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parking is the greatest single cause of inner city traffic congestion. Fifth, the additional congestion


made himand the other cars around him (congestion begets congestion), burn even more gas, which has additional Greenhouse Gas and National Security implications (burning gas enriches hos- tile states). So my friend wasted 10 minutes


and some gas in his losing bid to save $6. He needlessly contributed a little extra to air pollution and will probably feel even worse reading this. Toronto suffered some additional pollution and conges- tion while losing a revenue opportunity of, say, $4 had correct pricing yielded a spot for my friend. Note that we are not only talking about the increment of pol- lution and congestion thatmy friend per- sonally contributed, since his circling activity had secondary spillover effects for other drivers around him. And this is repeated thousands of


times every day.Add to that the “lucky winners” of Toronto’s parking roulette who are paying $2 instead of $4 per hour, the city is likely losing upwards of $250,000 per week-day or somewhere


between $60 - $100million per year. If such pricing encouraged a portion of these bargain-hunter parkers not to bring their vehicle into the city, but to use some other modality, that would only be an additional benefit. How many people would leave their car home to save $4 ($2 incremental fee per hour for 2 hours)? Likely 5-10%of the street parkers. And most of them would find another way to transact their business. The cumulative size of revenue


Extra distance travelled “looking” for a parking space.


loss to our city, the unnecessary envi- ronmental impact to a City that lays claim to green leadership, and the direct contribution to the daily grind of congestion beg to be addressed. I assert that Toronto could dramatically improve inner-city traffic flow and reduce emission volumes by increas- ing its parking charges to the Shoup- optimumof 15%vacancy.Considering the spread between the cost of off- street parking and underpriced on- street parking, the City could easily double it parking revenues – at least in the downtown core.


Continued on Page 40


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APRIL 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com 35


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