Summary

Private parking charges are, in the main, 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. Much less common are instances of private parking charges being introduced by individual companies as part of a conscious effort to either implement travel plans that reduces car use amongst their work force or to reduce land take costs associated with car parking.

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 success of WPL in achieving the transport objectives of local authorities is very much dependent on what proportion of the charges companies pass on to employees and also the response of employees to parking charges. If a firm decides to absorb the WPL then it will experience an increase in operating costs and may in the medium to long run decide to relocate to areas where WPL are not levied. If a company decides to pass on some or all of the costs of the WPL to its employees then may decide to switch to public transport, to share the journey to work with other employees, to park on the streets adjacent to their place of work or in the medium to long term move to a company where were parking is free. Their response will depend upon a host of factors, the most important of which will be the size of the parking fee, the availability of alternative transport (public transport and car share) and the availability of alternative employment. For these reasons the success of WPL will often depend upon its implementation as part of a range of measures, especially land use measures that prevent or discourage companies and employees moving to areas where WPL are not applicable.