Outrage at SF Season Pass Parking Prices!!

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FLYINGSCOOTER said:
There's people in NYC that pay over 300.00 a month to park their cars.

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And those are the people that found cheap parking. :)

Actually, that's something that's been swirling in my head since the first "Oh my God, SF parking is so high!" comments.

In my little world it costs money to park.

So I dug up this study/article from just two months ago. For those that don't feel like reading the whole thing, it basically surveyed the costs of parking in 49 US metro areas, came up with a median price for each city and then a national average. The quick facts:

The national average price for daily parking is $15.28.

The average for monthly parking is $153.19.

Monthly rates ranged from a low of $20 in Memphis to a high of $887 in midtown Manhattan. While that seems absurd for parking it's not just the US. A spot in London's west end runs $898 a month and a spot in Tokyo can run as much as $702 per month.

Only 8 of the 49 cities have a median daily parking price of less than $10.

You can see the full list by clicking the link to the article above.

I guess this is the info I was after for quite a while. It confirms my thoughts. Parking costs money and as sick as it sounds, the 'high' costs of parking at the parks really aren't that out of line with what people are paying in cities across the country for a place to leave their car.

*** Edited 10/4/2006 5:44:10 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Sirloindude's got it right. There's smarter ways to raise parking prices. Season passes are already too cheap at most of these parks, so why not include free parking in jacked up season pass prices. Make a season pass $100 which includes parking year around. Six Flags management really goes out of their way to tick off as many of their guests as they can for some dumb reason. I guess they need to be good at something. *** Edited 10/4/2006 5:01:07 PM UTC by rc-madness***

I would be even more pissed if it were included in the price of the pass, as would most families.

Why pay for parking 4 times over when I'm just parking one car each visit?

rc-madness...CP's season pass...CP only... is "on sale" for $94.95 (nearly $100) and does not include the parking pass that is "on sale" for $50. Both will go up by $15 after November 15th.

I think those close to Six Flags parks have a much better deal on their hands.

Thanks for that info Gonch. You rock.

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CPLady said:I think those close to Six Flags parks have a much better deal on their hands.

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Until you get INSIDE the park... ;)

*Sarcasm not valid in Texas, Georgia, Missouri, or Illinois... :)

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Lord Gonchar said:
I guess this is the info I was after for quite a while. It confirms my thoughts. Parking costs money and as sick as it sounds, the 'high' costs of parking at the parks really aren't that out of line with what people are paying in cities across the country for a place to leave their car.

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While in theory this seems cut and dry, there's one other factor that you need to consider. When you're talking about parking in an urban setting, the parking lot is a business in and of itself.

At Six Flags, they own the parking lot. 100% of the people who park there are going to their establishment to spend more money anyway.

This is entirely different than parking at a garage downtown where the garage owner has no interest in the surrounding businesses, and doesn't share in their profits.

If you park in a lot downtown that does happen to be owned by a business, wether it be a restaurant, department store, whatever... they usually will validate your parking with a certain level of purchase.

I'm sure if Six Flags refunded everyone's money if you bought a meal inside, few would complain.

Of course, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I really don't care.

I feel outrage about Darfur. I feel outrage that more Americans have died fighting the war on terror than died in the WTC. I feel outrage that those Amish girls were executed yesterday. I find it hard to be outraged at parking prices. I'd feel quite lucky if that were the worst thing I had to be concerned about.

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Sarah Jackson said:
If you think $45 is expensive, buy a Cedar fair parking pass. Cedar Point $50 on sale price will go up. Geauga Lake $45 on sale price will go up.

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This may be true. HOWEVER....One thing you don't see and will NEVER see... is Cedar Point charging $50+ to get in and then - if patrons even want a prayer of getting on more than 3 rides in a full day - making them pay $45 or more for that stupid Q-bot which doesn't always work on top of it all...

SO...I support the "GRRRRRRR...Siz Flags!!"

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rollergator said:

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CPLady said:I think those close to Six Flags parks have a much better deal on their hands.

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Until you get INSIDE the park...

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Yea then you realize that you paid twice as much at CP but at Six Flags you fit on most of the rides..... *** Edited 10/4/2006 9:16:38 PM UTC by SixFlagsKingdaKa***

Well of course SF has to increase the price of their parking passes. How else do you expect SF to reward their CEO with a 30% pay increase for running the company into the ground?

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kpjb said:

This is entirely different than parking at a garage downtown where the garage owner has no interest in the surrounding businesses, and doesn't share in their profits.

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I pay ninety dollars a month to park in a garage that was built specifically *because* of my job and is attached to the building in which I work. The garage was built specifically to support our business and is part of our complex (owned by us). But they have no problem charging us for it. (we *do* get a discounted rate from the public).

I'm never been one to moan much about parking. If you want to avoid it, have a friend drop you off. No friends? Tough! ;)
lata, jeremy
--planning on giving SFMW some parking money Sunday

I bought our season passes for $49.99 + tax each and parking pass for $45.00 last night at SFA. There is indeed no sticker this year, it will be marked on the pass of the primary driver. And, according to guest relations at SFA, the parking pass on your ID will be valid at all Six Flags parks for the 2007 season. I pointed out to them that this was in contradiction to what was posted on their web site a few days ago, and they told me that all the sites would be updated in the near future. They also said that eventually all parks would have some sort of bar code scanner at the parking lot gates for you to just scan the ID with the parking pass up-grade on it.

Also, no vouchers for coupon books this year, on your first visit in 2007, take your pass to guest relations and they will scan it and issue your coupon book to you.

No outrage here, I say, what a deal!

*** Edited 10/8/2006 2:03:05 PM UTC by Coaster_Lizard*** *** Edited 10/8/2006 2:04:56 PM UTC by Coaster_Lizard***

Wow! A season pass and chain-wide parking for under $100.

Not exactly the direction I'd be going if I were SF, but good for enthusiasts. :)

That's insane. I could have the whole family's admission and parking covered for $250-ish. That's just 2 CF Maxx passes. (Ohio park prices)

I wish I had some SF parks planned for 2007...or at least one close by.

To sws: Snyder isn't the one that ran the company into the ground. You can thank Burke and Company for that. Snyder, as far as I know, has helped SF so far. Share prices are up from what they used to be, which is usually indicative of good business and profits. *** Edited 10/8/2006 6:45:04 PM UTC by BlueStreak64***

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BigJim4Life said:
Plus it appears as though (from what I saw on another website) season passholders will have a 'P' on their season pass if they get the parking pass...therefore eliminating the need for a sticker, and no sharing of the parking pass between a family...if one member doesn't come, then they can't use the season parking pass!

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SFGAm did that with our season passes and we just pealed off the "P" and put it on another pass when my dad wasn't going.

The season pass for 2007 from SFA has the word "parking" printed on the card under your name. But if SF eventually installs some type of card reader at the parking gates, then I would imagine that you could use the card to park even if that person wasn't there.

I'm thinking that what will be installed eventually, at least at SFA, will be a gate with a crossing arm, and you will scan your card which will raise the gate, something along the lines of what parking garages have for montly parking permits.

^ I, on the other hand, doubt that will ever happen.