by James A. Bacon

In 1999 the City of Roanoke went socialist with its on-street parking downtown — it removed the last of its parking meters with the idea of making downtown more “hospitable” to visitors. Fifteen years later, city officials are planning to experiment with free markets and actually use price as a rationing mechanism for scarce on-street parking spaces — but only on a 90-day pilot basis.

Whether the meters stay will depend on how they are received, said Assistant City Manager Brian Townsend, as quoted by the Roanoke Times. “If we find there’s not general acceptance by the public, then, no, we won’t proceed.”

That’s not especially reassuring. The general public generally likes things for free. If you take the free things away, they get unhappy. Therefore, I don’t expect Roanoke’s experiment with market economics to end well. But at least I give the city fathers credit for trying.

The initiative is aimed at correcting what Parking Administrator Debbie Moses terms an upside down parking system in which the highest-demand spaces in the downtown core are free while less popular spaces in parking garages charge a fee. The article doesn’t say so explicitly, but it’s easy to predict that when people don’t have to pay for premium parking spaces, they are less cognizant of time and will occupy the spaces longer than they would otherwise. Premium spaces should turn over rapidly; “free” parking turns over slowly. (I put “free” in quotation marks because free parking really isn’t free. Downtown parking spaces have economic value. On-street parking spaces could be converted to bike lanes, car lanes, wider sidewalks or other uses.)

Roanoke officials will use the latest technology. The new meters will take cash, credit and debit cards as well as payment by smartphone. They will notify users by text message when their time is about to expire and allow them to extend time remotely. (While that’s great for people who own smart phones, it may not be so great for the old geezer who want to put a quarter in the slot. That’s why I expect the new parking spaces to lose the geezer vote.)

City officials position the initiative as creating more choices for people who work downtown and patronize businesses there. They pay a premium price for the most convenient, on-street parking. They pay less for moderately convenient parking garages. And they get two-hour free parking if they are willing to walk a few blocks to parking lots on the downtown periphery.

The article did not address one really important question: Will the prices be fixed, will they vary according to day of the week and time of day, or will they vary according to supply-and-demand conditions? The latest thinking suggests that prices should be set high enough to aim for 85% occupancy, a level that maximizes revenue while ensuring that someone looking for a space always will be able to find one. Also, the writer made no mention as to whether Roanokers would be able to use smart-phone apps to find vacant parking spaces. 

Taking away peoples’ “free” parking is hard, just like taking away their right to use the roads for “free” — i.e. taxing someone else pay to pay for building and maintaining them — is difficult. But it is a small but necessary step toward making downtown Roanoke more fiscally sustainable and economically viable.