Continuing with more information from MWCOG's recently released State of the Commute 2007 survey (Telework "Rising Dramatically" in D.C. Area, July 20, 2007 and D.C. Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down!, July 18, 2007) comes news that area employers are still providing scads of free parking. According to the report, sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents said their employers offered free, on-site (65%) or off-site (4%) parking, the same percentage as reported in 2004 (69%) and in 2001 (68%).
Federal agency employees were least likely to have free parking (53%) compared with more than seventy percent (70%) of employees working for private firms and eighty-three percent (83%) who worked for state/local governments. COG notes that free parking was much less common in the core area of the region, where only four in ten of respondents had free parking compared to three quarters outside of the core.
Twenty-one (21%) percent of employees said that they are responsible for paying all parking charges, nearly the same as the past two surveys (21% in 2004 and 23% in 2001). Fifteen percent said they were provided discounts for car/vanpooling and seven percent said they shared parking costs with their employers. These numbers were also are near identical to the surveys done in 2004 and 2001.
I think it is a bit surprising that the drive alone rate is trending slightly down and the rate of train, bus, car/vanpool and bike/walk are all up despite the fact that the rate of employer provided parking has remained steady over the past three surveys. I believe a bigger dent could be made in congestion by bringing that drive alone rate down if the rate of free parking could be brought down (while providing corresponding commuter benefits - which will be the subject of the next State of the Commuter post).
And why do more than half of Federal employees still have free parking?
More information on Parking Mangement for employers.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria
OK but how much would it cost to use a bike rack? Like 20 cents for a whole day? If that? The maintenance costs on a metal pole are very low compared to a garage or even a lot. As for the shower thing...I think you've taken that metaphor too far.
Posted by: jj5583 | July 24, 2007 at 03:31 PM
Abundant free parking--this is a problem? It's a perk, you make it sound like it's some rampant disease. Next you'll be against employer provided healthcare and insurance as well?
Naturally the amount of free parking correlates with local land prices--rare in downtown DC and Arlington, much more abundant in the suburbs. With that much land out there, they might as well use it for parking.
The prevalent joke is that motorists think that transit and bike commuting are great options, as long as it's for other people. Seems to me that cyclists and non-driving commuters think paying more fees is great, as long as it's someone else paying.
To give an idea of what the shoe feels like on the other foot, I propose we start putting "parking" meters to bicycle hitch posts. After all, providing bike paths cost money--you have to paint a line down the edge of a road--so cyclists should pony up cash as well. Perhaps employers should charging for shower facilities as well--hot water isn't free. Just as soon as they're done converting bathrooms to pay toilets.
Posted by: Commuter182 | July 24, 2007 at 01:20 PM
And why do 83%!!!! of local and state government employees still have free parking?
I'm sure it's better in Arlington (do we know that percentage?) than, say Fairfax, but that's considerably worse than the private sector.
Posted by: Steve | July 23, 2007 at 09:44 AM