Let’s Talk New Mexico, 11/20/25, 8am: Do you want to run downtown with your car in Albuquerque or Santa Fe? Parking once you get there will cost you about $2 per hour in the garages, maybe a little less if you can find a space on the street with a meter. The same goes for Albuquerque’s Nob Hill and Santa Fe’s Railyard areas. Or, you can pay a bit more for a private parking lot – about $3.25 an hour.
Most city zoning codes include a minimum number of parking spaces based on the square footage of the building they serve, but some cities like Portland, Oregon and Buffalo, New York are incentivizing other kinds of transportation by changing zoning laws to disincentivize car travel and the parking spaces they require.
On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico we’ll discuss parking and we’ll ask whether we really want more of it. Should we expect a place to park our car? How much should it cost us and how much does it cost to provide? And, should there be a presumption of safety for our property and ourselves? Email letstalk@kunm.org, leave a voice message by clicking the link above, or call in live at (505) 277-5866 Thursday morning at 8.
Related Reading:
"Albuquerque officials share more about results on downtown parking study," KRQE-TV
"Parking: The Dark Matter of the Urban Universe," Planetizen
