A free parking space outbids every commute program an employer funds. The classic evidence has never been overturned: when employers offered parking cash-out, the cash value of the subsidized space, solo driving fell 17 percent, carpooling rose 64 percent, and transit use rose 50 percent (Donald Shoup, UCLA, ACCESS, 1993). The parking subsidy sets the drive-alone rate, and most employers have never priced it.
The policy framework moved while most parking policies stood still. Pre-tax commuter benefits run up to $340 a month in 2026 (IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32). Roughly a dozen states, cities, and regional districts now require covered employers to offer pre-tax transit benefits, New Jersey, New York City, and the nine-county Bay Area among them, so for many companies this is a compliance question before it is a culture question. And hybrid work broke the old arithmetic: a parking lease sized for a five-day office now serves a three-day one, with demand that moves by weekday.
Solo driving fell 17 percent, carpooling rose 64 percent, and transit use rose 50 percent when employees were offered the cash value of the subsidized space.
Three numbers decide the outcome. What the parking subsidy actually costs per employee per month. What the lease charges for spaces measured against real occupancy. What a cash-out or TDM program would do to the drive-alone rate. An employer that cannot state those three numbers is funding a benefit it has never measured, paying a landlord for capacity it no longer uses, and possibly out of compliance with a commuter-benefit ordinance it has never read.
An employer that subsidizes parking offers each employee the cash value of the space instead. Those who keep driving keep the space; those who switch modes keep the money. In the UCLA research it cut solo driving 17 percent and raised carpooling 64 percent and transit use 50 percent (Shoup, ACCESS, 1993). Some jurisdictions require it of certain employers.
A measured baseline drive-alone rate, priced or cashed-out parking, pre-tax commuter benefits at the current IRS limit, and a reporting cadence that tracks mode share against the target. Programs fail when parking stays free while every alternative is merely encouraged.
The measured peak day, not a ratio. Count occupancy by weekday for a representative period, size the lease to that peak with a margin, and put the surplus back on the table with the landlord. The answer is a count, not a convention.
Send the parking lease, the current rate sheet, and any occupancy or badge data. JDE will tell you what the space is worth, what the program should cost, and which number moves first. Contact JDE.