A few maddening facts about free parking and how it becomes a sort of abuse of community: Ninety-nine percent of U.S. car trips begin and.... A few maddening facts about free parking and how it becomes a sort of abuse of community:

• Ninety-nine percent of U.S. car trips begin and end in a free parking space.
  
• The average automobile is parked 95 percent of the time.
  
• Parking typically represents a full 10 percent of development costs. What's more, the people who actually park only pay 5 percent of the cost of non-residential parking, meaning that public subsidies and developer capital pay for the rest.

From Streetsblog.org, in a piece by Noah Kazis entitled: Fun Facts About the Sad State of Parking Policy.