Parking issues have a measurable effect on businesses’ reputations, according to a recent study, but there are important exceptions. Restaurants, bars, and nightclubs aren’t as vulnerable to parking complaints, for instance, and the effects don’t seem to hold when parking is shared among businesses.
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Exploring the relationship between transit supply and parking demand
In a recent study, researchers from Australia look closely at the relationship between parking demand and proximity and quality of service supply of public transit. When other socioeconomic factors were considered, the quality of transit service became much more important than proximity alone in determining parking demand. This will be helpful in the ongoing discussion about where and how to reduce or eliminate required parking as part of development.
As car commuting demand changes, highways and parking lots give way to development
Urban highways and plentiful surface parking lots, once considered essential, have outlived their promise in many large U.S. cities. Observers see growing interest in dense urban living, with some mobile segments of the population opting out of car-dependent suburbs. Bold cities have been redeveloping the areas opened up by highway removal, and developers are poised to profit from the development of surface parking lots within revitalizing urban cores.
App cuts double parking by delivery drivers in DC
Like many cities, Washington, DC, has a problem with double parking and delivery vehicles blocking crosswalks and bus and bike lanes. One experiment in curb management showed good results during its trial run from August to October. Using the curbFlow app, delivery drivers can book an appointment for a loading zone up to 30-minutes in advance. Double parking and illegal U-turns went down 64 percent in the nine zones where it was tried. Delivery drivers like it as well, as they reported that they received fewer parking tickets and avoided circling the block looking for a legal spot.
Priced parking is fair and effective at lowering car use
New research out of California looks at the effect of priced parking on commuter mode choice and transportation costs for low-income households. Findings from two studies suggest raising the price of commuter parking by 10 percent could lower car use by as much as three percentage points and, while residential parking permits could hit low-income households hardest, few households would be disproportionately affected. Moreover, revenues from paid parking could offset any potential burden.
Overabundant parking fuels car-oriented living in greater Boston
A new report from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council reveals 30 percent of residential parking in the Boston area goes unused at night. This new study builds on an earlier report, featured in an SSTI webinar, growing the sample from 80 properties to 189 across 14 municipalities throughout the city’s inner core. The additional data also let MAPC test for significant factors affecting parking demand. MAPC estimates that the 5,910 empty spaces in their study represent $94.5 million in development costs, or roughly $5,000 per housing unit.
What’s the best policy for managing spillover parking?
A new study suggests that while minimum and maximum parking requirements can be effective in some ways at managing spillover parking, they are anything but a one-size-fits-all approach. Using economic models, researchers tested the effects of different pricing and regulatory policies on nearby residents, local shoppers, and non-local shoppers of an urban mall or other major retailer. They found that regulating the supply of on-site parking is only effective if the retailer has enough market power to adjust the price of goods, and even more so when parking is also priced accordingly.
Chicago parking concession big win for investors, hard on curb management
In 2008 the city of Chicago made a deal to allow a private company to run and receive all revenues from parking meters. The concession has been widely denounced as a bad deal for taxpayers. Critics of the deal often point to the missed opportunity of parking revenue. Others note that the concession makes the city less nimble when implementing innovative curbside solutions for transit, cycling, and placemaking. Recent analysis shows how the deal is working out for the city and private investors.
Parking, ride-hailing, and shifting traveler needs
According to a new study out of Denver, one-quarter of ride-hailing trips replace driving, which reduces the need for parking, particularly at specific land uses. Difficulty parking is also a key reason people are shifting to ride-hailing services, which suggests that places where parking is most difficult or expensive can expect a shift in demand to curbside pickup and drop off.
ITE takes on parking minimums and manuals
Once considered a pure public good, parking is now known as a public problem as well. Among other drawbacks, it occupies valuable land and curb space, and it encourages auto trips and emissions, in part by spreading out destinations so that non-auto travel is difficult. The Institute of Traffic Engineers—whose Parking Generation Manual once epitomized the more-is-better approach to parking—in February’s ITE Journal describes thoughtful new approaches for better managing parking supply and incorporating more active transportation and transit trips.