Equity in Congestion-priced Parking: A Study of SFpark, 2011 to 2013

Cities could reduce or eliminate cruising for parking by correctly setting parking meter rates, but would doing so harm lower-income drivers? We examined the question using data on more than 17,000 parked vehicles and their drivers from SFpark, a federally funded market-priced parking experiment in San Francisco. But we found that lower-income parkers are more likely to use street parking and meter rates had small effects on usage. Raising prices did not increase sorting across blocks by income. Controlled analysis yielded mixed and weak evidence that lower-income parkers may be less sensitive to price increases. We discuss policy implications.