PT BLOG
been experiencing (this was the case in Chicago) and all is right with their world. The city, however, having sold the
asset, now finds out that it was a gold mine, but because they ran it poorly, they were the losers. I wonder if a slightly different
approach might be in order. What if a parking operation was run like a utili- ty, where the city received income based on giving the parking utility a monopoly (like electricity or water) and perhaps a piece of the action? You would have the benefit of a for- profit organization running the park- ing to maximize income and service, and the city would probably receive more income than they did when they ran the operation. Just saying …
Six years to get a parking permit I guess it takes a while to get a
parking permit in the outlying light-
rail stations on Chicago’s Metra – in some cases, six years. I did some research (but not
much) and found that the prices in these lots are between $1.25 and $2 a day. There is some talk of building more parking, but for some reason, this isn’t, I guess, financially feasible. Well, gee whiz. They can’t afford
to provide more parking but are will- ing to subsidize the few who can get permits (about 1 in 4). The rest just deal with it. Once again, the govern- ment (read that Metra) is subsidizing parking. People can buy cars, put gas in
them, insure them and maintain them, but want to park them for free or just about free. This makes absolutely no sense. If they charged market rates for
these spaces, first of all, people would figure out other ways to get to the train (car-pool, van-pool, horse and buggy, etc. etc. etc.). Second, enough money would be available to provide
more parking. It’s how the system works. Of course, Metra comes in and
screws with the marketplace and then wonders why they have no money to take care of parking. I’m sure histori- cally this was to attract people off the freeway and onto the train. Well, that worked. Now it’s time to stop the marketing program and get back to reality. Good grief. What next? Free pick- up and delivery to your front door?
A volatile market and monthly publications I was reading my second/third-
favorite magazine the other day and caught an article by Charlie Munn on off-airport parking. In his normal jour- neyman fashion, Charlie takes us through the issues of off-airport park- ing et al. Fair enough. But he is caught in the monthly magazine timeline at a time when things are
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JANUARY 2009 • PARKING TODAY •
www.parkingtoday.com
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