NO FREE PARKING: Searching for Parking Costs Americans $73 Billion a Year.

INRIX today published a major new study combining data from the INRIX Parking database of 100,000 locations across 8,700 cities in more than 100 countries, with results from a recent survey of nearly 18,000 drivers in the U.S., U.K. and Germany, including close to 6,000 across 10 U.S. cities. With the goal of analyzing and ranking the economic costs of “parking pain” in these markets, INRIX research found that, on average, U.S. drivers spend 17 hours per year searching for parking at a cost of $345 per driver in wasted time, fuel and emissions.

INRIX analyzed the parking market in 10 of the U.S.’s largest cities, and revealed that New York drivers endure the worst challenges. On average, drivers in the Big Apple spend 107 hours per year searching for a parking spot at a cost $2,243 per driver in wasted time, fuel and emissions, amounting to $4.3 billion in costs to the city as a whole.

A Federal “parking tax” levied on automobiles in our most congested cities, with rapidly escalating fees based on a vehicle’s size and price, and with revenues devoted to carbon reduction, ought to alleviate the problem.

Glenn hasn’t had any luck getting wealthy coastal residents to pay their fair share towards saving the environment, but given the vitriol progressives direct at car owners, perhaps this proposal will gain more traction.