Searching out a parking spot sucks and, according to a new survey, it is taking up a ton of time and money in your life.
The transportation analytics firm INRIX claims that, on average, drivers in the United State spend 17 hours every year driving around, looking for a parking spot. This ends up costing $354 per person every year in wasted in fuel, emissions, and time for a total of 3.6 billion hours and 72.7 billion dollars!
Things are much worse for drivers in Los Angeles who spend a whopping 85 hours and lost $1,735 per year searching for parking spots, notes ABC 7. L.A. finished second to New York in the survey, with New Yorkers wasting 107 hours per year (but at least they have a decent subway system).
Researchers note that the issue is not just that people want the best spot, but that parking lots nowadays are totally ridiculous (The River at Rancho Mirage anyone?).
“The problem is that today, parking isn’t optimized for most drivers,” INRIX researcher Graham Cookson said. “The majority of drivers navigate to their destination without knowing where parking is available when they get there. When they arrive, they waste time hunting for a space to park while getting stuck in – and contributing to – congestion. If they’re lucky enough to find a space, they overpay for parking in case they overrun, and if they do overrun they receive a parking ticket.”
