Reaction from a Shoup-ista

Yesterday morning, Dr. Donald Shoup hit column 1 in the LA times. Shoup was the feature in an article titled "He puts parking in it's place." In 2 days, the online version has received over 100 comments and over 500 "likes" on Facebook. The comments range from support from the Shoupista army, to attacks on Shoup personally as a hippie and socialist, his ideas and even his jokes. I guess I missed the part in the bill of rights where car owners were given the right to free parking, all the time.

(UCLA Planning Professors Shoup and Crane from last springs 40th anniversary celebration)

From a comment on the article:
"We paid for that 'free' parking - we paid gas taxes to build the roads, and paid for spaces in our houses and condomiums to park our cars. We (the people) own the streets and should be allowed to park on the streets that we own."

This common belief that the gas tax covers the price of roads is incorrect. The link is evidence from the Texas Highway Department which shortly states how roads do not pay for themselves through the gas tax. California has the third highest gas tax and still CalTrans local road maintenance and rehabilitation budget comes only about 25% from gas taxes (1). This is only for Caltrans owned/operated roads, which as one comment point out, is only 1 authority among many who actually own Los Angeles roads and highways.

Another common comment from the article points at biking, walking and public transit's role in mobility in Los Angeles.

"Bicycles, walking, mass transit -- those are not viable options in southern California. These pinhead planners do not live in the real world."

Okay, I get it. The public transit rail infrastructure in Los Angeles does not cover much of the region geographically. The people commenting obviously do not believe that the bus system in LA counts as public transit. Most people do not feel comfortable (or make many excuses why they can't) commute via bicycle. But there's really an economic argument here people are missing. If free parking is offered everywhere, and that "free" cost is reflected in the prices of goods and services, why wouldn't I take the free parking spot?

Personally, it's a choice. I choose to bike/walk/bus to school because I don't want to pay for parking and can park my bike closer to the Urban Planning department than any parking lot. I choose to take the bus to the valley because I don't want to pay for gas in my car very often. Until the gas tax/fees sufficiently reflects the true cost of driving, I am choosing to let drivers and free parkers receive a subsidy every time they get in their car. A paper (2) suggests that the ideal gas tax for California is three times the current price. Suffice it to say, I'm not going to be holding my breath for that moment.


Developers are required to build too much parking, and we are all paying for it. Shoup likes to park at the top of parking structures to observe the pristine nature of spots that are rarely used. (At this year's Street summit, I carpooled with Shoup and he did in fact make us go to the top floor of the parking structure and check to see if anyone was parked up there.) I took this opportunity to learn more about his life, and found he has no children. My question was, "Who then is going to carry on the parking legacy," to his reply, "Well all of you of course."

Lastly, to all commenters, please get your political ideologies correct and stop calling Shoup a socialist. A socialist would not be asking individuals to pay for parking. He is calling for market rates, a capitalist ideology.


From a proud member of the Shoupista Army - or one of those pinhead planners.




1. Road maintenance fact sheet
2. Lin, Cynthia and Prince, Lea. "The Optimal Gas Tax for California" Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, California. Accessed from the Transportation Research Board.