Taxonomy and description

Private parking charges can apply to both residential and non-residential parking, however this instrument considers them in a non-residential context. As such they are assumed to be charges for parking that are levied, by local authorities, on existing or future non-residential developments, e.g. office buildings. They are designed to help suppress the demand for car parking and thus traffic levels, particularly in urban centres where commuting to work makes up a large percentage of the traffic. Typically such charges require special legislation to enable a charge for the use or ownership of the parking space to be levied.

Very occasionally, private parking charges will be introduced by a company if that company is making a conscious effort to implement a travel plan that reduces car use amongst its work force or if it wishes to reduce land take costs associated with providing car parking. The bulk of this report however concentrates on private parking charges imposed by local councils.

Terminology

A number of instruments come under the umbrella of private parking charges and the terminology can be different from country to country. Two distinctions probably need to made between parking charges that are levied by local governments on firms and parking charges that are levied by companies on their own workers without pressure or legislation from local government.

When charges are levied by local governments the charge is levied on the company directly and the company can react financially, either passing on the charge (or a proportion of it) to their employees or absorbing the charge (or a proportion of it), or physically, by reducing the number of car park spaces available to its employees or by relocating to an area where such charges are not levied. The recent UK 10 Year Plan outlined such charges in the form of Workplace Parking Levies (WPL) and envisages them being introduced to the 12 largest cities and towns in England (plus London) by 2010 (DETR, 2000). Other cities in different countries have already introduced such charges, for example, Amsterdam (Netherlands) where residents and businesses have to purchase Parking Permits.

The latter can occur if a company is making a conscious effort to implement a travel plan that reduces car use amongst its work force or if it wishes to reduce land take costs associated with providing car parking. Some schemes operate a simple pay & display scheme, whilst others charge employees for a permit/pass which in some cases offers a guaranteed parking spot and in others a license to hunt for a parking spot (which may also be pay and display). On a different note some employees offer a cash-out scheme whereby employees are offered cash for relinquishing a parking space on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.

Technology

The technology required for private parking charges relates to the method of payment and the enforcement methods used. This is covered by the parking charges (insert hypertext link) instrument elsewhere on this website.