Want to Reduce Traffic Congestion? Cash Out Employer-Paid Parking
Employer-paid parking will undermine New York City’s congestion tolls. But parking cash-out policies like those in California and Washington D.C. can solve the problem.
5 minute read
April 1, 2024, 5:00 AM PDT By Donald Shoup @DonaldShoupBumble Dee / Adobe Stock
As early as June 2024, New York City intends to implement the nation's first congestion pricing program. Drivers will pay a $15 toll to enter the Central Business District—Manhattan south of 60th Street. If the congestion toll reduces traffic at a reasonable cost, other cities will surely follow. If the toll fails to perform as promised, the setback will dim the prospect of congestion pricing everywhere else.
Employer-paid parking reduces the cost of parking at work in New York’s CBD by much more than the $15 toll will increase the cost of driving to work. The average price of off-street parking in the CBD is $655 a month. If an employer pays for employees’ parking at work, the subsidy for a commuter who drives to work 20 days a month is $34.50 a day, more than twice the $15 toll.
