Abu Dhabi Parking Madness

I’ve never been to Abu Dhabi, but I know that they’re in the midst of building out their brand new and successful metro system. But Gregg Carlstrom points to a totally non-worthwhile emirati initiative, a new plan to make landlords provide parking spaces to their tenants: “The owners of new buildings must offer adequate parking or pay the Government Dh160,000 (US$43,000) for each car space they cannot provide.”

Policy rationales for a regulatory parking mandate might include a belief that the poor should subsidize the consumption of the rich, the belief that increasing the volume of traffic congestion would be useful, the view that the planet suffers from insufficient levels of C02 emissions and other air pollution, or the idea that economic growth and the efficient allocation of resources are undesirable. Otherwise, this is a terrible idea, albeit one that’s extremely common in American cities. It’s too bad, too, because according to the same article Abu Dhabi is doing sensible things with its public parking: “parking charges – at Dh2 to Dh3 per hour, already higher than neighbouring emirates – will continue to increase as more public transport becomes available.”