Shoup on the Business Sense of Paid Parking
The San Francisco Chronicle spoke with Donald Shoup, distinguished research professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, about a plan to extend hours of paid street parking from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The proposal is projected to raise $18 million in annual revenue for San Francisco, but restaurant owners argue that curtailing free parking now would stall efforts to revive the city’s COVID-battered economy. Shoup said the proposal could actually boost business, opening up spaces for customers that might currently be taken by employee cars left in the spots for hours. Shoup’s groundbreaking research on parking has recently been in the public eye, with stories in the Washington Post and Business Insider about policy shifts around the country. In addition, reviews of the new book “Paved Paradise,” which puts a spotlight on Shoup’s work, have appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, New Republic and Bloomberg’s CityLab.
