Sooner Or Later You’re Going To Listen To Ralph Nader

The best reason to support congestion pricing is that it will cut the parking lot market off at its knees:

Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion tax is emerging as a terrifying business proposition for parking operators, who fear their market will be slashed to pieces.

“Parking is supply and demand economics in its purest form,” a parking consultant with Walker Parking Consultants, Andrew Hill, said. “You have to weigh the availability of transit options against the percentage of folks coming into the city with the appeal of driving, as well as local real estate conditions.”

Leasing a parking garage in Manhattan has long been a gold mine. “You had a set, fixed demand, and you’d fetch a good dollar for the service you were providing,” Mr. Hill said. “If Bloomberg caps access, it just cuts the market off at its knees.”

The Metropolitan Parking Association has been pouring big dollars into a newly formed anti-congestion pricing advocacy group, the Coalition to Keep NYC Congestion-Tax Free.

This in a place where the monthly price of a parking spot far exceeds the national average on a two-bedroom rental:

The most expensive parking spot — located at 2 E. 60th St. between Fifth and Madison avenues — now costs at least $1,183 a month, and more than $1,300 a month for an “exotic” car such as a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley, or an Alfa Romeo.

With many garages in that neighborhood charging more than $1,000 a month for oversize vehicles, the garage next to Mayor Bloomberg’s mansion on East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue suddenly seems a bargain at $829 a month. Compare that with the town of Bakersfield, Calif., where the most expensive parking lot charges about $50 a month.

Midtown Manhattan has for years been the most expensive neighborhood in America to park, according to the annual Colliers International North America Parking Rate Survey, which rates London’s parking the world’s most expensive. With most of the city’s priciest lots functioning near capacity, it seems that many Manhattan residents are willing to pay any price for the luxury of keeping a car in the city to allow for a spur-of-the-moment getaway. Some garages are even charging $200 for the right to reserve a spot.