Revising its previous study, Mobility Planning Associates, of Austin, Texas has calculated the average fully allocated total cost (capital + operating) of urban automobile transportation in typical use for both work-commute and other purposes.

This cost in Year 2000 dollars is calculated to be $1.25 per passenger-mile.

Automobile Cost Tabulation

Automobile Cost per Passenger-Mile
(US, Year 2000 $)

Parking Costs

The following parking costs per space have been calculated for typical conditions for an average automobile used for a daily commute trip to the CBD and other purposes. Clearly, the costs of providing vehicle storage (parking) facilities constitute one of the single heaviest elements in the societal expense of providing a system based on personal automobiles. All costs are given in US dollars.

Parking costs in an urban CBD are assumed to be an average of surface and garage parking.

Surface Parking Cost per Space in CBD

			Year 1989	Year 2000
Facilities construction [g]			$1,830	$2,300
CBD real estate ($30/SF)				9,150
Total				$11,450

Garage Parking Cost per Space in CBD

			Year 1989	Year 2000
Facility type	Garage, 3+ levels, 320 SF
Facilities construction [g]			$10,240	$12,700
CBD real estate [f]				3,200
Total				$15,900

Average Parking Cost per Space in CBD

Avg. In CBD (surface + garage)

$13,675

Annual Operations/Maintenance Cost per Space

Garage [g]				$700
Surface [n]				125
AVERAGE				$413

Total Annual Cost of CBD Parking Space

Annualized capital cost [i]				$1,501
Op/maint. cost per space [g]				413
TOTAL				$1,914

CBD Parking Cost per Vehicle-Mile

CBD parking cost per vehicle-mile [j]

$0.32

Parking outside the CBD is considered to be entirely in the form of surface facilities – a conservative assumption, since this is not invariably the case.

Surface Parking Cost (Non-CBD)

Facility construction [g,h]				5,300
TOTAL per vehicle [i,k]				$10,600

Annual Operations/Maintenance Cost per Space

Op/maint. cost per space [n]

$125

Total Annual Cost of Non-CBD Parking Space

Annualized capital cost [i]				$1,164
Op/maint. cost [g,k]				250
TOTAL				$1,414

Non-CBD Parking Cost per Vehicle-Mile

Non-CBD parking cost per vehicle-mile [j,l]

$0.24

Total Parking Cost per Vehicle-Mile

TOTAL parking cost per vehicle-mile

$0.56

Total Parking Cost per Passenger-Mile

TOTAL parking cost per passenger-mile [m]

$0.47

NOTES

a Consumer Reports, August 2000
b AAA
c FHWA
d Parking costs calculated by MPA (see Parking Cost section)
e Assumes $30/SF
f Assumes 107 SF
g Urban institute, "Characteristics of Urban Transportation Systems", prepared for Federal Transit Administration (Washington, 1992)
h Assumes $10/SF real estate
i Assumes 7% discount rate, 15 years
j Assumes 6,000 commuter miles/year (250 days, avg. 12 mi. each way)
k Assumes 2 non-CBD spaces per vehicle
l Assumes 6,000 noncommuter miles/year
m Assumes avg. occupancy 1.2 persons
n Extrapolated from data in [g] as 5.5% of capital cost

Acknowledgement is made to E. L. Tennyson, PE, and Darrell Clarke for their input on some of the data in this study.