The High Price of Parking: A Survey Looks at Top Cities for Ditching the Car
New York retains its position as the world's most expensive city for short-term, off-street parking at an average of $34.94
As land becoming more precious in top cities around the world, parking has become a relentless concern, often costing as much as a meal in a fine restaurant. Business travelers who are driving are often caught off-guard on how to manage this frequently overlooked cost of personal carriage, especially when they are running to an appointment or meeting.
Parkopedia released its 2019 Global Parking Index recently, with the aim of providing an accurate overview of the parking market globally. Here are some of the findings:
The Two-Hour Parking Conundrum
Motorists will find cheaper parking on-street as opposed to off-street (e.g. parking garage) in most cities around the world. One of the few exceptions to this rule is Amsterdam: at an average cost of $14.61, Amsterdam is the most expensive city for two-hour on-street parking, and is one of the few cities where off-street pricing is on average 24 percent cheaper, reflective of the city’s stated policy of making the center increasingly car-free.
New York retains its position as the world’s most expensive city for short-term off-street parking, at an average of $34.94. Sydney follows in second place. Australia is the most expensive country for daily parking in absolute terms and when adjusted for purchasing power, Hong Kong is the most expensive.
London and Tokyo are the only non-US and non-Australian cities to make the top 10 list for off-street parking. Adjusting the prices for purchasing power parity results in a much greater proportion of the top 50 average off-street prices coming from cities outside of the USA and Australia.
Germany continues to have relatively cheap parking – as in 2017, the most expensive German city is Munich, ranked 88th globally.
Cost of Daily and Monthly Parking
The top 3 cities for daily parking in 2019 are London, New York and Sydney. Adjusting for purchasing power parity, Hong Kong, Moscow and Osaka break into the top 15 for daily prices.
London, New York and Zurich retain their accolades for having the world’s most expensive monthly parking. After purchasing power adjustment, 11 out of the top 15 cities come from Europe or Asia, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Paris, Seoul and Tokyo.
The 2019 Global Parking Index report is based on Parkopedia’s own dataset, the most comprehensive and accurate parking database in the world, covering more than 70 million parking spaces across 15,000 cities in 89 countries.
To access the full report, click here.
