CURBSIDE MANAGEMENT: Neighborhood Empowerment Project

OpenPlansTreating the Curb as a Public Space Amenity

377 Broadway New York, New York 10013 J (+1) 917 523 9546 • L (+1) 917 842 7183 www.openplans.org

3

depending on local land uses, a cascading array of very short term, one-hour, multi-hour, and longer-term car storage. While the exact mix of curb uses will vary, this approach to curbside priorities can ensure that transit reliability is a foremost priority in curb assignment.

CHOOSING MEASUREMENT OVER MYTHS

Data from around North America show that repurposing parking spaces for transit priority supports businesses and mobility, but making this case with neighborhood stakeholders takes work and trust-buildling. Curbside changes can be sustained and expanded when decision-makers and stakeholders are informed about the tradeoffs involved in curbside use. Planning and outreach, combined with rigorous before-after studies, can build the business case for reducing the number of metered parking spaces, and the neighborhood case in favor of increased transit reliability.

Across a wide range of cities and land use contexts, arrival-mode surveys show that transit delivers many times more people to streets and businesses than do private cars. Arrival-mode surveys are a form of intercept survey that asks how people arrive at local businesses or to the street in general—walking, transit, biking, taxi, or private car—and whether car arrivals were dropped off, parked directly on the street being studied, or parked on a different street.9 In Los Angeles, merchants on Cesar Chavez Street estimated 36% of arriving patrons used cars and none arrived by transit;

in fact, only 7% drove and 46% arrived by transit.10 On Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, surveys found that only 5% to 9% of business patrons arrived by a car parked on the street itself—while buses delivered 33%.11 On Geary Street in San Francisco, only 6% of people surveyed on the corridor arrived by car, while 90% took transit or walked.12 Even on transit corridors that also serve high motor vehicle traffic volumes, such as Reseda Boulevard in Los Angeles, only one-third of people arriving to the corridor used personal motor vehicles or taxis.13 By including an arrival option of parking on the transit street or off the transit street, these surveys can provide clear evidence that reducing the number of metered parking spaces on the corridor itself will not hurt businesses. This data also demonstrates that “residential” unpaid parking on nearby streets is already supporting the business street, building a case for metering the parking on cross-streets.

Before-after data on sales tax receipts of local businesses make a compelling case for the benefits of bus improvements to businesses. On Fordham Road in the Bronx, NYC DOT replaced curbside metered parking lanes with full-time bus lanes in both directions, a dramatic change. An intensive study of local business tax receipts demonstrated that business increased 71% on the corridor, in comparison to 38% for comparable streets.14 These findings provided support for a large program of bus priority projects that continue to change major commercial streets in New York City.

Different curbside uses have varying abilities to draw people to an area and to support nearby businesses

LOADING ZONE20 deliveries/day supporting $10,000 in daily sales per block

BUS STOP 1,000 riders/day

PARATRANSIT & ACCESSIBLE

LOADINGServing 19% of

the US population5

PASSENGER DROP-OFF ZONE 100 passengers/day

METERED PARKING SPOT15 vehicles/day6, 7, 8

2

Cities Can Improve Transit by Managing the Curb Around North America, cities have successfully improved transit operations by using the following strategies to manage the curb: » Shifting from Parking Lane to Flex Zone » Clearing the Way for Transit » Moving Loading and Access Nearby, and » Looking Beyond the Corridor

FROM PARKING LANE TO FLEX ZONECities across North America are recognizing the value of their curbsides as flexible zones. To make corridor-level changes possible, leading cities are adopting and acting on policies that prioritize reliable transit and safe bicycling infrastructure first, followed by other important uses of the curb like deliveries, passenger pick-ups, green stormwater infrastructure, and small public spaces—as well as managed parking. This policy foundation supports transit project managers and designers in making better decisions about curbside uses, and sets a clear expectation that transit is a priority in street design.

Urban curbsides have conventionally been driven by land use, with parking and loading regulations based on the immediately adjoining building: meters in front of shops, loading zones near supermarkets, no-parking areas at warehouses, unmetered parking in residential areas. But this practice assumes cars are the primary mode of transportation on a street, leaving cities to choose between local uses and mobility—because through-moving cars do little to support, and much to harm, local business and residents.

A transit-friendly method of curb allocation on downtown, commercial, and mixed-use main streets is supported by the policy framework adopted in Seattle (see right). A project manager using this method first assigns critical uses like transit stops, transit lanes, and quality bikeways—the uses that often find themselves competing for space on streets otherwise designed for motor vehicle traffic. Next, transit-and-business-supportive uses like bike share stations, commercial loading, and accessible passenger loading are assigned to the extent needed to prevent bus blockages by these uses. The remainder of the curb can be dedicated to valuable public space uses such as parklets and stormwater infrastructure, pick up and drop-off areas for for-hire and private vehicles, and

PARKLET 100 visitors/day10–20% revenue boost to nearby

businesses4

FOOD TRUCK150 meals/day

$800–1800 income/day3

BIKE SHARE STATION

40 riders/day2

SEATTLE RIGHT-OF-WAY PRIORITIZATION

In 2016, the City of Seattle adopted new policies that define the curb lane as a “flex zone,” allocating ranked curb use priorities according to street types. On commercial streets—after accommodating key infrastructure outlined in citywide modal plans—the city prioritizes uses like freight and passenger loading over metered parking. Free long-term private vehicle storage is a low priority for curbside space on key streets, and long-term, commute parking is generally not supported. These priorities give project managers assurances of policy support in making the case for localized curbside changes that support transit.1

Modal Plan PrioritiesAccess for Commerce

Access for PeoplePublic Space Activation

GreeningPrivate Vehicle Storage

Ranked Priority

Commercial or Mixed-use Areas

Industrial Areas

Residential Areas

123456

132645

123564

Illustration of a Managed Curbside:

There are many public functions for the curbside including but not limited to mobility, access for people, access for

commerce, social interactions, greening, and storage. Using the curb as a parking lane negates all of these other

functions.

41% of New Yorkers receive a delivery of some kind at their home at least a few times a week. Without effective

curbside management and loading zones, we are forcing delivery companies to break the law when they deliver our

goods. (1)

Double-parking and cruising for parking are the result of an under-managed curb. They create unsafe conditions,

especially for bicyclists, and cause delays for bus riders, bicyclists and car users. One study on the UWS of Manhattan

found that the average driver cruises for 1/3 of a mile, creating 366,000 wasted miles driven and 325 tons of carbon

dioxide emissions in one year (2). In New York, almost half of local motor vehicle volume is generated by cruising for parking. (3)

Repurposing parking spaces and prioritizing transit (bus and bikes) supports businesses and mobility. Arrival-mode

surveys show that transit delivers many times more people to streets and businesses than do private cars. (4)

NYC boasts three million on-street parking spots, and 97% of on-street parking is free. (5)

Facts and Figures:

Image Source: National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). (2)

1. From the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Curbside Management Practitioner’s Guide, <https://www.ite.org/pub/?id=C75A6B8B-E210-5EB3-F4A6-A2FDDA8AE4AA>.

2. Roe, Matthew & Toocheck, Craig, November 2017, Curb Appeal: Curbside Management Strategies for Improving Transit Mobility, National Association of City Transportation Officials, <https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/NACTO-Curb-Appeal-Curbside-Management.pdf>.

3. New York City Department of Transportation, May 2016, B44 SBS on Nostrand Avenue Progress Report, <http://www.nyc.gov/html/brt/downloads/pdf/brt-nostrand-progress-report-june2016.pdf>.

4. Shoup, Donald, 2005, The High Cost of Free Parking, Chicago: Planners, American Planning Association.

5. Shoup, Donald, June 2018, A Fix for New York’s Parking Problems, <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/opinion/a-fix-for-new-yorks-parking-problems.html>.

6. Shoup, Donald, 2006, Cruising for Parking, <http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/Cruising.pdf>.

7. Shoup, Donald, February 2013, Reinventing Parking, <http://www.reinventingparking.org/2013/02/cars-are-parked-95-of-time-lets-check.html>.

8. Miflin, Clare; Spertus, Juliette; Miller, Benjamin; Grace, Christina; 2017. Zero Waste Design Guidelines, The Center for Architecture, Inc., <https://www.zerowastedesign.org/03-collection-and-urban-design/b-collection-urban-design-best-practice-strategies/>.

9. Shepard, Meghan, 2018, Flex Zone/Curb Use Priorities in Seattle, <https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/parking-program/parking-regulations/flex-zone/curb-use-priorities-in-seattle>.

10. The International Transport Forum, 2018, The Shared Use City: Managing the Curb, Corporate Partnership Board Report, <https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/shared-use-city-managing-curb_3.pdf>.

Sources:

377 Broadway New York, New York 10013 J (+1) 917 523 9546 • L (+1) 917 842 7183 www.openplans.org

Image Source: Shepard, Meghan. (9)

Flexible Curb Functions Based on Land Use

Flexible Uses of the Curb