Parking & Parking Policy

What is Parking

• Providing access to land uses (not an end)• Vehicle storage• Crucial to meeting many federal, state and

regional objectives• Acted upon, though, by local governments

Parking as a Phenomenon

• Parking is subsidized– Hidden subsidies give the appearance of free

parking• Spaces should be an economic calculation– Not a regulatory calculation– A calculation made my developers

• Therefore, there is a surplus of parking

Why the Surplus?

• Zoning often requires excess parking– Minimum parking requirements– Inflexible lack of response to market conditions

• Zoning often prevents efficient sharing– Between / among different land uses

• All a result of single-use zoning and auto-centric mobility

Why the Addiction?

• Short term benefits overshadow long term costs– Used as a leverage for public benefits– Used to buffer NIMBY resistance

• Planners know parking is done incorrectly, but they need the tool

Our Perception of Parking

• Seeing the cost of parking likely alters a driver’s calculus– “user fee” for parking– More people using other modes as a viable option– More demand for improved transit and non-

motorized facilities– Transit, etc. looks even better in comparison– SO LONG AS THERE ARE COMPLEMENTARY

POLICIES!

Costs of Parking

• $5 / day subsidy– A cost greater than the gas & O/M costs of a car

• Creates waste– Lost time looking for spaces– Unnecessary wear and tear on engines, fuel

• Value of a parking space?– Roughly $30,000

Who Should Pay for Parking?

• Why should parking be any different than interstates (Highway Trust Fund)?– User fee (drivers pay for roads)– Directed purpose

• Parking subsidized by non-drivers– Higher prices for goods and services at the

destination– Developers / businesses pay for spaces as part of

higher land costs through regulation

The Problem

Minimum Parking Requirements

The Result?

Solution: Maximum Parking Req.

• Burden moves away from regulation• Burden of “authority” placed on developer

Bicycle Parking

The 12-Step Program

• To kick the parking habit• Richard Willson

The 12-Step Program

1. Measure the parking utilization– Spaces per 1,000 SF of occupied building area– Understand that this is the baseline of

oversupply (not to be perpetuated)

The 12-Step Program

2. Consider future parking utilization– Empirical research– Avoid ITE Parking Generation Manual– Understand that travel patterns and the built

environment are connected– Understand that we are become more dense and

more multi-use

The 12-Step Program

3. Shift from parking rates to prospective parking requirements– See step 2 empirical analysis– Identify 85th & 33rd percentiles (not mean)– This creates standards for high and low parking

rates• High minimums vs threshold allowing for market

preferences

The 12-Step Program

4. Be flexible in prospective parking requirements– Local circumstances• Land use• Project characteristics• Transportation context

The 12-Step Program

5. Account for market conditions– Parking pricing– Bundling of parking and rents– Parking cash-out programs– These reduce parking demand– Requirements should be reduced in these

circumstances

The 12-Step Program

6. Be aware of planned intermodality/multimodality– Will reduce demand for parking

The 12-Step Program

7. Assess the impact of local practices and policies– Designation of spaces to specific persons• Upward adjustment

– Create a relatively high vacancy rate goal• Downward adjustment

The 12-Step Program

8. Public parking (on-street) may offset some parking requirement– In situations of excess public parking

The 12-Step Program

9. Conduct a shared-parking analysis9. Mixed use land use categories

The 12-Step Program

10. Evaluate and monitor– Compare with other goals

The 12-Step Program

11. Address minimum parking requirements

The 12-Step Program

12.Consider tandem parking, valet parking, etc.