London Is The World’s Rip-Off Parking Charge Capital

London Is The World’s Rip-Off Parking Charge Capital

London Is The World’s Rip-Off Parking Charge Capital

ParkatmyHouse
DriveWrite
September 20, 2013

With over 350,000 users worldwide, ParkatmyHouse is the world’s largest online parking marketplace. Anthony Eskinazi founded the company in 2006 after struggling to park in San Francisco when he was on a round-the-world trip. ParkatmyHouse has since confronted the worst car-related problems: how to park cheaply without parking tickets and how to avoid the needless pollution and traffic caused by circling. The company is backed by the venture capital arm of BMW.

LONDON, 17th September 2013 - London has the highest monthly parking costs of any city in the world according to research from ParkatmyHouse.com. Frustrated motorists in the UK’s capital city are shelling out a staggering £709.67 a month to park in the city centre. Bankers, financiers and those working in the centre of the City and travelling by car have to pay an eye-watering average of £23.60 a day for parking. The West End came in at £19.87 per day whilst Westminster averaged £21.57.

Whilst London ranked number one for high parking costs, it is by no means alone with its sky high charges. The Swiss city of Zurich ranked second on the list of most expensive cities with typical costs of £558.86 a month, followed closely by Tokyo with average monthly parking costs of £492.85 a month and Hong Kong at £472.86 per month.

Australian expatriates in London will be no stranger to the high parking prices either as three Australian cities also made the top ten, with Sydney (£460.81) Perth (£454.66) and Melbourne (£397.22) all making an appearance.

In stark contrast, the world’s cheapest city to park in is Jakarta, costing the meagre sum of just £0.54 per day. Parking rates in cities across the world have risen by an average of 2% in the last 12 months, but costs in London have risen most sharply with more than a 4% increase leading motorists to search for alternatives to council-run car parks .ParkatmyHouse.com lets motorists, homeowners, churches or private businesses who are letting out parking spaces to earn extra cash but which cannot be spotted when driving round. The space can be booked in advance and paid for via desktop, a mobile phone or tablet. The company claims its spaces are typically less than half the price of parking meters.

ParkatmyHouse now has more than 350,000 users worldwide and founder Anthony Eskinazi comments:

“The cost of parking across the world is on the rise year on year, particularly in the UK and London so it’s unsurprising to see more and more motorists choosing to park in alternative, private spaces at homes, churches and small businesses where they can save up to 50%.”

“It’s not just motorists the high cost of parking effects either. Our towns and high streets also suffer from the shortage convenient parking. Paying anything up to £25 for a parking space only pushes people to use out of town shopping centres or shop online”

Table 1: The world’s 10 most expensive cities for parking:

#1 -- London -- £709.67           #2 -- Zurich -- £558.56
#3 -- Tokyo -- £492.85             #4 -- Hong Kong -- £472.86
#5 -- Rome -- £469.52              #6 -- Geneva -- £468.43
#7 -- Sydney -- £460.81            #8 -- Perth -- £454.66
#9 -- Oslo -- £399.86               #10 -- Melbourne -- £397.22