The high cost of cheap permit parking in Amsterdam

Abstract

In 1992, Amsterdam's voters pushed for a more-aggressive autoluw (`nearly car free'') policy, but progress has been slow. Hourly parking tariffs are the highest in the country, but more cars than ever park in Amsterdam. We explore this promise-results gap in a spatial comparison of the price of parking (set by bureaucrats) and living (set by market forces). If prices balance supply and demand, then the ratios of parking prices to living prices should be relatively and absolutely balanced, but they are not. We find that the prices of parking permits (for residents) are much lower, throughout the city, than the prices of living space or hourly parking (for visitors). We also find excessively low parking prices in Amsterdam Noord, which encourages car dependency and takes public space from other uses. Finally, we explain how the city's attempt to reconcile its policy of cheap parking permits with its goal of reducing street parking by subsidizing garages is extremely costly and contrary to the autoluw promise. We recommend increasing permit prices to reduce the number of cars parked in the city and directing increased revenues to realizing the many benefits of an autoluw city.

Keywords: parking, public spaces, opportunity cost, urban congestion

JEL Classification: R41, R42, R48, R52, H23, H44, H71, D61