MOTOR VEHICLES AND PARKING Sustainable Transportation 1 March 2013

Outlines Designing for Cars Design Guidance Modeling Traffic Parking Studies Parking Management

Introduction Change Perception of Driving: Never insinuate that motorists are bad people Don’t go to extremes Focus on positive Costs of driving are largely hidden

Introduction Todd Litman (VTPI) summarized the costs of driving: Vehicle Ownership Vehicle Operation Travel Time Crash Parking Congestion Road Facilities Land Value Traffic Services Air Pollution Greenhouse Gas Noise Resource Externalities Barriers Land-use Impacts Water Pollution Waste

Designing for Cars Four Simple Rules Design follows from context Speed kills You cannot build your own way out of congestion Making cities work for cars first requires making cities delightful for pedestrians

Designing for Cars Design follows from context. Proper street design varies by land use context

Designing for Cars Speed kills. Impact force of crash varies by the mass of the object the square of its velocity Source: Western Australian Police http://www.police.wa.gov.au/

Designing for Cars You cannot build your way out of congestion. Congestion is merely an equilibrium point of the transportation market. More travel lanes offered, more people would take advantage of them. Traffic engineers should partner with land planners and real estate economist to develop optimal accommodation for the car. TE: Better street connectivity. LP: Concentrate employment and retails around transit. RE: Shrink the project or reduce density

Designing for Car Making cities work for cars first requires making cities delightful for pedestrian. Cars consume large space for driving and parking. Cars should be accommodated but not at the expense of the pleasure of walking. Parking is shared and managed so spaces are readily available. Streets are never too wide to walk across comfortably. Protected pedestrian crossing are available. Sidewalk are gracious, landscaped and buffered from fast moving traffic. Building oriented to the street, not the parking lot. Density is increased to the point at which the needs of daily life are in walking distance.

Design Guidance Design Vehicle Speed-control vehicle Design vehicle Non-motorized vehicle Setting the design vehicle too low: Goods delivery may be delayed and cause congestion. Emergency service providers cannot afford to lose time. Tight space do not allow future transit network.

Design Guidance Design Speed Maintaining appropriate urban driving speeds: Travel lanes that accommodate the appropriate design vehicle at the target speed but no wider than they have to be. No shoulders between travel lanes and curbs. No superelevation. On-street parking. Tight corner radii at intersections. Appropriate signalized intersection and synchronization to the design speed. Vertical shifts. Bicycle facilities.

Design Guidance Lane width Number of lanes Intersection design Corner sight distance Corner radii Left-turn lanes Curb extensions Access management and driveway design Grade separations Traffic calming

Modeling Traffic The Four-Step Travel Demand Model Trip Generation How many trips are generated in each analysis zone? Trip Distribution Where are these trips coming from or going to? Mode Choice What modes are used for individual trips? Route Assignment (Traffic Assignment) Which path each trip will take?

Modeling Traffic Trip purpose Zone-based travel Homogeneity Mode bias Travel time Parking parameters

Modeling Traffic i j Pj, Aj Pi, Ai i j Tij, m1 Tij, m2 Tij, m3 i j Tij Trip Generation i j Pj, Aj Pi, Ai Modal Split (Mode Choice) i j Tij, m1 Tij, m2 Tij, m3 Trip Distribution i j Tij Tji Tjy Tyj Txi Tjx Traffic Assignment i j

Parking Parking is one of the three essential elements in urban transportation  

Types of Parking Facilities Financial owner-supplied commercial parking Physical On-Street Parking Facilities Off-Street Parking Facilities Parking Lots Parking Structure

Purpose of Parking Studies To establish parking policy and parking regulations. To check physical needs for revising or increasing the existing parking supply.

Glossary Space-Hour: Unit of Parking Utilization Parking Volume: Demand for a parking facility in a given period of time Parking Accumulation: Parking Load: Area under a cumulative curve between two points of time Parking Duration: Duration that a vehicle is in a parking space Parking Turnover: Average parking duration for a parking space, equals to parking volume divided by the total number of parking spaces.

Data Collection Inventory of Existing Parking Facilities Types and number of parking spaces Time of operation Owner Parking fees and collection system Other regulations Other information

Data Collection 7 9 5 8 1 2 3 4 6 10 Parking Facility Block and Curb Numbering System 7 9 5 8 1 2 3 4 6 10 Parking Facility 3 7 11 2 6 10 1 5 9 4 Block and Curb 8

Data Collection Collection of parking data Accumulation – accumulated parking vehicle counts during all operating hours. Turnover and Duration – sampling license plate survey of parking vehicles in a parking lot during a given period of time. Turnover, T = number of different vehicles parked number of parking spaces

Parking Data Record Spaces Available, Number of Parking & Daily Turnover by Type of Facility Block Space Available # of Vehicles Parking Daily Turnover Curb Lots Garages Total Legal Illeg 021 17 117 12 129 6.9 022 28 106 36 170 264 292 47 615 9.4 2.8 1.3 3.5 023 72 63 135 373 20 127 520 5.2 2.0 3.7

Parking Data Record Other Parking Usage Characteristics by Number of Vehicles Parked and Time Used in Different Facilities Block Legal Curb Space Illegal Curb Space Total Curb Space Lots Garages Total Veh Parked Veh Hours 040 120 67 10 6 130 73 320 1500 52 520 502 2093 041 40 80 62

Data Collection Identification of Parking Generators, e.g. shopping mall and train station. Parking Rate Manual – same format as Trip Generation Manual Collection of Information on Parking Demand is usually conducted by garage (or parking lot) interview. Questions may include origin, destination after parking and trip purpose.

Parking Data Record Comparison of Observed Vehicle Hours of Parking, Space Hours Available and Deficiency of Surplus in Existing Capacity Block Total Observed Veh-Hours of Parking Overtime Veh-Hours of Parking Veh-Hours of Parking with No Illegal Parking Space-Hours Capacity of Available Legal Space Space-Hours Capacity Deficiency Surplus 051 40 15 25 30 - 5 052 2 23 20 3 053 60 10 50

Estimation of Parking Requirement Laws and Regulation Building Codes Municipal Codes Parking Rate – Apply the same principle with trip generation rate Standards Surveys Parking Analysis

Parking Analysis Demand Supply where D = parking demand, space veh-hr N = number of types of parking vehicles ni = number of parking vehicles type i ti = average parking duration of type i, hours Supply where S = parking supply, space-hr N = number of parking spaces f = coefficient of parking efficiency ti = parking service hours

Parking Analysis Example A parking lot owner noticed that 20% of entering vehicles could not find a parking space and left the building during service hours 8:00 – 18:00. A ticket analysis showed that 60% of parked vehicles were employers’ with average duration of 9 hours. The rest are customers’ vehicles with average duration of 2 hours. Currently 200 vehicles per day parked in the facility. Further, it was later learned that 20% of vehicles unable to find a parking space belonged to employees and the rest belonged to customers. Determine how many parking spaces should be added. Assume coefficient of parking efficiency 0.80.

Parking Analysis Example (cont’d) Employees parked = (0.6 x 200) x 9 = 1080 space-hr D1 Customers parked = (0.4 x 200) x 2 = 160 space-hr D2 Unable to find parking space = x 0.2 = 50 veh Employees unable to find parking space = (0.2 x 50) x 9 = 90 space-hr D3 Customers unable to find parking space = (0.8 x 50) x 2 = 80 space-hr D4 Total parking demand (D1) + (D2) + (D3) + (D4) = 1410 space-hr 200 0.8

Parking Analysis Example (cont’d) Existing parking supply = 1080 + 160 = 1240 space-hr Shortage = 1410 – 1240 = 170 space-hr 0.8 x 10 x N = 170 N = 21.25 Additional parking spaces needed 22 spaces

Parking Dimensions

Parking Dimensions Computer-Aided Design Package PARKCad AutoTurn

Pedestrian-Friendly Environment Promoting Sustainable Transportation Parking lots along the full length of the street front are not pedestrian-friendly. Parking lots located behind shops and offices are more preferred. “No parking shall be located between the building and the front property line. On corner lots, no parking shall be located between the building and either of the two front property lines.” The SeaTac Municipal Code, Section 17.24.120C

Parking Innovations

The High Cost of Free Parking

Parking Requirements versus Parking Restraints “Parking demand is defined as the accumulation of vehicles parked at a given time as the result of activity and given site” R. Weant & H. Levinson Parking Provision Strategies Copy other cities Consult ITE Data “Off-street parking does eat up a tremendous amount of land, but minimum parking requirements lead planners and developers to think that parking is a problem only when there isn’t enough of it” Donald Shoup

The “Commons” Problem “The commons has come to serve as a paradigm for situations in which people so impinge on each other in pursuing their own interest that collectively they might be better off if they could be restrained, but no one gain individually by self-restraint…” Thomas Shelling “Free curb parking is an asphalt commons: just as cattle compete in their search for scarce grass, drivers compete for scarce curb parking spaces. Drivers waste time and fuel, congest traffic, and pollute the air while cruising for curb parking, and after findinga space they have no incentive to economize on how long they park.” Donald Shoup

Parking “Requirement” Adverse Effects Skew travel choice Raise house/office prices Hidden costs in merchandise Barrier to economy growth

Vicious Cycle of Free Parking Parking Generation Rates Survey at all sites with no classification. Minimum Parking Requirement Max observed = Min required Ample Free Parking Driving is encouraged. Trip Generation Rates High trip rates reported. Transportation System Design Provide large capacity to satisfy demand. Urban Sprawl Low density regulation spreads activities. More driving/parking demand. Derived from Shoup, D., “The High Cost of Free Parking

Parking Management Strategies Park Once. Create a commercial parking benefit area. Invest meter revenues in areawide improvements and TDM. Create residential benefit areas. Provide universal transit passes. Unbundle parking costs. Require parking for carsharing vehicles. Require parking cash-out. Removing minimum parking requirements. Fund parking facilities with user fees and revenue bonds.

To Park or Not To Park Hermann Knoflacher and his walkmobile “Gehzeug” illustrated the problem of excessive automobile usage

Homework A parking has 2,000 parking spaces. There were 3,000 cars entering between 8:00 – 18:00. The study showed that 20% of these cars parked for 2 hours, 30% parked for 4 hours and the rest parked for 8 hours. If, on average, 10% of spaces were vacant, find this lot’s parking efficiency factor.