RE-RELEASE: The High Cost of Free Parking with Donald Shoup

RE-RELEASE: The High Cost of Free Parking with Donald Shoup

Author: The War on Cars, LLC February 8, 2025 Duration: 46:24

Donald Shoup, a towering figure in the world of urban planning and a distinguished professor emeritus at the UCLA Luskin School of Public affairs, died this week. He was 86 years old. As a tribute to such an influential, brilliant, and witty scholar, we are re-releasing this episode from 2023.

----

Parking is at the heart of every fight about how we build our cities and towns, with effects that go far beyond transportation. Minimum parking requirements  — laws that dictate how many parking spaces are required for various types of buildings and businesses — make housing more expensive, raise the price of goods and services and exacerbate sprawl, making congestion and the climate crisis much, much worse. Thankfully, a movement is afoot to end parking minimums, inspired by the work of Donald Shoup.

Shoup, the Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA's Department of Urban Planning, is the author of the 2005 book The High Cost of Free Parking. It's an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the problems with parking. Professor Shoup — aka the Shoup Dogg — joins us for a spirited conversation about how to win what he calls "the war on parking subsidies."

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers!

LINKS:

Learn all about Donald Shoup at ShoupDogg.com.

Read The High Cost of Free Parking.

Join The Parking Reform Network and end parking requirements where you live.

Donald Shoup gets animated on Adam Ruins Everything.

This episode was produced by Doug Gordon, edited by Ali Lemer, and recorded by Josh Wilcox of the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Transcripts are by Russell Gragg.

TheWarOnCars.org


Imagine a world not built around traffic jams and parking lots, but shaped for people. The War on Cars is a dispatch from the front lines of that effort, a collective conversation questioning the automobile’s dominance over our cities, our environment, and our daily lives. Each episode digs into the real-world fight to reclaim public space, examining everything from the politics of a new bike lane to the history of how cars came to rule. You’ll hear from urban planners, activists, historians, and ordinary people pushing back, offering a mix of sharp analysis, on-the-ground reporting, and compelling narratives. This isn’t just about transportation; it’s about the culture and societal choices that have led us here, and the tangible, often inspiring work to create safer, quieter, and more connected communities. Tune in for a thoughtful and necessary critique of the status quo, a podcast dedicated to the idea that our streets can-and should-be for so much more.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The War on Cars
Podcast Episodes
The Texas Freeway Fight with Megan Kimble [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:14
In the 20th century, planners and policymakers smashed Interstate highways through the middle of every major city in the United States. In the 21st century, we understand the many ways that urban freeways were economic,…
Car Insurance is Too Cheap [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:01
It has never been more expensive to insure a car in the United States. Today, the average annual premium for full coverage is more than $2,500, up from more than $1,700 just a few years ago. There are a lot of reasons fo…
Live from New York with Bernie Wagenblast [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:35
In January, we held our third annual live show at Caveat on Manhattan's Lower East Side. We were so thrilled to be in the same room as so many listeners and friends of the podcast. We were also happy to welcome Bernie Wa…
TEASER: Super Bowl Extra [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:00
***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.*** In this bonus episode, we continue the conversation w…
Super Bowl LVIII Roundup [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:02
In what's become an annual tradition, we take a critical look at the car ads that aired during the Super Bowl and consider what they say about driving, culture, consumerism, and the United States… which is all the same t…
Should SUV Ads Be Banned? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:03
Did you ever see a car advertisement that you thought was so ridiculously irresponsible it should be banned? Well, the people at Adfree Cities, an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom, did, and they decided to do s…
TEASER: Delivering the Goods with Shawon and Fokhrul [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:42
This is a preview of a special bonus episode for Patreon supporters of The War on Cars! In the last episode of the podcast we spent some time with Baruch, Shawon, and their battery-swapping startup company, PopWheels. Wh…
The Future of Transportation Has Arrived With Your Pad Thai [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:38
Baruch Herzfeld is the CEO and co-founder of PopWheels, where he is working to develop New York City's first e-bike battery-swapping network. PopWheels aims to solve the growing problem of e-bike battery fires. The compa…
Fixing America's Car Culture with David Zipper [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:50
Happy New Year! We're kicking off 2024 by bringing you our conversation with David Zipper, one of the hardest-working analysts on the transportation scene today. You may be familiar with David from his writing at Bloombe…
TEASER: Listener Origin Stories [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 5:27
Last month the three hosts told their origin stories, or how they first became aware of the problems associated with cars and automobile dependency. Our stories included everything from lessons learned during early drivi…