Will Higher Meter Costs Hurt Businesses?

So drivers in Chicago are looking at a 400 percent increase -- from 25 cents an hour to $1 an hour -- at most parking meters in the city starting next year, and an 800 percent increase over current rates -- to $2 an hour -- in five years. (story)

It's already a boon to the city -- the rate hikes are part of a privatization deal that will infuse $1.1 billion into city coffers -- but I wonder what it will do to businesses.

Most meters are near retail establishments, many of which rely on errand runners and passers by for regular sales. And while $1 isn't necessarily a dealbreaker amount for most of us, it certainly can be enough to discourage a quick stop for an impulse purchase and to encourage errand consolidation in trips to shopping centers, big-box stores and strip malls.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[montemalone]

Hopefully, this will force those that use meters as all day parking to go to a garage, then street parking will be available for others.
$1/hr is still a bargain, all things considered. Most lots charge $8-10 even for 15 mins.
I just wish they'd make my neighborhood permit only all the time. In the summer, all the beach goers park here all day. Weekends, it's shoppers.