Op-Ed: Privatizing Parking at D.C. Metro Would Be a 50-Year Mistake

"Two weeks ago, WMATA began taking bids from private companies to operate its parking facilities," according to an op-ed by Donald Cohen, who is the executive director of In the Public Interest, research and policy center on privatization and responsible contracting.

"In exchange for a big up-front payment to the agency, the winning company would collect fees from people parked at train stations for the next 50 years," writes Cohen, who argues that the WMATA might regret that decision for the next 50 years as well.

Cohen calls the proposal "foolish," and lists reasons for doing so, including:

It discourages public transit. In order for the private company to make a profit, parking rates will have to go up — as much as 3% a year, according to WMATA. If it costs more money to park and ride the train, people may look for other ways into the city.

According to Cohen, the proposal to privatize WMATA's parking gets at fundamental questions about public goods and services, with answers crucial to public transit and cities as a whole.

The proposal to privatize WMATA's parking continues a trend of cash-strapped transit agencies looking to privative portions of their operations to cut costs. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, for instance, is considering a plan to privatize specific types of employment in the agency, such as bus drivers and maintenance workers. Cohen also cites the example of Chicago's decision to privatize its parking meters—a decision described in the past as "Exhibit A for bad public contracting."