Remembering Donald Shoup (1938-2025)
Professor Donald Shoup passed away on February 6, 2025. Among many other significant achievements and honors he was a founding Advisory Board member of PRN.
Donald’s curiosity, intelligence, passion, generosity, and kindness allowed him not only to expose the critical problems with modern parking policy, but also to ignite and nurture a movement to change them and make the world a better place.
The Parking Reform Network wishes to provide our community with a place to share their stories and thoughts to remember and honor Donald.
Professor Shoup was a donor, member, and booster of PRN’s work. If you are so moved, you can honor his legacy and support the parking reform movement with a memorial donation.
Donald Shoup used his well-tuned wit to make his points memorable. For example, I loved his quip about required parking is a fertility drug for traffic congestion.
His superpower was getting others to see the systemic harm caused by the apparently beneficial public policy of parking requirements. Everyone wants a convenient place to park, but no one wants to pay for it. Yet, free parking comes at a high cost for everyone but the driver.
It’s hard to challenge authorities. Don showed that the widely used parking standards were cut from whole cloth. The bigger question remains why are authority figures so reluctant to change course, and correct the issues that Shoup brought to light.
There’s a special place in our hearts for those who guide us towards an evidence-based world. Thank you, Donald Shoup.
His superpower was getting others to see the systemic harm caused by the apparently beneficial public policy of parking requirements. Everyone wants a convenient place to park, but no one wants to pay for it. Yet, free parking comes at a high cost for everyone but the driver.
It’s hard to challenge authorities. Don showed that the widely used parking standards were cut from whole cloth. The bigger question remains why are authority figures so reluctant to change course, and correct the issues that Shoup brought to light.
There’s a special place in our hearts for those who guide us towards an evidence-based world. Thank you, Donald Shoup.