Thursday, July 16, 2009

Which Cities Charge the Most for Parking?

It's more expensive to park a car in Amsterdam ($805) or London ($1,020) for a month (see chart above) than to rent an apartment in Atlanta GA ($753).

4 Comments:

At 7/17/2009 2:44 AM, Blogger Hot Sam said...

Car theft and theft of contents is extremely common in Amsterdam. The high price of parking is associated with the risk of loss parking on the streets. I can't speak about any of the other cities.

On a trip to Amsterdam, I had my car stereo and a pair of cowboy boots stolen from my car in a hotel parking lot near Geldrop. Oddly, they missed about 40 marks in cash in the glove compartment which, as it turns out, was essential to getting me home. My ATM card didn't work in Holland. Gas prices in Belgium were double Germany's prices. Gas prices in Holland were nearly triple. I got over the border into Germany on fumes to spend the 40 Marks on gas. Then I made it home to Mainz on E in the parking lot.

 
At 7/17/2009 11:13 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I read in a city guide book that A'dam has the highest per capita number of bicycles of any major city. I can believe it too, bikes were everywhere. Besides, you'd never want to actually try to drive your car to get around there. It would be strictly for inter-city travel as I never saw an open space anywhere! A'dam would be a good case for Mark's "Markets in everything" series.

 
At 7/17/2009 2:32 PM, Blogger ExtremeHobo said...

Why don't they just put price ceilings on the parking in London? Wouldn't that fix everything?

 
At 7/17/2009 6:17 PM, Blogger Steponic's Economics said...

Market prices serve a rationing function by influencing decision makers. A price ceiling set lower than what the market would bear would cause a shortage of parking in London.

The lower ceiling price would be an incentive for more people to desire parking spaces. But the lower ceiling price would also be an incentive for less firms to provide parking spaces. Those who find parking places would be happier with the lower price, but there would be a larger number of people unhappy because they can't find a parking place.

An unintended consequence of such a price ceiling might be to cause more traffic jams as more people are driving around looking for less available parking spots.

 

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