VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Take a look around you the next time you are downtown: up to one in three drivers around you are tying up traffic while trying to find that elusive, perfect parking spot!

A 2011 study, Cruising for Parking Access, found that circling the block over and over again for the ideal curb space can create a massive amount of congestion.

Urban planner Donald Shoup with the University of California came up with a mathematical equation based on the average time it takes to find a curb space, the parking turnover, and the average cruising speed while searching for a spot.

He calculated that each curb space in a downtown area creates 1,825 vehicle miles traveled (VMT). That’s roughly the equivalent of driving from Vancouver to Toronto.

The study suggests proper pricing of parking spots will cut that extra traffic down, with the ideal being one in every eight spaces vacant. But the reality is the average driver spends eight minutes searching for an ideal spot.

“None of us are innocent of this!” laughs Gordon Price, head of SFU’s City program. “We will drive around constantly looking for a parking space in the same block while we’ll park the equivalent of blocks away in a mall parking lot.”

“Shoup does point out you could have enough parking in almost any circumstance if you just priced it appropriately and I believe Los Angeles is trying to do that. It means that the price of parking varies by time of day and demand. If demand goes up, then parking gets more expensive and, surprise surprise, the market actually does a pretty good job of allocating the space for those who are really prepared to pay,” he tells News1130.

Price points out that many drivers believe free parking should be enshrined in the constitution — it’s not an idea that will fly with frequent parkers.

“But after all, the idea of charging for parking at all is to keep the turnover happening. That’s in the best interest of business and probably most people would like to think they have a chance of finding a space if they are prepared to pay.”