Choice of parking: Stated preference approach

Over recent years, parking policy has become a key element of transport policy in many countries. Parking policy measures can affect many different dimensions of travel behaviour but are likely to be most significant in terms of travellers' choice of parking type and location. This dimension of travel choice has, to date, received comparatively little attention, yet is of vital importance if we are to properly understand and predict the effects of parking policy measures.This paper presents two studies addressing this issue carried out in the United Kingdom and Germany. Both studies used a stated preference approach in order to collect disaggregate data on travellers responses to changes in parking attributes and used these data to build simple logit models of parking type choice. The studies were designed in order to allow comparable choice models to be estimated from the two datasets. The results obtained strongly indicate the need to separately identify the costs associated with different components of the parking activity (e.g., general in-vehicle time, parking search time, egress time) and also point to the existence of significant differences in the relative valuation of these components across different journey purposes. Where possible, the results of the choice modelling exercises are also compared with existing revealed and stated preference results and are found to be generally in line with prior expectations.     

Truck parking in urban areas: Application of choice modelling within traffic microsimulation

Urban truck parking policies include time restrictions, pricing policies, space management and enforcement. This paper develops a method for investigating the potential impact of truck parking policy in urban areas. An econometric parking choice model is developed that accounts for parking type and location. A traffic simulation module is developed that incorporates the parking choice model to select suitable parking facilities/locations. The models are demonstrated to evaluate the impact of dedicating on-street parking in a busy street system in the Toronto CBD. The results of the study show lower mean searching time for freight vehicles when some streets are reserved for freight parking, accompanied by higher search and walking times for passenger vehicles.     

September 11 and the World Airline Financial Crisis

Abstract

This paper analyses the effectiveness of policy measures aimed at triggering a modal shift in the freight transport market. The analysis is based on the inventory‐theoretic framework that studies modal choice from a business logistics viewpoint. The crux of the inventory‐theoretic approach lies in the fact that explicit attention is paid to all costs in the supply chain that are affected by the choice of transport mode. After a brief literature review on the inventory‐theoretic framework, the framework is used to calculate the market shares of different freight transport modes for a hypothetical transport market. In a second step, the impact of some policy measures on the market shares of the transport modes is calculated. By way of illustration, the analysis is applied to the market for container transport from a seaport to its hinterland. It is shown that a combination of certain policy measures can lead to significant modal shifts from road transport to intermodal transport.     

Parking policy,parking location decisions and the distribution of congestion

The paper develops and tests a model which characterizes the parking location decisions of individual tripmakers. The model is designed to offer information concerning the effects of alternative parking policies on parking location decisions and therefore the effects on the distribution of congestion in an urban area.Own price, time price and full price elasticities for alternative parking locations are estimated. The own price elasticity is found to rise with distance from the destination point while the time price elasticity falls with distance. The full price elasticity is found to be relatively stable.One is able to determine from the calculated elasticities, the effects of alternative parking policies such as raising parking fees, time restrictions, or increasing search or transaction costs on the distribution of individuals consuming parking services; from this one can infer the impact on the distribution of congestion.The paper also offers some explanation for the low elasticity of auto use with respect to changes in parking costs found in some modal choice studies.The author is indebted to Adolf Buse, Ken Norrie and Richard Westin for helpful comments and criticism.     

The propensity for motorists to walk for short trips: Evidence from West Edinburgh

The trade-offs individuals make between the motor car and walking for short trips are investigated, using data from a West Edinburgh household survey. Propensity to walk discrete choice models are estimated from a stated preference experiment within the survey questionnaire. This includes segmented models using socio-economic, spatial and attitudinal variables. The relative importance of the three attributes of journey time, petrol cost and parking cost are examined; value of time estimates are also generated. With all other factors remaining constant, for short trips motorists are more likely to walk in response to an increase in parking costs than a rise in petrol prices. The use of parking as a transport policy tool is discussed.     

Effects of land-use transport scenarios on travel patterns: a multi-state supernetwork application

Understanding travellers’ response is essential to address policy questions arising from spatial and transport planning sectors. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of the multi-state supernetwork approach to investigate the effects of land-use transport scenarios on individuals’ travel patterns. In particular, it illustrates that multi-state supernetworks are capable of representing activity-travel patterns at a high level of detail, including the choice of mode, route, parking and activity location. Multi-faceted activity-travel preferences can be accommodated in supernetworks. Using a micro-simulation approach, the adaptation of individuals’ travel patterns to policies can be readily captured. The illustration concerns hypothetical land-use and transport scenarios for the city of Rotterdam (The Netherlands), focusing on accessibility changes, modal substitution and shift in the use of transport and location facilities.     

Integrating parking behaviour in activity-based travel demand modelling: Investigation of the relationship between parking type choice and activity scheduling process

Traditionally, the parking choice/option is considered to be an important factor in only in the mode choice component of a four-stage travel demand modelling system. However, travel demand modelling has been undergoing a paradigm shift from the traditional trip-based approach to an activity-based approach. The activity-based approach is intended to capture the influences of different policy variables at various stages of activity-travel decision making processes. Parking is a key policy variable that captures land use and transportation interactions in urban areas. It is important that the influences of parking choice on activity scheduling behaviour be identified fully. This paper investigates this issue using a sample data set collected in Montreal, Canada. Parking type choice and activity scheduling decision (start time choice) are modelled jointly in order to identify the effects of parking type choice on activity scheduling behaviour. Empirical investigation gives strong evidence that parking type choice influences activity scheduling process. The empirical findings of this investigation challenge the validity of the traditional conception which considers parking choice as exogenous variable only in the mode choice component of travel demand models.     

Understanding parking decisions with a Bayesian network

In this paper, a Bayesian network is developed to investigate three intertwining parking decisions, namely parking period, parking location, and parking duration, and the impacts of a number of parking-related factors on these decisions. With parking information from Beijing, China in 2005, the structure and parameter of a Bayesian network were learnt by employing the K2 algorithm and Bayesian parameter estimation method respectively. The results show that the decision on how long to park follows that on where to park, and both of them are affected by the decision of when to park. This suggests that parking policies aimed at intervening in one specific parking decision may have an indirect influence on other parking decisions, which embraces an integrated view in the development of parking policies. The findings facilitate the development of measures for regulating parking behavior by identifying important contributing factors.     

Solving network equilibrium problems on multimodal urban transportation networks with multiple user classes

The capacity of the high‐speed train to compete against travel demand in private vehicles is analysed. A hypothetical context analysed as the high‐speed alternative is not yet available for the route studied. In order to model travel demand, experimental designs were applied to obtain stated preference information. Discrete choice logit models were estimated in order to derive the effect of service variables on journey utility. From these empirical demand models, it was possible to predict for different travel contexts and individuals the capacity of the high‐speed train to compete with the car, so determining the impact of the new alternative on modal distribution. Furthermore, individual willingness to pay for travel time saving is derived for different contexts. The results allow us to confirm that the high‐speed train will have a significant impact on the analysed market, with an important shift of passengers to the new rail service being expected. Different transport policy scenarios are derived. The cost of travel appears to a great extent to be a conditioning variable in the modal choice. These results provide additional evidence for the understanding of private vehicle travel demand.     

The influence of habit formation on modal choice —a Heuristic model

Most modal split models have been based on the assumption of rational behaviour in an individual's choice evaluation of the generalised costs of modal alternatives. This paper integrates conceptual and empirical information from a wide range of sources and points towards an alternative way of looking at modal choice. The main conclusion is that the car is usually perceived as the superior mode for vehicular travel and that the potential user is committed to its use largely through the act of purchasing it. The conceptual structure of a sequential modal split model is outlined as one that is based on a four-stage decision-making framework which considers the role of learning and habit-formation. In the conclusion, the implications of this approach are considered in terms of the conventional modal split and trip generation submodels, and certain policy measures are assessed.     

Patterns of car usage and restraint modelling

Transport demand forecasting procedures have traditionally employed household based modal split models implicitly assuming a selection of mode for each trip based on relative generalised cost. A detailed examination of the trip patterns of a sample of household in West Yorkshire shows that in fact there is little discretionary choice of public transport; public transport trips in car owning households generally being explained in terms of the specific unavailability of the car for such trips. Two versions of a category analysis model for modal split are based on this observation and applied to household data for Glamorgan and Monmouthshire to show that such a procedure is workable and produces results comparing favourably with traditional approaches. The likely implications of three types of restraint policy are examined and it is concluded that the existing interdependence in trip patterns and modal choice within the household is of great significance in determining their effects. In particular it appears that positive attempts to increase vehicle occupancy at the peak are likely to be more favourable to public transport finances than the more negative policies to restrain use of the car for journey to work, or second car ownership.     

The impact of transportation demand management policies on commuting to college facilities: A case study at the University of Trieste,Italy

Universities, like other types of public and private institutions, when located in a city, have both positive and negative impacts on the area where they are situated. On the one hand, they contribute to the prestige of the area; on the other hand, they are large generators/attractors of traffic. The ability to successfully balance the pros and cons of the urban location of these large traffic-generating institutions is crucial for their success and for the livability of the city. In this paper this issue has been analyzed selecting as a representative case the University of Trieste.The aim of the research is to understand: (a) how mode choice decisions are made by the teaching and administrative staff and by the students at the various locations where academic activities take place, and (b) how they would be affected by 8 different transport management policies. It is found that changing the parking regulations (via the annual permit cost, the hourly parking fee, the number of parking spaces and the location of the parking lots) greatly influences mode choice in favor of bus use, especially for teaching and administrative staff and in the suburban locations. The students would be impacted by such changes only if an hourly parking tariff is introduced. The alternative approach of fully subsidizing the bus services would also have a large impact on bus ridership, affecting the mode choice in particular of the teaching staff and in the main university suburban sites.Since the implementation of these bus-favoring policies could face the opposition either of the university staff or of the bus company, two more balanced policy mixes were tested: the first one, increasing parking price and imposing new parking restrictions, would increase bus ridership by 19%; the second one, reducing both bus and parking subsidies, would increase bus ridership by 13%.     

Evolution of latent modal captivity and mode choice patterns for commuting trips: A longitudinal analysis using repeated cross-sectional datasets

This paper presents an investigation of the temporal evolution of commuting mode choice preference structures. It contributes to two specific modelling issues: latent modal captivity and working with multiple repeated crossectional datasets. In this paper latent modal captivity refers to captive reliance on a specific mode rather than all feasible modes. Three household travel survey datasets collected in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) over a ten-year time period are used for empirical modelling. Datasets collected in different years are pooled and separate year-specific scale parameters and coefficients of key variables are estimated for different years. The empirical model clearly explains that there have been significant changes in latent modal captivity and the mode choice preference structures for commuting in the GTHA. Changes have occurred in the unexplained component of latent captivities, in transportation cost perceptions, and in the scales of commuting mode choice preferences. The empirical model also demonstrates that pooling multiple repeated cross-sectional datasets is an efficient way of capturing behavioural changes over time. Application of the proposed mode choice model for practical policy analysis and forecasting will ensure accurate forecasting and an enhanced understanding of policy impacts.     

Demand for taxi services: new elasticity evidence

This paper investigates the factors that influence the choice of, and hence demand for taxis services, a relatively neglected mode in the urban travel task. Given the importance of positioning preferences for taxi services within the broader set of modal options, we develop a modal choice model for all available modes of transport for trips undertaken by individuals or groups of individuals in a number of market segments. A sample of recent trips in Melbourne in 2012 was used to develop segment-specific mode choice models to obtain direct (and cross) elasticities of interest for cost and service level attributes. Given the nonlinear functional form of the way attributes of interest are included in the modal choice models, a simple set of mean elasticity estimates are not behaviourally meaningful; hence a decision support system is developed to enable the calculation of mean elasticity estimates under specific future service and pricing levels. Some specific direct elasticity estimates are provided as the basis of illustrating the magnitudes of elasticity estimates under likely policy settings.     

Line haul interstation spacing for low cost feeder modes

The choice behaviour of low cost travel (LCT) modes is very sensitive to travel distance. A line haul system designed on the basis of current planning practice of locating widely spaced stations to cater auto and bus feeder modes with the primary objective of gaining travel speed is hostile to non‐motorized and low cost feeder modes. With the revival of interest in promoting the use of walk'n ride and bike'n ride modes, there is a need to develop an appropriate tool to examine the effect of their specific characteristics in establishing the number and location of stations.

A generic normative behavioural hybrid model for locating the cost minimizing number and location of stations is developed for an LCT‐fed line haul system. The model considers the system with many to many two dimensional line haul demand density function in which the density varies in both x‐ and y‐directions. The feeder mode choice behaviour is incorporated in the model by integrating probability‐access/egress distance function with the objective function. Explicit functional relationships among the parameters of these feeder modes such as modal share as a function of access/egress distance with the parameters of line haul systems are developed. Dynamic programming is used to minimize the system cost. The generic model is shown to collapse into several simplified models capable of yielding approximate solutions for several well known special cases. It has been shown that location of stations is sensitive to the through load on board as well as users’ cost that defines the choice behaviour at large. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the model.     

Adaptive choice behaviour of motorists in congested shopping centre parking lots

Currently existing models of parking choice behaviour typically focus on the choice of types of parking spaces. Implicitly these models assume that motorists have a free choice in that spaces are available. The adaptive behaviour which they reveal when faced with congested parking spaces is not explicitly modelled. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the growing literature on parking choice modelling by developing and testing a stated choice model of adaptive behaviour of motorists who are faced with fully occupied parking lots. The findings of the analyses indicate that the model performs satisfactory as indicated by its goodness-of-fit and the fact that all significant parameters were in anticipated directions.     

Drivers’ parking location choice under uncertain parking availability and search times: A stated preference experiment

To assess parking pricing policies and parking information and reservation systems, it is essential to understand how drivers choose their parking location. A key aspect is how drivers’ behave towards uncertainties towards associated search times and finding a vacant parking spot. This study presents the results from a stated preference experiment on the choice behaviour of drivers, in light of these uncertainties. The attribute set was selected based on a literature review, and appended with the probabilities of finding a vacant parking spot upon arrival and after 8 min (and initially also after 4 min, but later dropped to reduce the survey complexity). Efficient Designs were used to create the survey design, where two rounds of pilot studies were conducted to estimate prior coefficients. Data was successfully collected from 397 respondents. Various random utility maximisation (RUM) choice models were estimated, including multinomial logit, nested logit, and mixed logit, as well as models accounting for panel effects. These model analyses show how drivers appear to accept spending time on searching for a vacant parking spot, where parking availability after 8 min ranks second most important factor in determining drivers’ parking decisions, whilst parking availability upon arrival ranks fourth. Furthermore, the inclusion of heterogeneity in preferences and inter-driver differences is found to increase the predictive power of the parking location choice model. The study concludes with an outlook of how these insights into drivers’ parking behaviour can be incorporated into traffic assignment models and used to support parking systems.     

Impact of ITS measures on public transport: A Case study

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have a wide range of applications. They range from the more traditional signal coordination system to concepts such as smart cars and smart roads. This paper describes transit‐based ITS measures in Singapore. The island‐state has plans to double the current 90 km rail network over the next ten years and has also implemented or committed to implement many ITS initiatives that impact upon the public transport systems. The aim of these investments is to achieve a high transit modal share using a comprehensive transit network. ITS measures that can promote this aim include: automatic vehicle location systems for buses and taxis, integrated transit fare systems using contactless smart cards, rail information systems, multi‐modal travel guides on Internet and electronic road pricing. The potential impacts of these measures are delay reduction, more comfort, productivity gain and better network accessibility. ITS measures do not necessarily add physical capacity to a public transport system but are excellent supporting measures to encourage the modal shift to transit, particularly if a quality transit system is already in place.     

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.     

Analysis of parking cruising behaviour and parking location choice

ABSTRACT

This paper explores car drivers’ cruising behaviour and location choice for curb parking in areas with insufficient parking space based on a survey of car drivers in Beijing, China. Preliminary analysis of the data show that car drivers’ cruising behaviour is closely related to their parking duration and parking location. A multinomial probit (MNP) model is used to analyse cruising behaviour and the results show that the closer to the destination car drivers are, the more likely they choose to park on the curb. The adjacent locations are the basis of car drivers’ sequential parking decisions at different locations. The research results provide a better understanding of cruising behaviour for parking and recommendations for reducing cruising for parking. The provision of parking information can help regulate the parking demand distribution.