Charging for Parking to Finance Public Services

Many cities have two serious problems: overcrowded on-street parking and undersupplied public services. This article examines a policy to address both problems: charge market prices to manage on-street parking and use the revenue to finance local public services. Our case study of a pilot program for alley improvements in Beijing finds that the estimated payback period for the investments in sanitation, security, landscaping, and parking is less than three years. Only 35 percent of households in the pilot program own a car and the average income of car-owning households is almost three times the income of carless households.

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