Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Streetsblog

New Jersey Gets It Wrong on Parking Lot Privatization

We'd all like to see parking prices raised to reflect the demand for parking and the real costs associated with maintaining parking infrastructure, or -- better yet -- the elimination of much of the surface parking that overruns cities, making them less walkable and transit friendly.

So the idea of parking lot privatization -- theoretically moving from a public subsidy for car storage to a market orientation -- has promise. Of course, how it performs in practice depends on how the deal is structured.

The state of New Jersey is considering a privatization scheme for its transit station parking lots that would involve leasing the lots to private operators. Unfortunately, the state's plan looks like a model of how not to structure a public-private partnership, say Stephen Smith at Market Urbanism and Matt Yglesias at Think Progress.

false

Smith says the lessees will have limited control to set prices and the very arrangement will prevent development of the valuable land:

[R]ather than taking on entrenched suburban interests, we’re just adding another layer of government dependents, this time of the monied corporate variety (bidders include KKR, Morgan Stanley, Carlyle, and JP Morgan). The land on which transit parking lots sit is uniquely positioned to be converted into dense development, and the only thing worse than sitting on the land would be for the agencies to sign away their rights to change that within the foreseeable future.

Yglesias says an outright sale of the parking lots to private investors would be preferable, allowing their conversion to more productive uses, like housing:

Today’s privately owned parking lot could be tomorrow’s transit-oriented development. And today’s publicly owned parking lot could be sold to a private owner. But a parking lot that’s publicly owned but contracted out to a private operator is the worst of both worlds—a kind of publicly guaranteed, contractually obligated subsidy to parking and parking-lot operation.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Activists in Portland are campaigning to make streetcar tracks safer for cyclists, reports Bike Portland. Decatur Metro compares the energy consumption of various modes of transport, plus their intangible benefits. And TheCityFix outlines ways planners can influence the public to make good decisions on behalf of sustainability and community cohesion.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Staten Islanders Fight To Keep Park Car-free

Politicians believe cars will make the park safer, but the opposite is the case.

April 18, 2025

Friday Headlines: Trump’s Revenge Tour Now Includes a Stop at Penn Station

U.S. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy is so eager to own the libs at the MTA that he's now taken himself hostage. Plus other news.

April 18, 2025

Exclusive: Cops Writing 15% of Their Red Light Tix to Cyclists, Who are Just 2% of Road Users

We received data from a Freedom of Information Law request showing that the NYPD is intent on writing red-light tickets to the lightest, slowest-moving vehicles instead of doubling-down on enforcement against 3,000-pound-plus killing machines.

April 18, 2025

OPINION: DOT’s Argument Against Universal Daylighting Has a Fatal Flaw

Hydrant zones and bus stops are not a suitable stand-in for universal daylighting — yet DOT is using them to argue against safety, our contributors write.

April 18, 2025

Helicopter Deaths, Fast and Slow

Choppers harm us. Suddenly but also steadily.

April 17, 2025
See all posts