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Chicago's On-Street Parking Prices Are Literally The Worst

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jul 12, 2017 4:30PM

As if having the worst commute in the country weren't bad enough, when Chicagoans do find eventually make it through and find a place to park on the street, they pay more on average than any other major U.S. city for a two-hour window, according to a new study.

Chicagoans pay $13 for two hours of on-street parking, according to a report released on Wednesday by INRIX Research. San Francisco doesn't trail us much for the unwanted prize, with a $12 price tag. (Off-street parking for the same duration in Chicago will cost you $21.54, according to the study.) Here's the rest of the Top Ten:

- Chicago: $13
- San Francisco: $12
- Seattle: $9
- Los Angeles: $8
- Boston: $7.50
- New York City: $7
- Washington, D.C.: $4.60
- Atlanta: $4
- Dallas: $4
- Detroit: $4

Maybe there was a point to all that teeth-gnashing about the city's much-loathed privatized parking meter deal. This seems like a good time to point out that Chicago has pretty good infrastructures for both bicycling and mass transit.

You can find the full study here. Another interesting finding: drivers in Chicago spend some 56 hours each year looking for parking downtown, according to INRIX—which is somehow better than New York City (107), LA (85), San Francisco (83), D.C. (65) and Seattle (58). Small mercies, we guess.

[H/T Tribune]