Some might call it call it asphalt socialism, but public subsidies tend to only go one way in the United States: toward the car.
“Everything you need to know about equity and privilege in urban transportation is reflected in how much we charge for parking compared to transit,” writes Joe Cortright in a guest appearance for Streetsblog USA.
This bold claim relies on evidence from a recent study by University of Northern Illinois professor Chris Goodman, who recently compared the price of street parking permits to the price of transit passes in the the nation’s 30 largest cities.
“In every single city, the price of a transit pass exceeds the price of parking by a factor of ten to twenty or more,” reports Cortright. “For the median city in Goodman’s sample, the monthly cost of a parking pass was $2.25, compared to the a cost of $77.00 for a monthly transit pass.” Put another way, in many cities the cost for a street parking permit is less per month than the cost of a single bus ticket.
The findings come with the caveat that most streets in most cities don’t require a parking permit, so the price of parking on the street is usually zero.
The source article includes offers more insight toward informing an understanding of transportation policy in the United States, and its consequences.
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