The Trouble With Free Parking

Since OneJag writes about economics, let me give him a wee economics lesson. The reason why he has to drive around looking for a parking space is because the parking is free and at the price of zero people a lot more people want to park in Manhattan on some random evening than there are spaces, and this would be true even if a dozen or so parking spots given over to the bike tyrants would be returned to their natural state of Jag parking. Of course then people like OneJag, instead of paying a market rate for parking in cash, pay the market rate for parking in time wasted circling around looking for a free spot. This, not a few cyclists or bike lanes, contributes immensely to the congestion on city streets, as much of it is caused by people circling around looking for free or cheap on street parking.