Chicago Parking Meters Up To A Buck An Hour: Equivalent Of Congestion Tax?
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 12. 3.08
In a budget balancing move, Chicago is upping the parking meter rate from a quarter per hour to at least a dollar an hour, starting next year. Done by privatizing.
Rates for most city parking meters will increase to $1 an hour in the coming months as a result of Mayor Richard Daley's deal to lease the spots for $1.1 billion to a private firm... The most expensive meters, which are found in the Loop, cost $3 an hour now. They will increase to $3.50 an hour next year and $6.50 by 2013.Via:Chicago Tribune, Clout Street, Most city parking meters to cost $1 an hour
Although lower income people who feel they must park downtown will be adversely affected, that's a narrow view of the issue. The measure will help reduce congestion, increase use of public transit and improve air quality.
Let's hope there will be extra, free bike racks provided by landlords and building managers.
Image credit:Watawa Life, Parking Meters, by Robin
Congestion Coverage From Our Archive
San Francisco Considers Taking the Plunge on Congestion Pricing ...
Bloomberg Congestion Fee a No-Go
Copenhagen To Join Congestion Tax Cities
Metro Bringing Tweaked Congestion Pricing Plan to Los Angeles ...
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Is School Food Harming Kids? Enlist a Labor Day Eat-In To Promote Fresh, Healthy Food
- Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton
- Why Do Some States Have Significantly Lower Carbon Emissions Than Others?
- Travel Green and Save Money without Giving Up Anything (Except Your Carbon Footprint)
- Forget Going Green Because It's the Right Thing to Do—Go Green to Make Your Neighbors Jealous
- 7 Ways the Troubled Automotive Industry Could Change Your Car and Your Commute
A buck an hour!
In central London that would buy you 6 minutes!
they plan to install parking meters with credit card readers in portland, oregon within a year or two.
cost $2.00 an hour, mostly to pay for those high tech parking meters.
the plan is to force the working man into bicycles & mass transit. driving will soon be for the rich yet the working man will be taxed to keep up their roads.
a buck an hour! In Toronto that would buy you fifteen minutes downtown. Chicagoans have been getting off easy.
echoing andrew- $1 an hour is NOT that expensive at all and on par (if not less than) most major cities. hell, in DC it's next to impossible to find a parking meter so you pay $15/day for parking.
ya know its another tax that we have to pay that keeps us poor. I personally am sick and tired of tax this and tax that pay this and pay that. People are using go green to line their pockets not deal with the real issues, like cars that do 10 mpg.
This kind of thinking doesnt help. The poorer people have to buy cheap products and cheap products are the ones that pollute. Keeping less money in our pockets only feeds the greedy corporations.
I agree with those above. Parts of Philadelphia have done that for a long time. Heck, I think parts of Madison Wisconsin are that high.
A buck an hour is the minimum in the city. So find the furthest meter from anywhere, on a street that for no real reason, and it's a dollar an hour now. There are meters tens of miles from downtown.
Downtown is $3 an hour now.
Congestion Pricing makes sense. When you have so many drivers heading downtown, every day, during peak hours, you get stand still traffic. It hurts businesses and the overall performance of the city.
How much do you think a parking spot is worth during peak hour? If your not willing to pay theres room for drivers before peak or after peak.
To echo everyone's comments, a $1 per hour is insanely low by global standards. Absolutely insane. Here in Sydney, parking rates are much much higher than this. C'mon, get it together!
Meters in central Westminster cost £5 per hour!
In the outlying areas of the city this will push drivers into already crowded unmetered side streets. I have no complaints downtown. Except the meters will fill up quickly and lead to out of order meters and more citations.