Comments on: Parking prices in San Francisco vs. Ann Arbor

By: ManeeshSethi.com » How To Quadruple Your Wealth In A Six Hour Plane Flight

ManeeshSethi.com » How To Quadruple Your Wealth In A Six Hour Plane Flight — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:50:30 +0000

[...] prices of good and services vary wildly depending on your location; heck, just take a look at the difference in parking prices between San Francisco and Ann Arbor! Check out, this cost of living calculator from CNN, which tells [...]

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:34:11 +0000

Parking in Ann Arbor goes to NYC scale market prices for football games. Parking across from the stadium this season is $40 on game day, and 5 blocks away it’s $25. I kept a spreadsheet so I can make a map.

The Ann Arbor downtown structures run by the DDA now have big LED signs showing how many parking spaces are free, which is one quick way of estimating how busy town is at the moment.

the most awesome Ann Arbor deal is a free bus pass if you work downtown. My commuting budget right now is $0.

By: josh

josh — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:57:39 +0000

That is insane. There’s something to say for living in Dallas, where I park for free at work every day.

By: Carter Adler

Carter Adler — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:58:49 +0000

Don: It’s even worse than that, because the Ann Arbor parking gets more expensive after the first three hours.

24 hr parking in AA: $26.10
24 hr parking in SF: $22.00

Interesting also that the SF parking garage has limited hours (Not open until 8AM!!! How do people go to work?); most AA parking is available round-the-clock.

By: Jared Goralnick

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:19:08 +0000

I remember taking a business trip to Muskogee Oklahoma and parking at their meters. It was something like $0.25/5 hours.

Needless to say it’s not so nice here in DC.

By: kick_push

kick_push — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:23:49 +0000

i live 30 miles away from SF.. and you are right.. parking prices there are ridiculous

i paid $30 for parking at at&t park just to watch a 3 hr. game

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:34:35 +0000

You don’t need to go to Costco in a cab. Try City Car Share, Flexcar, or Zipcar.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:32:16 +0000

Ramit,

What am I missing here? If the Ann Arbor parking garage charges $1.00 per hour, wouldn’t 1 day of parking cost $24.00? ($2.00 more than in San Francisco)?

By: andre nosalsky

andre nosalsky — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:45:23 +0000

From my spambox:

A businessman walked into a New York City bank and asked for the loan officer. He said he was going to Europe on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000. The loan officer said the bank would need some security for such a loan.

The business man then handed over the keys to a Rolls Royce that was parked on the street in front of the bank. Everything checked out and the loan officer accepted the car as collateral for the loan. An employee then drove the Rolls into the bank’s underground garage and parked it there.

Two weeks later the businessman returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest which came to $15.41.

The loan officer said, “We do appreciate your business and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a bit puzzled. While you were away we checked and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is why you would bother to borrow $5,000?”

The business man replied: “Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for fifteen bucks?”

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:15:26 +0000

For more on parking pricing policy, check out Donald Shoup – UCLA Urban Planning professor and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking.” He argues (in a tiny nutshell) that parking, in general, is grossly under-priced, which leads to all sorts of problems. He advocates for market-based pricing policies. Even here in NYC much public parking is effectively subsidized by the city govt.

Here’s a good interview with Dr. Shoup: http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/dr-shoup-parking-guru/