Getting The (Parking And Riding) Prices Right

UCLA's Donald Shoup and co-authors Jeffrey Brown and Daniel Baldwin Hess have been awarded the American Collegiate Schools of Planning's Chester Rapkin Award for best article ("Fare-Free Public Transit at Universities (PDF, 2MB)) for 2004.

Peter Gordon covers the announcement and provides an excerpt in his blog of the authors writing about their work in the Summer 2005 Journal of Planning Education and Research

"Pay-as-you park-pricing for drivers and unlimited Unlimted Access to transit riders changes the price of travel in two important ways. First, replacing parking permits with in-vehicle meters shifts the price of parking to a marginal cost with no fixed cost, and this reduces solo driving. Second, Unlimited Access shifts the price of riding the bus to a fixed cost with no marginal cost, and this increases transit ridership. Thes two price reforms will together have a much greater impact on travel behavior than will either one acting alone because in combination they will turn transportation prices upside down."

[Editor's note: This article is only available to subscribers, or for a fee.]