The scourge of Free Parking

Free Parking
Originally uploaded by sevenbirches

From "Commuting by Road, but Not by Car" in the New York Times:

FOR eight years, Brenda J. Murtha, a pension consultant with Aetna, drove 50 miles round-trip from her home in Colchester, Conn., to her job in downtown Hartford. But when Aetna recently announced that employees would be charged to park, she decided to try CT Transit’s Marlborough-Colchester Express bus.

Two months later, Ms. Murtha is still enjoying the ride. She says she saves about $300 a month in gas by leaving her Ford Explorer in Colchester, and with Aetna’s monthly mass-transit incentive jumping to $50 this month, she will be spending just $15 a month to commute.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this makes sense,” said Ms. Murtha, 47. “I’m all for saving money — it’s better in my pocket than in the pocket of some oil company.”

(Flickr photo by Seven Birches.)