Meter up on surge- pricing experiment near Wrigley?
When the City Council doubled parking meter rates around Wrigley Field, there were fears that “surge pricing” could someday spread beyond sports arenas and into Chicago neighborhoods.
Now, the alderman of the ward where the experiment began says it may be time to do away with the idea altogether because of changing behaviors and a “huge expansion” of ride- hailing.
“The Uber and Lyft phenomenon has really changed the scope of baseball games and people bringing their cars into our neighborhood,” Ald. Tom Tunney ( 44th) said Tuesday.
“People are resisting. ... They know it’s expensive to come down to our neighborhood so, in terms of the metered spaces, the occupancy was not what they expected.”
Off- street garages and surface lots also have been “working harder than ever” to maintain their prices, he said.
Tunney said he plans to spend the off- season meeting with local businesses and residents to determine whether the program should continue.
“We did get a negative reaction from our visitors and also our businesses that rely on meters for their regular business, whether it’s a hair salon or a restaurant. They felt that it was too expensive,” he said.
Pressed on whether the program should continue, the alderman said, “Maybe not. ... What they saw the previous year which prompted this idea was that these prices went up to $ 100 a slot. Itwas a 100- year phenomenon last year. That changed this year. Now, things are getting back to a semi- normal state.”
The pilot program was limited to 1,100 parking spaces in the Wrigley Field area generally bounded by Irving Park Road, Southport, Belmont and Broadway.
Within those boundaries, parking meter rates doubled from $ 2 an hour to $ 4 an hour beginning two hours before a game, concert or special event at Wrigley and lasting for seven hours.
The money — revised downward from $ 2.4 million to $ 1.5 million — was used to offset the annual payment to Chicago Parking Meters LLC for meters taken out of service for construction and special events or used by people with disabilities.
Earlier this week, Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown acknowledged during City Council budget hearings that the surge- pricing experiment around Wrigley has not been nearly as successful as anticipated.
“For example, during this post- season, we didn’t get sufficient notice from the Cubs organization or from Major League Baseball [ when games would start], so it was difficult to implement surge pricing,” Brown said.
“We’re working out those kinks. We’ll come back to the Council with a recommendation about what to do with surge pricing — whether or not we would recommend proceeding.”