It seems that the conclusion is drawn from specific premises:<p>+ The measure of a ride sharing app&#x27;s value is cash on cash returns to Silcon Valley style investors.<p>+ A ride sharing app&#x27;s primary market will be in the US.<p>+ The suburbs served will be affluent, and hence the ride sharing app&#x27;s user base will tend to have economic flexibility in regards to transportation.<p>+ The served markets will have poor public transportation infrastructure.<p>On the one hand these are all reasonable assumptions for the conclusion regarding a ride sharing app&#x27;s commercial prospects. This is important because ride sharing apps (particularly in a political context like Silicon Valley) are a free lunch: $200,000 spent on software development won&#x27;t even buy the land for a ten parking space lot in a place where it would be useful.<p>On the other hand, the numbers in the article suggest that a  ride sharing app could readily produce a ten parking space reduction in demand for a city like Palo Alto. And because the marginal costs of adding additional cities to such an application are negligible, reduction in demand for parking spaces across a region like Silicon Valley could be several times that.<p>In other words even if a ride sharing app is not going to pencil out into a possible unicorn, it still may be good public policy. And perhaps a better alternative to a public policy decision to raise the cash price of parking since it could induce willing social change via better communication infrastructure rather than forcing changes in behavior by pricing out those least able to afford changes in parking policy.<p>Parking policy is a great area for consultants to consult municipalities. Back in 2002 I was a junior urban planner in St. Pete, the city was &quot;debating&quot; removal of exiting parking meters installed for baseball in 1998. In the department library one day, I saw a study from 1962 that concluded that the parking meters installed in 1957 should be removed. The arguments are always the same: 1. Not enough spaces so install meters, 2. Meters are a hassle for local businesses&#x27; customers so take them out.