I think the point re rich-vs-poor is that efficient pricing should be decoupled from wealth redistribution initiatives. An inefficient allocation of resources only has the side-effect of kind-of sort-of assisting the poor. The real solution is to efficiently allocate resources, and then separately take action to correct economic injustice.
I wish I'd used those exact words in my clumsy footnote.
Even for public goods, there should be some way of fairly allocating them. The randomness of driving around looking for parking is not a good way in 2014. It would be nice if some subset of spots used an automated system where people paid with their time, where drivers could sit in a queue to be notified when a spot frees up, and the spot becomes reserved for a short period until they park in it. (You snooze, you lose.)
SF had a pilot program to (among other things) install per-spot sensors in around 8k metered spaces in congested areas. There was a companion iOS/Android app that could direct you to the nearest sensor-enabled available street parking spot. I used it a couple times, it was great.
Sadly it doesn't work right now because the program ended, but while it existed, realtime data was even accessible to third party developers. The potential was huge.
http://sfpark.org/how-it-works/the-sensors/
If someone wants to disrupt something, it should be by helping the SFMTA to bring sensors back along with upgrading the rest of the city's meters to the smart, credit card accepting, remote pay enabled, pricing-based-on-demand system that only some of the meters use.
Re:Stop The JerkTech
by icebraining on Friday July 04, 2014 @04:50AM
(#7987896)
What about us, the people who take public transportation instead - definitively poorer on average than car drivers - and would rather breathe less fumes from cars driving around trying to find parking spots?
The reason parking is priced the way it is is because it is a public good. The only thing "efficient" pricing would do is give wealthy people a massive advantage over the consumption of that good. You might like to live in a world where only rich people can afford public parking - I don't.
That's exactly why the SF government is taking an issue with these startups: they skew the game in favor of those who have money. For the usage of private property, such as houses, this may not be a huge deal. But public parking by definition belongs to the public: everyone should have an equal chance at consuming it. Fairness trumps inefficiency.