10. Separate politics from parking prices.

Adjusting parking prices, especially raising them, can be a politically sensitive issue that many politicians prefer to avoid altogether. To remove politics from parking pricing decisions, policymakers should set clear metrics and goals for parking policy but leave the actual pricing to professional experts.

For example, politicians can establish an objective, such as maintaining Shoup's rule of thumb of 80–85% parking occupancy rate throughout most of the day. Based on this goal, professionals would then determine parking rates for different areas and time slots through trial and adjustment.

Each quarter, based on real-time occupancy data and whether targets are being met, parking professionals would decide whether prices should be increased, decreased, or left unchanged. This approach ensures that the parking policy remains rational, data-driven, and adaptable, rather than subject to political pressures or election-cycle populism.