What does it cost to rent a place to park your car? On the Northwest side of Chicago you can rent a single space in a garage for about $125 per month. What do you think it should cost to rent all the parking places on an entire city block for a whole year? The City of Chicago charges a mere $25 for this benefit. It’s called a Zoned Parking Permit, an add-on to the current city vehicle sticker.
The city grossly undercharges for this virtually free good; it should price it at something closer to its real market value. How can the city find out what it is really worth? By gradually raising the price of the permit until the revenue lost by removal of Zoned Parking equals or exceeds the revenue gained by raising the price.
Zoned parking is almost completely voluntary. Residents get it only if a majority of them request it. They can likewise request it be removed; when the price is too high, they will.
Start by raising the price of the permit an additional $75 this year. If there are no significant dropouts, raise it another $100 next year and continue doing so until it becomes unprofitable. With over 100,000 permit holders, this would mean an increase of $7.5 million to the city in the first year alone. It would also have the additional benefit of ridding the city of many of the Zoned Parking areas, which have spread through the city like a cancer.
Of course, adjustment to the price should be made for those permits that do not monopolize a block for an entire year. For example, if a permit were effective for only half the days of the year, it should only cost half as much as a full-year permit.
— Lawrence A. Kosiba, Chicago
