Parking Revenues Said to be $18 Billion, Maybe...

This article discusses some of the difficulties in presenting the overall annual gross revenues for the parking industry in the U.S. Some insight into this problem comes from the significant differences in estimates of this figure, with the most optimistic placing totals at $18 billion, to a more reasonable $13 billion, which, even so, could be off by as much as thirty percent. The main difficulty is found in the method with which the Commerce Department collects its data, while additional issues include incomes being reported twice by different solicited sources, some sources not being reported at all, and problems with reporting from quasi-governmental agencies. One of the biggest problems with estimating a gross net revenue for U.S. parking structures is that of accounting for what is termed “free” or non-revenue generating parking. This is because over 50 percent of new parking spaces fit into this category since they are packaged with apartments or office spaces.