Metered Parking

On-street, curbside parking is great for commercial districts: it gives shoppers a nearby place to park, shop quickly, and move on. In our BID (which spans from Flatbush Extension to Classon Avenue), there are 372 curbside parking spaces. Of those, 55% are not metered, so visitors can park all day to shop or, if they choose, they can leave the car and take a subway ride to, say, Manhattan for the day. Some people claim these so-called non-metered, “free” parking spaces are something to maintain because they give shoppers the flexibility to park and shop without worry. The reality, however, is quite different, and is made evident in research that consultants conducted for us, which can be viewed on page 19 in the full report Placemaking on Myrtle: Hall to Emerson.

Results show that cars at non-metered parking space spend more than twice as long parked as do cars parked at meters, which is perhaps a bit obvious: if you don’t have to pay, there’s no reason to ever move your car. What’s more, about 10% of cars parked at non-metered spaces never moved their cars (except for street sweeping). Last, cars that can't find convenient parking cruise the neighborhood to look for parking, causing added traffic congestion and pollution; some even take a risk and park in a bus stop, which causes other transportation and safety problems. So is non-metered curbside parking the best use of curbside parking for a commercial district?

There may be a better use. The success of a commercial district depends partially on its ability to provide shoppers convenience. In this case, convenience is a parking space. If there are no parking spaces, a shopper who is driving will simply continue driving to the next nearby shopping district to spend money there. The parking meter in the commercial district therefore gives shoppers access and convenience. It’s not free, but it’s convenient.

To learn about Muni Meters and NYC Parking, visit the Department of Transportation .

What do you think about curbside parking?