Optimal dynamic parking pricing for morning commute considering expected cruising time

This paper investigates how recurrent parking demand can be managed by dynamic parking pricing and information provision in the morning commute. Travelers are aware of time-varying pricing information and time-varying expected occupancy, through either their day-to-day experience or online information provision, to make their recurrent parking choices. We first formulate the parking choices under the User Equilibrium (UE) conditions using the Variational Inequality (VI) approach. More importantly, the System Optimal (SO) parking flow pattern and SO parking prices are also derived and solved efficiently using Linear Programming. Under SO, any two parking clusters cannot be used at the same time by travelers between more than one Origin–Destination (O–D) pairs. The SO parking flow pattern is not unique, which offers sufficient flexibility for operators to achieve different management objectives while keeping the flow pattern optimal. We show that any optimal flow pattern can be achieved by charging parking prices in each area that only depend on the time or occupancy, regardless of origins and destinations of users of this area. In the two numerical experiments, the best system performance is usually achieved by pricing the more preferred (convenient) area such that it is used up to a terminal occupancy of around 85–95%. Optimal pricing essentially balances the parking congestion (namely cruising time) and the level of convenience.     

Electric vehicles and residential parking in an urban environment: Results from a stated preference experiment

This paper presents the results of a preference survey of 1545 respondents’ willingness to purchase electric vehicles (EVs) in Philadelphia. We pay particular attention to respondents’ willingness to pay for convenient charging systems and parking spaces. If the value of dedicated parking substantially outweighs the value of convenient charging systems, residential-based on-street charging systems are unlikely to ever be politically palatable. As expected, respondents are generally willing to pay for longer range, shorter charging times, lower operating costs, and shorter parking search times. For a typical respondent, a $100 per month parking charge decreases the odds of purchasing an EV by around 65%. Across mixed logit and latent class models, we find substantial variation in the willingness to pay for EV range, charge time, and ease of parking. Of note, we find two primary classes of respondents with substantially different EV preferences. The first class tends to live in multifamily housing units in central parts of the city and puts a high value on parking search time and the availability of on-street charging stations. The second class, whose members are likelier to be married, wealthy, conservative, and residing in single-family homes in more distant neighborhoods, are willing to pay more for EV range and charge time, but less for parking than the first group. They are also much likelier to consider purchasing EVs at all. We recommend that future research into EV adoption incorporate neighborhood-level features, like parking availability and average trip distances, which vary by neighborhood and almost certainly influence EV adoption.     

Is the curb 80% full or 20% empty? Assessing the impacts of San Francisco’s parking pricing experiment

The city of San Francisco is undertaking a large-scale controlled parking pricing experiment. San Francisco has adopted a performance goal of 60–80% occupancy for its metered parking. The goal represents an heuristic performance measure intended to reduce double parking and cruising for parking, and improve the driver experience; it follows a wave of academic and policy literature that calls for adjusting on-street parking prices to achieve similar occupancy targets. In this paper, we evaluate the relationship between occupancy rules and metrics of direct policy interest, such as the probability of finding a parking space and the amount of cruising. We show how cruising and arrival rates can be simulated or estimated from hourly occupancy data. Further, we evaluate the impacts of the first two years of the San Francisco program, and conclude that rate changes have helped achieve the City’s occupancy goal and reduced cruising by 50%.     

Automated parking surveys from a LIDAR equipped vehicle

Parking surveys provide quantitative data describing the spatial and temporal utilization of parking spaces within an area of interest. These surveys are important tools for parking supply management and infrastructure planning. Parking studies have typically been performed by tabulating observations by hand, limiting temporal resolution due to high labor cost. This paper investigates the possibility of automating the data gathering and information extraction in a proof of concept study using a two-dimensional scanning Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor mounted on a vehicle, though the work is compatible with other ranging sensors, e.g., stereo vision. This study examines parallel parking in the opposing direction of travel. The ranging measurements are processed to estimate the location of the curb and the presence of objects in the road. Occlusion and location reasoning are then applied to determine which of the objects are vehicles, and whether a given vehicle is parked or is in the traffic-stream. The occupancy of the parking area, vehicle size, and vehicle-to-vehicle gaps are then measured. The algorithm was applied to an area with unmarked, on-street parking near a large university campus. Vehicle counts from 29 trips over 4 years were compared against concurrent ground truth with favorable results. The approach can also be applied to monitor parking in the direction of travel, eliminating the possibility of occlusions and simplifying the processing.     

The trouble with minimum parking requirements

Urban planners typically set the minimum parking requirements for every land use to satisfy the peak demand for free parking. As a result, parking is free for 99% of automobile trips in the United States. Minimum parking requirements increase the supply and reduce the price – but not the cost – of parking. They bundle the cost of parking spaces into the cost of development, and thereby increase the prices of all the goods and services sold at the sites that offer free parking. Cars have many external costs, but the external cost of parking in cities may be greater than all the other external costs combined. To prevent spillover, cities could price on-street parking rather than require off-street parking. Compared with minimum parking requirements, market prices can allocate parking spaces fairly and efficiently.     

Expansion of a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) and its Influence on Modal Split: The Case of Edinburgh

Abstract

This article considers the inter-relationship between on-street parking and choice of mode for journeys to work in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. This city is typical of many in that its centre has significant on-street parking controls but, beyond a radius of 1 to 1 1/2 miles (1.5 to 2.5?km) from the centre, there are no controls and commuter parking on-street is commonplace. The article reviews the relevant literature, and then considers the results of a survey undertaken of Edinburgh city centre employees in order to ascertain their parking habits and likely response to the extension of existing on-street parking controls. The article concludes that the results are transferable to other cities but that the scale of the impacts in each will be related to site specific factors, particularly the demand for residential parking space on-street in areas close to the city centre.     

Modeling and optimization of multimodal urban networks with limited parking and dynamic pricing

Cruising-for-parking constraints mobility in urban networks. Car-users may have to cruise for on-street parking before reaching their destinations. The accessibility and the cost of parking significantly influence people's travel behavior (such as mode choice, or parking facility choice between on-street and garage). The cruising flow causes delays eventually to everyone, even users with destinations outside limited parking areas. It is therefore important to understand the impact of parking limitation on mobility, and to identify efficient parking policies for travel cost reduction. Most existing studies on parking fall short in reproducing the dynamic spatiotemporal features of traffic congestion in general, lack the treatment of dynamics of the cruising-for-parking phenomenon, or require detailed input data that are typically costly and difficult to collect. In this paper, we propose an aggregated and dynamic approach for modeling multimodal traffic with the treatment on parking, and utilize the approach to design dynamic parking pricing strategies. The proposed approach is based on the Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD), which can capture congestion dynamics at network-level for single-mode and bi-modal (car and bus) systems. A parsimonious parking model is integrated into the MFD-based multimodal modeling framework, where the dynamics of vehicular and passenger flows are considered with a change in the aggregated behavior (e.g. mode choice and parking facility choice) caused by cruising and congestion. Pricing strategies are developed with the objective of reducing congestion, as well as lowering the total travel cost of all users. A case study is carried out for a bi-modal city network with a congested downtown region. An elegant feedback dynamic parking pricing strategy can effectively reduce travel delay of cruising and the generic congestion. Remarkably, such strategy, which is applicable in real-time management with limited available data, is fairly as efficient as a dynamic pricing scheme obtained from system optimum conditions and a global optimization with full information about the future states of the system. Stackelberg equilibrium is also investigated in a competitive behavior between different parking facility operators. Policy indications on on-street storage capacity management and pricing are provided.     

Raising commuter parking prices — An empirical study

Recently, management of parking rates has been proposed as an effective policy option to ameliorate the adverse impacts of excessive commuter automobile use in urban areas. Parking price strategies have the potential for significantly altering travel behavior in favor of high occupancy vehicles, as well as reducing congestion, energy consumption and pollution. Unfortunately, however, a paucity of empirical evidence exists regarding the impacts of parking pricing policies on travel patterns. The recent attempt aimed at eliminating federal employee parking subsidies provided a unique opportunity to take a careful look at the impacts of commuter parking price increases.In November 1979, federal employees at many government facilities in Washington, DC, and other major cities began to pay one-half of nearby commercial parking rates for government-controlled parking spaces. This paper presents the impacts of the parking price increases on commuting behavior at a sample of 15 worksites in metropolitan Washington, DC, and discusses their short term planning and policy implications. A before and after with control group survey design monitored the effects on modal shifts, automobile occupancy, and parking behavior. The results showed that removing free parking and raising parking rates (from $10 to $32 per month) influenced some significant shifts to higher-occupancy modes, but that the shifts were not uniform in direction or magnitude across the sites. In addition, the study examined how locational, travel, and employee factors influenced the modal shifts.     

Trails,lanes, or traffic: Valuing bicycle facilities with an adaptive stated preference survey

This study evaluates individual preferences for five different cycling environments by trading off a better facility with a higher travel time against a less attractive facility at a lower travel time. The tradeoff of travel time to amenities of a particular facility informs our understanding of the value attached to different attributes such as bike-lanes, off-road trails, or side-street parking. The facilities considered here are off-road facilities, in-traffic facilities with bike-lane and no on-street parking, in-traffic facilities with a bike-lane and on-street parking, in-traffic facilities with no bike-lane and no on-street parking and in-traffic facilities with no bike-lane but with parking on the side. We find that respondents are willing to travel up to twenty minutes more to switch from an unmarked on-road facility with side parking to an off-road bicycle trail, with smaller changes associated with less dramatic improvements.     

Empirical evidence on cruising for parking

The literature on car cruising is dominated by theory. We examine cruising for parking using a nation-wide random sample of car trips. We exclude employer-provided and residential parking. We focus on the Netherlands, where levels of on-street and off-street parking prices are locally the same. We demonstrate then that due to this price setting the average cruising time in the Netherlands is only 36 s per car trip. Furthermore, we show that cruising is not random. It is more common in (large) cities that receive more car trips, particularly for shopping and leisure activities. Cruising time increases with travel duration as well as with parking duration. Cruising has a distinctive pattern over the day with a peak in the morning, so the order of arrival is essential to parking. Because cruising has a spatial and time component, policies may be considered that reduce cruising time through flexible pricing of parking or improved information about vacant parking spaces.     

Modelling parking choices considering user heterogeneity

We examine car driver’s behaviour when choosing a parking place; the alternatives available are free on-street parking, paid on-street parking and parking in an underground multi-storey car park. A mixed logit model, allowing for correlation between random taste parameters and estimated using stated choice data, is used to infer values of time, both when looking for a parking space and for accessing the final destination. Apart from the cost of parking, we found that vehicle age was a key variable when choosing where to park in Spain. We also found that the perception of the parking charge was fairly heterogeneous, depending both on the drivers’ income levels and whether or not they were local residents. Our results can be generalised for personalised policy making related with parking demand management.     

Parking space management via dynamic performance-based pricing

In congested urban areas, it remains a pressing challenge to reduce unnecessary vehicle circling for parking while at the same time maximize parking space utilization. In observance of new information technologies that have become readily accessible to drivers and parking agencies, we develop a dynamic non-cooperative bi-level model (i.e. Stackelberg leader–follower game) to set parking prices in real-time for effective parking access and space utilization. The model is expected to fit into an integrated parking pricing and management system, where parking reservations and transactions are facilitated by sensing and informatics infrastructures, that ensures the availability of convenient spaces at equilibrium market prices. It is shown with numerical examples that the proposed dynamic parking pricing model has the potential to virtually eliminate vehicle circling for parking, which results in significant reduction in adverse socioeconomic externalities such as traffic congestion and emissions.     

The use of space availability information in “PARC” systems to reduce search times in parking facilities

Two different ways to manage availability information in parking facilities were evaluated in this article. First, in level 4 PARC systems (Parking Access and Revenue Control), when occupancy percentages for all garage levels are above 90% and 95%, the information on variable message sign (VMS) panel will indicate that there are no free spaces – censoring information. In this article, zoning is understood as the second information management tool; it consists of placing vehicle detection systems at intermediary points around the facility in such a way as to separate it into internal zones. It is a variation applicable to facilities with level 2 PARC systems, such as those in shopping centres, where a modification of the vehicle counting algorithm in the main program of the PARC system allows the determination of the number of free spaces in specific zones within the parking facility. According to the simulations that were carried out after testing an existing choice model, level 4 PARC systems are sufficiently effective in small facilities; the option of preparing “false” information when 5 or 10 free spaces are left on a garage level in order to influence user decisions has few practical repercussions. However, the separation into internal zones proposed for level 2 PARC systems shows a 16.2% reduction in search time.     

Qualitative evaluation study of urban shared spaces in New Zealand

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative analysis using on-street perception and expert interview surveys of city centre streets that have been transformed into shared spaces in Auckland, New Zealand. The principal purpose was to investigate how well the shared streets performed, especially in relation to movement, access and place functions. The shared space sites at the Elliott, Lorne and Fort Street areas were measured against the performance criteria of Placemaking, Pedestrian Focus, Vehicle Behaviour Change, Economic Impetus and Safety for all users. On-street perception surveys totalling 360 responses (120 per site) were used in this study, together with an additional set of 40 responses from a survey of a control site in O’Connell Street that remained as a traditional street. Fifteen professionals with background in transportation and urban planning participated in semi-structured expert interviews. The main results of the Median Perception Ratings from the on-street surveys confirmed that the shared spaces generally performed positively. The statistical analysis revealed that the performance criteria of ‘Pedestrian’ and ‘Safety’ had a commanding influence over the other performance measures, and with the interconnectivity of the five objectives the perceived success of the urban shared spaces.     

Modeling the impact of parking price policy on free-floating carsharing: Case study for Zurich,Switzerland

The research on carsharing has already shown that a non-negligible part of carsharing members give up a vehicle after joining a carsharing program, or avoid a vehicle purchase. This arguably reduces overall parking space needed. This might well be one of the most important impacts of a carsharing program on the transportation system, but also one of the least researched. The rapid diffusion of free-floating carsharing, which for its very nature might have a stronger impact on parking, makes the relationship between carsharing and parking an appealing topic for new research. This work presents a method for the investigation of this relationship using an agent-based simulation and explores the impacts of different parking prices on the demand for free-floating carsharing in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. Three levels of free-floating fleet-size in the city of Zurich coupled with three levels of parking prices were simulated. The obtained results show that free-floating vehicles are able to use parking spaces more efficiently than private vehicles. Moreover, the average parking occupancy tends to be more homogeneous with higher fleet-size of free-floating carsharing and with the increase of parking prices, thus avoiding spatial parking pressure peaks.     

Parking Benefit Districts – The transferability of a measure to reduce car dependency to a European context

Parking Benefit Districts (PBDs) are a parking measure where revenues from on-street parking charges are returned to the area where they are charged, and stakeholders in the area participate in prioritizing how the revenues are to be spent. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and how a PBD programme can be transferred to a European context, and whether it can contribute to reduced car dependency. The first part of the article provides an overview of some salient features of PBD programmes in the USA through a literature survey. This is followed by results from interviews and from a focus group with civil servants and a deputy mayor in Stockholm. The results are used to analyse the conditions for implementing a PBD programme in Stockholm, as well as for analysing how such a programme can be designed to reduce car dependency. A main conclusion is that there are no legal barriers that render a PBD programme impossible in Stockholm, even though there are some legal restrictions. We also conclude that a PBD programme might contribute to reduced car dependency in two different ways, either by increasing acceptance for parking charges or by improving the alternatives to private cars. There seem to be several aspects in a PBD programme that can contribute to increased acceptance for parking charges. However, there is no tradition of working with these principles in Sweden and the programme’s redistributional effects need to be taken into account when designing the programme.     

Demand management in suburban settings

This paper provides findings from a review of employer based demand management strategies for reducing traffic congestion in several areas of the United States. The research was carried out by K.T. Analytics, Inc. in 1989 under a contract with the Federal Department of Transportation, Transportation Systems Center. Relying on a review of employer based programs in 26 sites, as well as selected literature, the paper draws conclusions about the effectiveness of employer based transportation systems management (programs to encourage carpooling, transit, biking, cycling, walking and flextime) and parking management (preferential parking for carpoolers, removal of parking subsidies, and other measures) aimed at reducing solo driving and peak period commuting.Several conclusions are offered for local planners and policy makers. Demand Management programs can be effective in reducing traffic congestion, provided they are targeted to larger employment centers, accompanied by transit development, high occupancy vehicle incentives and parking management strategies, especially pricing. Flextime should not be encouraged without careful evaluation as it may discourage ridesharing. Guaranteed ride home services appear promising and deserve attention. With all strategies, long term vigilance will be necessary as programs are susceptible to change over time. Stringent public policies do not appear necessary for development of effective programs. Ordinances should require plans not specific strategies, as it is difficult estimating the probable effectiveness of particular strategies. Ordinances should contain sanctions for employers not carrying out agreed to plans, and should include fees and financing to support public sector review of plans and on-going monitoring.     

Expirable parking reservations for managing morning commute with parking space constraints

When total parking supply in an urban downtown area is insufficient, morning commuters would choose their departure times not only to trade off bottleneck congestion and schedule delays, but also to secure a parking space. Recent studies found that an appropriate combination of reserved and unreserved parking spaces can spread the departures of those morning commuters and hence reduce their total travel cost. To further mitigate both traffic congestion and social cost from competition for parking, this study considers a parking reservation scheme with expiration times, where commuters with a parking reservation have to arrive at parking spaces for the reservation before a predetermined expiration time. We first show that if all parking reservations have the same expiration time, it is socially preferable to set the reservations to be non-expirable, i.e., without expiration time. However, if differentiated expiration times are properly designed, the total travel cost can be further reduced as compared with the reservation scheme without expiration time, since the peak will be further smoothed out. We explore socially desirable equilibrium flow patterns under the parking reservation scheme with differentiated expiration times. Finally, efficiencies of the reservation schemes are examined.     

Effect of parking information on travelers' knowledge and behavior

In many urban centers the demand for parking increases sharply before Christmas mainly due to shopping activity — causing parking congestion. One way to ameliorate such congestion is by disseminating parking information. Informed drivers may divert to relatively under-utilized parking facilities relieving the pressure on congested facilities. The City of Nottingham in England tested a real-time parking information system designed to alleviate congestion in the City Center parking facilities. Real-time information was disseminated through the radio, while historical information regarding parking locations was disseminated through newspaper advertisements and leaflets. The objective of this study is to assess impacts of the parking information system on travelers' knowledge and decisions.Survey research was used to understand traveler response. Respondents' levels of knowledge regarding car parks were analyzed by developing Poisson regression models. Drivers were more likely to have greater knowledge of city center car parks if they used several information sources (radio broadcasts, newspaper advertisements or leaflets and word-of-mouth), were active seekers of parking information, and searched for parking rather than going directly to a parking facility. In addition, the study of behavior showed that drivers were more inclined to use the relatively under-utilized Park-and-Ride facilities instead of the city center car parks if they received parking information from Newspaper advertisements/leaflets. Overall, the parking information service in Nottingham was effective; it seems reasonable to establish such information dissemination and monitoring systems at parking facilities in other urban areas. Furthermore, to support informed travel and activity participation decisions, parking information should be integrated with traffic and transit information.     

Electric vehicle parking in European and American context: Economic,energy and environmental analysis

The transportation sector faces increasing challenges related to energy consumption and local and global emissions profiles. Thus, alternative vehicle technologies and energy pathways are being considered in order to overturn this trend and electric mobility is considered one adequate possibility towards a more sustainable transportation sector.In this sense, this research work consisted on the development of a methodology to assess the economic feasibility of deploying EV charging stations (Park-EV) by quantifying the tradeoff between economic and energy/environmental impacts for EV parking spaces deployment. This methodology was applied to 4 different cities (Lisbon, Madrid, Minneapolis and Manhattan), by evaluating the influence of parking premium, infrastructure cost and occupancy rates on the investment Net Present Value (NPV). The main findings are that the maximization of the premium and the minimization of the equipment cost lead to higher NPV results. The NPV break-even for the cities considered is more “easily” reached for higher parking prices, namely in the case of Manhattan with the higher parking price profile. In terms of evaluating occupancy rates of the EV parking spaces, shifting from a low usage (LU) to a high usage (HU) scenario represented a reduction in the premium to obtain a NPV = 0 of approximately 14% for a 2500 € equipment cost, and, in the case of a zero equipment cost (e.g. financed by the city), a NPV = 0 was obtained with approximately a 2% reduction in the parking premium. Moreover, due to the use of electric mobility instead of the average conventional technologies, Well-to-Wheel (WTW) gains for Lisbon, Madrid, Minneapolis and Manhattan were estimated in 58%, 53%, 52% and 75% for energy consumption and 66%, 75%, 62% and 86% for CO₂ emissions, respectively.This research confirms that the success of deploying an EV charging stations infrastructure will be highly dependent on the price the user will have to pay, on the cost of the infrastructure deployed and on the adhesion of the EV users to this kind of infrastructure. These variables are not independent and, consequently, the coordination of public policies and private interest must be promoted in order to reach an optimal solution that does not result in prohibitive costs for the users.