10.3 - Business impacts

Business impacts

If building rent represents 20 percent of a business’s total costs, and parking represents 25 percent of rent costs, reducing parking costs by 40 percent results in a two percent reduction in total costs. If the business has a 10 percent profit margin, this increases profits by 20 percent.

Parking restrictions and pricing can reduce business activity in an area and shift travel to more suburban locations, although these impacts depend on specific conditions, including how prices are structured, and the quality of travel and location alternatives. When parking revenues are used to improve local streetscape conditions or to fund transport alternatives they can increase business activity in a downtown area.