The Hidden Costs of Free Parking for Teachers

Bill de Blasio's decision to hand out more than 10,000 parking placards to school employees incentivizes driving and costs the city money.

1 minute read

May 26, 2017, 8:00 AM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


New York Parking

Maciej Bledowski / Shutterstock

School employees will soon be getting parking placards to allow them to allow them to park for free in certain spaces in New York. Charles Komanoff writes that this policy will put more cars on the street, making the city more congested, polluted, and dangerous. That congestion will cost the city money and the revenue associated with placards they may have sold.  

Mayor Bill de Blasio points out that there will be the same number of parking spaces, but, of course, that doesn't mean that more people won't be trying to park. "Apparently no one in City Hall tasked NYC DOT with quantifying the slowdowns that await other travelers when thousands of new weekday car trips begin wriggling like tadpoles to their promised free parking spots," Komanoff writes. 

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 in StreetsBlog NYC

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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