How we rank
PARQ has three orders: Best, Cheapest and Closest. Here is exactly how each one decides, in the same rules the app runs.
What goes into every order
- Price is the total for your stay at your arrival time, worked out from the posted rates. A spot that is free for your whole stay counts as $0. If a free window ends partway through, the rest of the stay is priced and the total reads "at least".
- Walk time is the walk from the garage entrance to where you are going. Where PARQ has a real walking route from OpenStreetMap it uses that, at about 3 miles an hour. Otherwise it uses the straight line distance times 1.3.
- Spots that are closed at your arrival time are never recommended and sink to the bottom of every list.
- PARQ never recommends a spot more than a 20 minute walk away.
- If you are going to a venue that has its own lots, such as a stadium or theater, those lots are considered first.
Best
Best mixes price and walking. Each spot gets a score: its total price in dollars plus 1.5 for every minute of walking. Lowest score wins, and a tie goes to the shorter walk. A posted "from" price adds $1 because the real total may be higher.
Spots are grouped first, and a better group always beats a worse one:
- Self park with a known price, within a 15 minute walk.
- Valet within a 15 minute walk. It only wins when no self park spot qualifies.
- Priced spots more than 15 minutes away, nearest first.
- Open spots with no price PARQ can confirm, nearest first.
Cheapest
Open spots first. Spots with a known price come before spots without one. Spots within a 15 minute walk come before farther ones. Inside that, free comes first, then the lowest total for your stay, then the shorter walk.
Closest
Shortest walk first. A tie goes to the lower price.
Ranking is never for sale
Nobody pays to be listed or to move up. The order does not look at whether a spot can be booked online, who runs it, or whether PARQ has a link to it. If PARQ ever earns a referral fee from a booking link, it will say so on this page, and it will not change the order.
Conflict disclosure
Joel Panchevre's family owns the Aztec Theatre building and the Aztec Hotel, and he operates Thirsty Aztec. PARQ ranks them by the same rules as every other place.
Something looks wrong
Every spot has a Report a problem link, or write to hello@parqsa.com. The posted sign at the garage is always the final word.