Parking Management Best Practices Workshop

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Parking Management Best PracticesWorkshop

• Todd Litman
• Victoria Transport Policy Institute
• Presented at the
• Perth, Australia
• 26 March 2009

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Creating Paradise

• Paradise is not a distant destination, it is
  something we create in our own communities.

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Sustainable Planning

• Sustainability emphasizes the integrated
  nature of human activities and therefore the need
  to coordinate planning among different sectors,
  jurisdictions and groups.

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Preventing Problems

• Sustainability planning is to development
  what preventive medicine is to health it
  anticipates and manages problems rather than
  waiting for crises to develop.

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Paradigm Shifts

• Growth - expanding, doing more.
• ?
• Development - improving, doing better.

• Mobility - physical movement.
• ?
• Accessibility - obtaining desired goods, services
  and activities.

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Sustainability?

• Would we have a sustainable transportation
  system if all automobiles were solar powered?

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Past Visions of Future Transport
1958 Firebird
1949 ConvAIRCAR Flying Car
Supersonic Concord
Segways
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2001 A Space Odyssey
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Wheeled Luggage
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Trends Supporting Multi-Modalism

• Motor vehicle saturation.
• Aging population.
• Rising fuel prices.
• Increased urbanization.
• Increased traffic and parking congestion.
• Rising roadway construction costs and declining
  economic return from increased roadway capacity.
• Environmental concerns.
• Health Concerns

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OECD Travel Trends
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The Population is Aging
1990
2050
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Urbanization

• Between the 1940s and 1980s the population
  became more suburbanized. Now, about half of
  North Americans live in suburbs.

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Value of Highway Expansion

• When the highway system was being developed in
  the 1950s and 60s it provided high returns on
  investment. Now that the system is mature,
  economic returns have declined.

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Optimal Modal Split
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International Mode Split
(Bassett, et al. 2008)
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What is The Transportation Problem?

• Traffic congestion?
• Road construction costs?
• Parking congestion or costs?
• Excessive costs to consumers?
• Traffic crashes?
• Lack of mobility for non-drivers?
• Poor freight services?
• Environmental impacts?
• Inadequate physical activity?
• Others?

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Current Transport Planning

• Current planning tends to be reductionist
  each problem is assigned to a single agency with
  narrowly defined responsibilities. For example
• Transport agencies deal with congestion.
• Environmental agencies deal with pollution.
• Welfare agencies deal with the needs of
  disadvantaged people.
• Public health agencies are concerned with
  community fitness.
• Etc.

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Reductionist Decision-Making

• Reductionist planning can result in public
  agencies implementing solutions to one problem
  that exacerbate other problems facing society,
  and tends to undervalue strategies that provide
  multiple but modest benefits.

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Win-Win Solutions

• Put another way, more comprehensive planning
  helps identify Win-Win strategies solutions to
  one problem that also help solve other problems
  facing society.

• Ask
• Which congestion-reduction strategy also
  reduces parking costs, saves consumers money, and
  improves mobility options for non-drivers.

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Comparing Benefits
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Comparing Costs
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Redefining Parking Problems

• Parking problems are one of the most common
  complaints businesses and local officials face.
  They can constrain economic development.

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Parking Problem?
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Parking Problem?
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Cook Street Village Parking Utilization
Unoccupied Weekday
Noon 44 Friday Night 50 Saturday
Morning 51
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Parking Management Problem

• Many areas dont really have a parking supply
  problem, they have a parking management problem -
  parking spaces that are unavailable to the
  motorists who need them.

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New Solutions to Parking Problems

• Conventional planning forces developers to
  supply abundant parking using inflexible
  standards. There are other ways to address
  parking problems through more efficient
  management, which reduces costs and allows better
  design.

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Parking Management

• Parking Management consists of various
  strategies that result in more efficient use of
  existing parking resources.

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Changing Parking Paradigm
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Management Strategies

• Improved travel options (walking, cycling,
  ridesharing, public transit, telework and
  flextime, etc.).
• Provide incentives to use efficient transport
  options (transit benefits, parking pricing,
  promotion campaigns).
• Support policies and programs (telecommuting and
  flextime, commute trip reduction programs,
  transportation management associations).

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Parking Management Principles

• Consumer choice. People should have viable
  parking and travel options.
• User information. Motorists should have
  information on their parking and travel options.
• Sharing. Parking facilities should serve multiple
  users and destinations.
• Efficient utilization. Parking facilities should
  be sized and managed so spaces are frequently
  occupied.
• Flexibility. Parking plans should accommodate
  uncertainty and change.
• Prioritization. The most desirable spaces should
  be managed to favor higher-priority uses.
• Pricing. As much as possible, users should pay
  directly for parking facilities.
• Peak management. Special efforts should be made
  to deal with peak-demand.
• Quality vs. quantity. Parking facility
  convenience, comfort and aesthetics should be
  considered as important as quantity.
• Comprehensive analysis. All significant costs and
  benefits should be considered in parking
  planning.

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Why Parking Management?

• In the past, parking planning mainly involved
  regulations and subsidies to increase supply.
• Now more efficient management is increasingly
  used to address parking problems, particularly in
  growing cities, commercial centers and resort
  communities.

• Urban redevelopment.
• More walkable communities.
• Housing affordability.
• Smart growth.
• Reduced pavement.
• Encourages transit use.
• Creates more attractive streetscapes.
• Improves motorist convenience.

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Economic Benefits

• Reduces local parking problems. Helps attract
  customers.
• Reduces development costs, often by 5-15.
• Reduced development costs mean more total
  development, higher profits or cheaper rents.
• Leverages reductions in per capita vehicle travel
  and associated external costs (congestion,
  roadway costs, accidents, energy consumption,
  pollution emissions, sprawl).
• Supports more compact development and associated
  agglomeration efficiencies.

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Economic Development Benefits

• Reducing vehicle expenditures, particularly fuel,
  increases regional employment and business
  activity.
• Reducing business transport costs (congestion,
  parking, accident damages) increases productivity
  and competitiveness.
• Agglomeration efficiencies.
• Stimulates development and increases local
  property values.
• Increases affordability, allowing businesses to
  attract employees in areas with high living
  costs.

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Land Use Impacts
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Parking Land Requirements
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Reducing Land Requirements
More efficient transportation, land use and
parking management can significantly reduce the
number of parking spaces required.
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Parking Facility Costs
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Parking Costs

• Parking costs are a major portion of
  development costs, particularly for lower-priced
  building in urban areas with high land prices.
• Typically, 5-15 of development costs, and
  more under some circumstances.

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Impacts on Housing Affordability

• Increases Affordability
• Reduced parking facility costs (particularly if
  structured).
• Higher density reduces land requirements per
  unit.
• Allows more infill, redevelopment and design
  flexibility.
• Allows more diverse, affordable housing options
  (secondary suites, rooms over shops, loft
  apartments).

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Tradeoffs

• For much of the last century, transport and
  parking planning practices encouraged sprawl and
  automobile dependency.

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Comparing Benefits
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Particularly Beneficial

• Downtowns and other activity centers
• Urban infill
• Transit oriented development
• Walkable districts
• Affordable housing
• In conjunction with mobility management and smart
  growth
• To support environmental and social objectives
• Large special events
• In resort communities

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Shared Parking

• Parking spaces are shared by multiple users,
  increasing efficiency
• On-street parking
• Public off-street parking
• In lieu funding of public facilities as
  alternative to on-site requirements.

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Typical Peak Periods
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Sharing Parking
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Regulate Parking

• Manage and regulate the most convenient spaces
  to favor higher-value trips.

• Duration (e.g. 60-minute maximum).
• Time (e.g., no parking 9am-5pm).
• Type of Use (deliveries, taxis)
• User Type (customers, residents, disabled users).

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More Accurate Standards

• Reduce or adjust standards to more accurately
  reflect demand at a particular location, taking
  into account geographic, demographic and economic
  factors.

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Parking Standards
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Parking Standards

• Standards are often excessive and can usually
  be adjusted significantly downward
• Surveys mostly performed in auto-dependent
  locations.
• 85th percentile.
• 20th design day.
• No pricing or cash out.
• No parking management.

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Adjustment Factors

• Adjustment Factors
• Residential and employment density
• Land use mix
• Transit accessibility
• Carsharing
• Walkability
• Cycling facilities
• Population demographics (age, employment,
  income, etc.)
• Pricing
• Parking mobility management
• Proximity to overflow parking

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Adjust For Urban Location
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Reform Standards

• Establish adjustment factors for reducing parking
  minimums to reflect geographic, demographic and
  management factors.
• Eliminate parking minimums altogether.
• Implement parking maximums, with a schedule of
  gradual, predictable requirements implemented
  over several years, for various land use types
  and geographic locations.

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Downtown Auckland Parking Maximums

• No minimum parking requirements.
• Maximums based on building floor area.
• Varies depending on type of street.
• For most of the central business district,
  maximum permitted parking ranges from
  approximately 0.5 to 1.0 spaces per 100 square
  meters.

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Other Parking Maximums

• Portland. In 1975, the city caped downtown
  parking supply at approximately 40,000 parking
  spaces, including existing and new facilities.
  This reduced the overall downtown parking supply
  from approximately 3.4 down to about 1.5
  long-term spaces per 1,000 sq. ft. in 1990.
  Maximums very depending on location. This policy
  is considered successful, helping make the
  downtown an attractive place for businesses,
  residents and tourists, and doubled transit mode
  split from 20-25 in the early 1970s to 48 in
  the mid-1990s.
• San Francisco. The city of San Franciscos
  Transit First policy allows a maximum of 7 of
  a buildings gross floor to be used for parking,
  and new buildings must have an approved parking
  plan. In some cases, only short term parking is
  approved, in others a mix of long, short and
  carpool parking is allowed. These were
  implemented in conjunction with construction of
  municipal, priced parking.
• Boston. In 1977, the City of Boston adopted a
  freeze on commercial parking, but not parking
  reserved for individuals or company use within
  office buildings.
• Seattle. The City of Seattle allows a maximum of
  one parking space per 1,000 sq. ft. of downtown
  office space.
• London. The City of London has maximum parking
  standards which vary with public transport
  accessibility. In the city center, one space is
  allowed per 1,500 square meters of commercial
  space, declining to 1 space per 300 square metres
  in outer areas.

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Remote Parking

• Encouraging longer-term parkers (e.g., employees)
  to use less-convenient, off-site parking, so more
  convenient spaces are available for priority
  users (e.g. customers).
• Negotiate sharing agreements for offsite,
  overflow parking.
• Provide directions to offsite parking facilities.

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Improve User Information

• Provide convenient information on parking
  availability and price, using maps, signs,
  brochures and electronic communication.

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Improve User Information
Whenever you indicate that parking is prohibited,
also indicate where parking is available.
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Pricing

• Parking is never really free, consumers either
  pay directly or indirectly. Paying directly tends
  to be more fair and efficient, and typically
  reduces parking demand about 20.

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Efficient Prices

• Set to achieve maximum 85 occupancy.
• Vary by location and time.
• Adjusted as needed to reflect changing demands.
• Motorists can choose between cheaper but less
  convenient, and premium service and priced
  parking.
• Motorists pay for just he amount of time they are
  parked.

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Paying Directly Returns Savings

• Paying directly is more equitable and
  efficient, since users pay in proportion to the
  costs they impose. Free facilities force
  everybody to pay, including non-drivers and
  motorists who reduce their vehicle use. Paying
  directly gives individual consumers the savings
  that result when they drive less, providing a new
  opportunity to save money.

• Consumer Reduces Vehicles or Trips
• ?
• Reduced Congestion, Road Parking Facility
  Costs, Reduced Crashes, etc.
• ?
• Economic Savings

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Parking Pricing

• Charge more frequently for on-street parking
  (e.g., meters on residential streets, with
  discounts or exemptions for residents).
• Expand when and where parking is priced (e.g.,
  evenings and Sundays, residential streets).
• Use time and location-based prices to encourage
  more efficient use of parking facilities.
• Reduce long-term discounts and early bird
  specials. Shift to shorter time periods (e.g,
  hourly rather than daily).

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Parking Pricing Impacts

• Cost-recovery parking prices (or cash out)
  typically reduces affected automobile trips
  10-30 and increases transit ridership 50-100

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Parking Cash Out
17 Reduction
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Improve Pricing Methods

• Multiple payment options (coins, bills, credit
  cards, debt cards, cell phone payments).
• Charge only for the amount of time parked.
• Are easy to understand and use.
• Enforcement is respectful and friendly.

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Unbundle Parking

• Rent and sell parking spaces separately from
  building units. For example, rather than renting
  an apartment with two free parking spaces for
  1,000 per month, rent the unit for 800, and
  each parking space for 100 per month.

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Smart Growth (Density, Design, Diversity)

• More compact, infill development.
• Mixed land use.
• Increased connectivity.
• Improved walkability.
• Urban villages.
• Increased transportation diversity.
• Better parking management.
• Improved public realm.
• More traffic calming and speed control.

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Sprawl Vs Smart Growth
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Land Use Impacts On Travel
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Land Use Impacts On Travel
Health Target
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Location-Efficient Development

• Locate affordable housing in accessible areas
  (near services and jobs, walkable, public
  transit).
• Diverse, affordable housing options (secondary
  suites, rooms over shops, loft apartments).
• Reduced parking requirements.
• Reduces property taxes and utility fees for
  clustered and infill housing.

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Transit Oriented Development

• Transit can be a catalyst for multi-modal
  urban villages.
• Walkable, mixed-use neighborhood around transit
  center.
• Programs and incentives to use transit.
• Reduced parking requirements.

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Mobility Management
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Mode Shifts

• How do we convince people who drive luxury
  cars to shift mode?

11/22/2009
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Encourage Public Transport Use

• Quality service (convenient, fast, comfortable).
• Nicer bus stops and stations.
• Affordable fares.
• Support (improved walking conditions, park ride
  facilities, commute trip reduction programs).
• Parking pricing or cash out.
• Integrated with special events.
• Convenient information.
• Positive Image.

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Attracting Discretionary Riders

• Quality service (convenient, fast, comfortable).
• Low fares.
• Support (walkable communities, park ride
  facilities, commute trip reduction programs).
• Convenient information.
• Parking pricing or cash out.
• Integrated with special events.
• Positive Image.

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Transit Station Level-Of-Service

• Clean
• Comfort (seating, temperature, quiet)
• Convenience (real-time user information, easy
  fare payment)
• Accessible (walkability, bike parking, nearby
  housing, employment, nearby shops)
• Services (refreshments, periodicals, etc.)
• Security

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Improve Walkability
Improved walking conditions

• Expands the range of parking spaces that serves a
  destination, increasing its functional supply.
• Allows more park once trips, so customers leave
  their vehicle in a central location and walk to
  various destinations, reducing the total number
  of parking spaces needed.
• Allows walking and transit trips to substitute
  for driving, reducing parking demand.

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Walking Level of Service
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Bicycle Parking

• Allow bicycle parking and changing facilities to
  substitute for a portion of automobile parking.
• Mandate minimum bicycle parking.
• Include a combination of short-term and long-term
  bicycle parking.

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Bicycle Parking Requirements
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Employee Trip Reduction Programs

• Employers encourage employees to walk,
  bicycle, carpool, ride transit and telework
  rather than drive to work.

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Ridesharing Puget Sound Example

• The Puget Sound region has the most successful
  vanpool program in North America. About 7 of
  commute trips over 20 miles in length are by
  vanpooling. A marketing study suggests that this
  could double or triple. More than a third of
  suburban automobile commuters would consider
  vanpooling, if it had
• More flexibility.
• High Occupant Vehicle priority lanes and parking.
• More financial incentives.
• Integration with public transit.
• Employer support.

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Transportation Management Associations

• Transportation Management Associations (TMAs)
  are private, non-profit, member-controlled
  organizations that provide transportation
  services in a particular area, such as a
  commercial district, mall, medical center or
  industrial park.
• TMAs provide an institutional framework for
  implementing Mobility Management.

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Mobility Management Marketing

• Targeted marketing to inform residents about
  their travel options and encourage alternatives
  to driving.
• The TravelSmart program offers personalized
  transit, rideshare and cycling information, and
  trial transit and vanpooling services. It
  typically reduces automobile trips 5-15.

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Carsharing

• Automobile rental services intended to
  substitute for private vehicle ownership.

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Better Use of Existing Supply

• Spaces for smaller vehicles and motorcycles.
• Angled rather than parallel curb parking.
• Car stackers.
• Valet parking.
• Use currently unused spaces.
• Flexible spaces.

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Address Negative Impacts

• Develop overflow parking plan to address
  occasional peaks.
• Address specific spillover problems.
• Improve enforcement.
• Design parking facilities to fit well into their
  environment.
• Improve relations with neighbors.
• Compensate for spillover impacts.

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Improve Enforcement and Control

• Frequently
• Effectively
• With maximum consideration

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Contingency-Based Planning

• Contingency-Based Planning deals with
  uncertainly by identifying specific responses to
  possible future conditions.

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Contingency-Based Plan
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Significant Benefits

• Improved management can often reduce parking
  requirements by 20-60 compared with what would
  be required by conventional planning, without
  reducing user convenience or total costs.
  Conversely, it can improve user convenience
  without increasing supply or total costs.

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Changes Required

• Change the way we think about and solve parking
  problems.
• New zoning codes and development practices.
• New organizational relationships to provide
  parking management and brokerage services.

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Example - Old Pasadena

• The city proposed pricing on-street parking to
  increase turnover and make spaces available to
  customers. Local merchants initially opposed the
  idea. As a compromise, the city agreed to
  dedicate revenues to improving downtown public
  facilities and services. In 1993 a Parking Meter
  Zone (PMZ) was established within revenues
  invested in.
• Street furniture
• Trees
• Police patrols
• Better street lighting,
• More street and sidewalk cleaning
• Pedestrian facility improvements
• Downtown marketing

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Example - Ashland Strategies

• Increase time limits enforcement.
• Encourage employees to park outside the Core
  zone.
• Reduce on-street time limits (e.g., 2-hours to
  90 minutes, 4-hours to 2-hours) to increase
  turnover.
• Expand the Core zone boundaries to increase the
  number of on-street visitor spaces.
• Price parking (on-and/or off-street).
• Encourage use of alternative modes (shuttles,
  transit, ridesharing).
• Create new parking supply.
• Develop special regulations as needed, such as
  for disabled access, delivery and loading areas,
  or to accommodate other particular land uses.

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Example - Seattle

Seattle has a proactive parking management
program that helps stakeholders consider a broad
range of possible parking solutions and
encourages neighborhoods to develop parking plans
that meet their needs.
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Example - Seattle

• Seattle Parking Management website
• Begins with the question, How May We Serve You?
• Discusses parking management concepts.
• Describes management strategies suitable for
  various areas (business districts, residential
  areas, etc.).
• Identifies how residents and businesses can
  initiate changes.
• Answers common questions concerning parking
  issues.
• Provides parking regulation and enforcement
  information.
• Offers instructions on using new parking payment
  systems.
• Includes various parking planning documents,
  including Your Guide To Parking Management.

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Stanford University

• Adding more than 2.3 million square feet of
  building space without increasing peak period
  vehicle traffic. Plan includes
• A 1.5 mile transit mall.
• Free transit system with timed transfers to rail.
• Bicycle network.
• Staff parking cash-out.
• Ridesharing program.
• Other transportation demand management elements.

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Campus Transport Management

• U-Pass programs, bulk purchase of transit passes
  for students and staff.
• Gradually raise parking fees. Use revenues to
  support alternatives.
• Replace cheap monthly and annual passes with
  daily and hourly fees.
• Offer discounted rates for less convenient
  parking lots.
• Establish employee commute trip reduction
  programs.
• Provide vanpool services to suburban locations.
• Establish overflow parking plan.
• Improve campus walking conditions.
• Cooperative transport and parking management
  programs with nearby businesses.

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Example - DOrsay Hotel

• 162 rooms and 35,000 square feet of retail space.
• Would normally require 302 parking spaces,
  costing 4.8 m.
• Adjustments to reflect the location (many
  visitors arrive without a car) allowed reduction
  to 218 spaces.
• Agreement that 56 of those spaces to be leased
  from nearby city-owned lots.
• Saved 2.0 m, making project financially
  feasible.

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Example - Soma Apartments

• Mixed-use development
• 74 affordable family apartments
• 88 small studios
• Child care center
• Market
• Totals 246 bedrooms and 24,000 sq-ft
  commercial space. Would normally require
• 250-350 spaces.
• Contains 66-spaces, with parking rented
  separately from housing units, significantly
  reducing rents.

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Transit Oriented Development Area

• A transit village has high-density
  development within 1/4-Mile of a station, and
  medium density development within 1/2-Mile.

Station
1/4-Mile
1/2-Mile
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What Can Fit Within 1/4 Mile?

• 1/4-mile 100 net acres.
• 10,000 surface parking spaces (125 space/acre).
• 3,000 higher-density housing units (30du/acre).
• 5,000 employees (50 employees/acre) with 1,600
  parking spaces (0.5 spaces/employee).

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Building For People or Cars?

• Automobiles make wonderful servants but
  terrible masters.
• Design your community for people, and then
  accommodate motor vehicles. Dont design
  communities for automobile traffic and then try
  to accommodate people.

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Parking Management Benefits

• Economic
• Reduced road parking facility costs.
• Reduces congestion, improves mobility.
• Generates revenues
• Supports efficient development.
• Social
• Improved travel options for non-drivers.
• Improved safety and fitness.
• Environmental
• Energy conservation and pollution reduction.
• Reduced land consumption.

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Implementing Parking Management

• Implement parking management as a package,
  including suitable positive incentives to reward
  people for more efficient parking behavior cost
  savings, improved street environment, improved
  parking options.

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Implementation Strategies

• Educate decision makers (designers, developers,
  lenders, planners, local officials, residents)
  about parking management strategies and benefits.
• Allow more flexible parking requirements,
  including trade-offs for parking management
  programs.
• Create support structures, such as transportation
  management associations and parking brokerage
  services.
• Allow or mandate parking management strategies
  sharing, unbundling, pricing, overflow plans,
  etc.
• In lieu funding of public facilities as
  alternative to on-site requirements.

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Transport and Land Use Management

• Smart Growth (also called New Urbanism) -
  Encourage more clustered, mixed, multi-modal,
  infill development. Allows more shared parking
  and use of alternative modes.
• Mobility Management - Various strategies and
  programs can encourage more efficient travel
  patterns. Reduces automobile trips and parking
  demand.

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Reform Planning Practices

• Least-cost planning equal funding for mobility
  management solutions.
• Multi-modal planning create a diverse and
  integrated transportation system.

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Supported by Professional Organizations

• Institute of Transportation Engineers.
• American Planning Association.
• American Farmland Trust.
• Federal, state, regional and local planning and
  transportation agencies.
• International City/County Management Association
• National Governors Association
• Health organizations.
• And much more...

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Motorists Benefit Too

• More balanced transport policy is no more
  anti-car than a healthy diet is anti-food.
  Motorists have every reason to support these
  reforms
• Reduced traffic and parking congestion.
• Improved safety.
• Improved travel options.
• Reduced chauffeuring burden.
• Often the quickest and most cost effective way to
  improve driving conditions.

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• Parking Management Strategies, Evaluation and
  Planning
• Parking Requirement Impacts On Housing
  Affordability
• Parking Taxes Options and Implementation
• Online TDM Encyclopedia
• and more...
• www.vtpi.org