Here's an idea--it's too politically perilous to increase gasoline excise taxes, how about eliminating free parking at the office?

The data reported in a survey of transit users by Metro Transit in Minneapolis-St. Paul reported that:

• Saving money on parking is the reason train riders give most often for why they ride the rail line. Nearly half of Hiawatha riders drive to a park- and-ride lot to catch the train.

• If the train were not available, 59 percent of rail riders said they would have made the trip in their cars alone.

Since the cost of parking, or not, is such a significant factor influencing whether or not people are willing to drive, by taking away the privilege of free parking, this will reduce induced demand for driving.

As difficult as this could be politically, it's likely that forcing a reduction in the availability of free parking wouldn't have the same public outcry as if gasoline taxes were significantly increased. (I saw an ad that said that 16% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline is comprised of taxes.)

Also see "We should all be Shoupistas...," "High Cost of Free* Parking Revisited and Car Sharing in DC," and "Trading the Car for the Train."

Index Keywords: car-culture; energy; transit