and calibrates a model of downtown parking in a city without mass transit, and applies it to investigate downtown parking policy. There is curbside and garage parking and traffic congestion. Spatial competition between private parking garages determines the equilibrium garage parking fee and spacing between parking garages. Curbside parking is priced below its social opportunity cost. Cruising for parking adjusts to equalize the full prices of on- and off-street parking, and contributes to traffic congestion. The central result is that raising curbside parking fees appears to be a very attractive policy since it generates efficiency gains that may be several times as large as the increased revenues raised.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Arnott & John Rowse, 2007. "Downtown Parking in Auto City," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 665, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:665
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    parking; traffic congestion; parking garages; parking policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General

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