Parking Cash Out

Free parking is the most common fringe benefit offered to workers in the U.S. Is it any wonder, then, that 91 percent of them drive to work--or that most of them drive solo? The cost of this parking subsidy is about 1 percent of the gross national product and four times the amount of funding for public transit. This report, a complement to Shoup's The High Cost of Free Parking, shows how employers who offer their employees the option to cash out their parking subsidies can discourage solo driving and its attendant social, environmental, and infrastructure costs. It also suggests ways planners can bring this option to their communities.