Citywide parking policy and traffic: Evidence from Amsterdam

We examine the eff ect of citywide parking policy on parking and traffic demand. Using a large increase in on-street parking prices for the city of Amsterdam, we show that the policy caused a substantial drop in on-street parking demand, which is not off set by an increase in off -street demand. The overall reduction in parking demand implies a 2% - 3% reduction in traffic, which is con firmed with traffic flow data. The reductions in traffic are larger during the evening peak, which indicates that parking prices are effective at reducing congestion in the evening peak, but lesser in the morning peak.