Free parking in Abu Dhabi

Dubai opened a new metro this summer. It had some early missteps but it seems to be much appreciated by commuters in the emirate. The number of passengers keeps increasing, contrary to expectations.

Abu Dhabi is playing catchup on public transport. Construction started on a Metro system in 2006; it's supposed to be operational by 2015. Bus service is expanding, too: The emirate is adding about 30 new buses to its fleet each month.

Encouraging steps! The UAE has a huge traffic problem, and one of the worst rates of traffic fatalities in the world. It needs to get people off the roads.

That's why I was a little discouraged to read this article in The National about parking requirements in Abu Dhabi.

On the one hand, Abu Dhabi plans to raise parking charges as public transport becomes more readily available. This is a good idea: If it's expensive to park somewhere, most people won't drive there. They'll take public transport.

But then there's this item:

Under the programme, landlords must provide free parking for their tenants.

The owners of new buildings must offer adequate parking or pay the Government Dh160,000 (US$43,000) for each car space they cannot provide.

Free parking requirements are generally a terrible idea, especially in a densely-populated area (parts of Abu Dhabi have 30,000 people per square kilometer).

Landlords have to devote scarce space to parking, which reduces the amount of space available for profitable development. That increases rents -- bad news for an emirate that already has high property values. The parking requirement also encourages people to own cars, and to drive them, even when public transport might be a viable option.

The impact is mitigated somewhat by the fact that landlords are only required to provide spaces for tenants. I assume a commercial building won't have to provide parking for shoppers, which reduces the incentive-to-drive-there problem.

(If you're really, really interested in the subject of parking requirements, Matt Yglesias -- who manages to make a very dull subject quite interesting -- has some good posts here, here and here. They're U.S.-centric but most of his points apply to Abu Dhabi, too.)

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