Price Doesn’t Matter if You Don’t Have to Pay: Legal Exemptions and Market-Priced Parking

Abstract

If implemented, market-priced parking (also referred to as congestion-priced parking) is generally viewed within transportation circles as certain to succeed at reducing traffic congestion. Yet markets only work when participants have to pay, and this may not be the case if the parking market is distorted by the large number of drivers who avoid payment through either legal means, such as vehicles displaying handicapped placards, or illegal means. In this study, we examined the influence of both legal and illegal non-payment to determine whether such behavior undermines the effectiveness of congestion-priced parking.