At some Washington Metro stations, poor walking and biking connections to transit mean that a large percentage of riders drive to the access transit. When the parking lots fill up in the morning, the capacity of the parking lot effectively limits the capacity of the transit station.
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Regional TDM Action Plan (Pugest Sound Regional Council, 2013)
This transportation demand management plan from the Puget Sound Regional Council and the TDM Steering Committee lays out strategies to reduce single occupancy car trips through the region. A variety of efforts are outlined, including neighborhood-based alternative transportation education, car-sharing, employer-based ride-sharing, parking management, and regional transit cooperation.
American parking requirements: Massive (mostly), arbitrary, and costly
The large supply of parking has become a key concern in transportation and land use planning. Lots of parking makes it difficult for non-motorized modes to function, shifts costs from drivers to others, encourages SOV use, reduces available land for higher and better uses, creates stormwater issues, and so forth. One factor driving the prevalence of parking is regulation through zoning codes that impose parking minimums.
Ready. Transit. Go: Lining up development to meet current and future transportation demands
A recent study by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota considers the perspective of developers and business leaders interested in developing TOD sites in the Twin Cities. The study finds that there is an unmet demand for TOD and other walkable, multimodal transportation infrastructure. However, encouraging walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods will require the different actors involved—developers, business owners, and municipalities—to work together to develop a new suite of policies, zoning codes, and other ordinances that will foster this type of development.
Rethinking the parking needs of people with disabilities
Disabled drivers clearly need access to parking spaces near their destinations but do they also need to park for free? A recent article in the magazine Access argues that policies allowing disabled permit holders to park for free and for unlimited time in metered parking spaces create a number of problems without generating significant benefits for disabled people.
How to Increase Bicycling for Daily Travel (Active Living Research, 2013)
What are the most effective strategies cities can use to increase bicycling? This brief summarizes the available evidence about strategies for increasing bicycling levels and encouraging bicycling as a mode of transportation. It also presents related policy implications.
2013 Emerging Trends in Parking (International Parking Institute, 2013)
According to the results of a just-released survey, the United States is undergoing a parking revolution as the industry embraces a variety of new technologies that make it easier for people to find and pay for parking, and for parking authorities to better manage it.
Tulsa turns the corner on surface parking
Tulsa, Oklahoma, has extended its temporary ban on demolishing buildings downtown for new surface parking lots until the first of September while the City Planning Department crafts a zoning ordinance that would place new restrictions on downtown surface parking lots.
Contrarian research: Transit relieves congestion, but park-and-rides do not
Research using the results of a 2003 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority strike shows that transit does indeed relieve congestion, but only along corridors that parallel heavily used lines. At the same time, research in the Netherlands indicates that park-and-ride lots in cities may actually increase vehicle miles traveled in a metro area.
Parking management – an unlikely economic development tool
During the era of interstate highway construction, and the resulting demographic shift from city to suburb, municipalities worked to provide auto access to their downtowns, hoping this access would support economic growth. However, mounting evidence shows that this came at the expense of the very economic vibrancy cities sought and does not help reduce roadway congestion. Costs associated with accommodating cars, particularly for parking, are outweighed by the long-term economic costs.