People don’t hate parking.
They hate bad parking.

As many as seven parking spots exist for every car in the US, which means 85% of them are sitting empty while you’re reading this sentence. It’s a shocking amount of underutilized space, yet neither drivers nor the communities are satisfied with the status quo of parking.

85% of parking spots are sitting empty while you’re reading this sentence.

What’s gone wrong with parking? And how do people really want parking to change?

We surveyed 2,000 US consumers to better understand the state of parking. We discovered that the vast majority of drivers pay for parking when it’s…

Fast & easy

Funded transparently

Available to reserve

Step

Conclusion

Parking problems and misconceptions

88%

say they try to avoid paying for parking

With as many as 2 billion parking spaces in the US, it’s understandable why so many drivers try to avoid paid parking. But alongside that sentiment, there’s a deep misconception about who pays for “free” parking and widespread frustration with how parking interferes with our lives.

75%

have been deterred from going out because of bad parking infrastructure.

73% say downtown city centers are the most difficult place to find parking.

57%

have used public transportation or ride-sharing apps to avoid parking.

Gen Z is more likely than other generations to choose public transportation or ride-sharing apps to avoid parking.

Older Millennials (35-44) who use public transportation often are more likely to pay for parking.

Parking and
public infrastructure

68%

can’t say how parking is funded.

(Psst… the answer is resident taxes.)

64%

are willing to pay for parking if it means lower taxes.

Breaking that misconception changes the picture: When people know that parking is funded through their own taxes, a wide majority are much more willing to pay for parking.

70%

would pay for parking to fund public transportation, safer bike lanes, and improve roads.

79% of people who make $100,000 to $124,999 are willing to pay for parking if it means better public infrastructure… but support falls as income rises beyond that level.

Younger people are more likely to support paid parking for these reasons.

What drivers want
out of parking

Drivers recognize that paid parking can solve their parking frustrations — when it’s as fast and easy as they want it to be. Even among drivers who say they try to avoid paid parking, more than two in three would pay for parking if they could save a spot ahead of time.

67%

of those who avoid paid parking would pay for reserved parking in advance.

73%

of US drivers already pay for on-street parking.

69%

would pay for parking if they could reserve a spot ahead of time.*

*Among people who drive more than 5 days a week

Beyond the demand for reserved parking, drivers are also looking for a single app where they can manage all of their parking needs — emphasizing how parking patterns are trending toward seamless services.

Conclusion

People understand that parking can — and should — be much better than it is today.

Although a majority of drivers say they try to avoid paid parking, they also show great willingness to pay for parking when it’s actually as easy as it should be.

The answer to better parking isn’t more parking spots. It's smarter parking that gives drivers the seamless experience they want, improves the efficiency of parking spaces, and funds the public transportation and infrastructure that make cities more livable.

The status quo of parking doesn’t satisfy anybody — but by mapping streets to uncover real-time transportation patterns, parking officials can use data to recognize exactly where spaces are in-demand or never used. Through the power of Parking Data as a Service, cities can break up congestion in downtown centers, transform underutilized parking spots into community hubs, and deploy reserved parking where it’s needed most.

Download this report

People don’t hate parking. They hate bad parking.