New York, NY – Parking in Manhattan is still more expensive than it is anywhere else in the country. But if you’re just driving in for a day, you’re currently getting a better deal than you did last year.
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Midtown monthly parking rates fell 2% to a median of $538, while downtown rates rose 6% to $529, according to a survey of parking rates released Thursday by real-estate brokerage Colliers International.
That means Midtown and downtown Manhattan have the highest monthly rates in the U.S. Boston — where salaries are higher — places third, at $425 a month.
Some small comfort for drivers: at least New York City isn’t the world’s most expensive place to park. According to the Colliers survery, eight other central business districts around the world are more expensive than NYC. The most pricey place to park a vehicle is the City of London, where monthly stowage costs $933.
For daily parkers, however, things are looking up. It’s now cheaper to park in downtown Manhattan for a day, at $31, than it is in Boston or Honolulu. Daily rates downtown fell 18% from last year, while daily rates in Midtown — still the most expensive U.S. market — fell 9% to $40.
The decline in daily rates could be due in part to cost-conscious consumers who have cut back on driving to the city, opting instead to take the train to see a Broadway show, for instance.
“Daily parking is more sensitive to the general economy,” said Colliers Chief Economist Ross Moore.
But there’s also a longer-term trend of people who come to Manhattan using more public transit. The Department of City Planning found that the number of people driving into Manhattan dropped by 57,000 from 2000 to 2007 — even as the number of jobs on the island increased by 212,000.
This week I paid $13 in muni-meter parking on the STREET, not a garage, for 5 hours. That’s some serious robery right there!
This reminds me of the following story:
A cowboy from the midwest walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Paris for an international rodeo for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank.
The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Cowboy handed over the keys to his new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. The cowboy produced the title and everything checked out. The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest.
Later, the bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the backwoods cowboy for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank’s private underground garage and parked it.
Two weeks later, the cowboy returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07. The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out on Dunn & Bradstreet and found that you are a highly sophisticated investor and multimillionaire with real estate and financial interests all over the world. Your investments include a large number of wind turbines around the Midwest. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?”
The good ‘ol boy replied, “Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?”
)Ou can park in Manhattan for as little as 17 dollars a day if your in by 9:00.
go to centralparking.com you can print a discount coupon for garages in manhatten for $25 for six hours
The biggest mitzvah would be if parking lots near hospitals would have cheaper parking. the parking fees that are next to hospitals are out rages.