4. Price of Parking and Vehicle Ownership
|
Question |
How do the costs of residential parking impact household
vehicle ownership? |
Answering this question empirically is difficult for two reasons. First,
residential parking costs are almost always included in the cost of housing
(i.e. bundled). Secondly, data on residential parking costs is rarely collected
in transportation surveys.
However, research has shown that increased density, holding other factors
constant, reduces average household vehicle ownership. Areas of higher density
are typically older, have a lower supply of parking, and parking is more costly
in terms of both dollar costs and search costs. Therefore, many
researchers have concluded that residential parking costs impact vehicle
ownership (see the list of relevant articles below).
|
Observation |
Using density as
proxy for parking costs, it appears that, other factors equal, parking
costs will reduce average rates of vehicle ownership. |
|
|
|
|
Implication |
Minimum parking
requirements could be decreased for housing that will unbundle parking
costs from parking costs. |
For more on separating parking costs from housing costs see the section "Unbundling"
for Fairness, Efficiency, Units, and Savings
Relevant Articles:
Holtzclaw, John. 1994. Using Residential Patterns and Transit to Decrease
Auto Dependence and Costs. San Francisco: Natural Resources Defense Council.
Kockelman, Kara M. 1997. Travel Behavior as a Function of Accessibility, Land
Use Mixing and Land Use Balance: Evidence From the San Francisco Bay Area.
Washington, D.C.: National Research Council, Transportation Research Board.
Schimek, Paul. 1996. Household Motor Vehicle Ownership and Use: How Much Does
Residential Density Matter? Washington DC: National Research Council,
Transportation Research Board.
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