PNC’s Parking Pains

PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., has adopted a new way of charging parking fees – by tacking it onto each ticket – and there’s fallout.

Jim Farber, music critic for the New York Daily News, called the fee “unseemly” and interviewed potential concertgoers who agreed with the assessment. Carpooling would have no discount: each patron is charged $6 whether they arrive alone or like clowns in a circus car.

“I passed on buying six tickets to the Def Leppard concert because I don’t want to pay six times for parking,” one patron told the Daily News. “I know people that drop off their kids when there’s a show like the Jonas Brothers, and then pick them up. Why should they have to pay – and on every ticket?”

Live Nation spokesman John Vlautin provided Pollstar with the following statement:

“We have always operated under a system at PNC Bank Arts Center where parking is charged as a per ticket fee. This policy is in place to alleviate traffic issues that would be caused by customers stopping to pay a parking fee at the lot entrance.

“The charge is calculated based on our research that the average music fan comes to PNC with 2 people in their car. This fee (formerly called a facility fee) has always been in place at the venue, and in fact was lowered by 8 percent in 2007. The per-ticket charge helps to ensure that all fans can enter the venue in a timely and safe manner.”