The role of market research and consultation in developing parking policy

There is a demonstrable link between parking availability, price and mode choice, and parking policy has been shown to be a powerful demand management tool. Parking however is clearly an area of policy conflict since using it to manage demand may reduce revenue generation, or (be perceived to) damage the local economy. In terms of on-street and off-street parking there are a wide range of users who often have conflicting opinions, which have to be taken into account in its management, invariably leading to parking policies and measures that do not maximise the demand management potential of parking.This paper presents a range of public and business opinion data, from the case study of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, collected as part of the consultation for its parking strategy in 2005–2006. The strategy covers a wider geographical area than simply the city centre, and whilst this paper makes reference to this wider area it primarily deals with the city centre since that is where the majority of the parking strategy issues are to be found. After setting the policy and political context, the paper goes on to present these data. It then shows how the city's parking policies were changed in response to the consultation. These policy changes are compared with parking policies that would solely manage travel demand, to demonstrate how the political process leads to compromise in the formulation of parking policies and measures.     

Is there a case for replacing parking charges by road user charges?

The price of parking is often considered an important tool with which to influence transport choice but, since many local authorities have limited control over off-street charges and since parking charges have no direct impact on through traffic, its influence on overall travel demand may be limited. Road user charges, on the other hand, do appear to offer an effective means of influencing overall demand. The problem is that public acceptance of such charges is low unless some obvious “carrot” can be identified. This paper explores the possibility that the removal of parking charges might be that “carrot”. Our analysis suggests that, although the removal of parking charges would reduce revenues and dilute the reduction in demand caused by the introduction of road charges, the combined effect might, in certain circumstances, be more beneficial to the local economy and might still yield a net increase in revenue. Given the incidence of impacts, it also appears that a combined scheme would be more equitable and might stand a greater chance of achieving public acceptance than a more conventional road charging scheme. The paper identifies the circumstances in which a combined scheme might work well and outlines the detailed analysis that would be necessary to confirm this.     

The impact of airport parking fees on the tourist's airport/airline choice behavior

This paper analyzes the airport/airline choice behavior of tourists for Saxony/Germany. We employ flexible parametric choice methods (mixed logit) in order to test the effect of standard attributes on the choice probability. In addition we extend existing literature with the introduction of parking charges in the choice experiment. Our results show a significant and negative impact of parking charges on airport choice probability. Thus, we can compute high elasticities of parking charges for tourists. These results suggest, that airport managers have in form of parking policies a powerful policy instrument as they can directly affect the size of the airport catchment area.     

Overcoming barriers to the implementation of car parking charges at UK workplaces

Charging employees to park at their places of work is a transport policy measure advocated by the UK government as a means of reducing car commuting and hence achieving the twin objectives of reducing congestion and combating environmental degradation, especially in urban areas. The empirical effects of employee parking charges have been analysed (see for example [Willson, R.W., Shoup, D.C., 1990. Parking subsidies and travel choices: assessing the evidence. Transportation 17, 141–157; Department for Transport (DfT), 2002. Making travel plans work: report on case studies. London: DfT (Also available at www.local-transport.dft.gov.uk/travelplans/guides/index.htm)]). There is, however, a dearth of literature examining the practicalities of employee car parking charge implementation in those few organisations that haves done so. Based on empirical studies of 11 UK workplaces, this paper examines the reasons for and the practicalities of implementation and concludes by considering the barriers to the wider adoption of this policy.     

Parking enforcement and travel demand management

This article deals with on-street, non-free parking policy. The aim is to show how parking meter violation challenges the travel demand management policy. The literature widely admits that only the increase in the enforcement effort both deters drivers from offending and contribute to moderating car use. Nevertheless, the link between parking non-compliance, enforcement effort and travel demand has never been examined. We show that when parking meter violation behaviour, fine level choice, modal split and travel demand are connected, the fine increase paradoxically supports car use and encourages parking violation in the case of large parking congestion in particular.     

Modelling the impact of alternative pricing policies on an urban multimodal traffic corridor

This paper investigates the effects of alternative or joint schemes of road pricing and parking pricing to verify if private behaviour in operating parking facilities, road tolling and transit systems can lead to profitable results in the private sector and for public welfare. The evaluation is carried out using an idealised urban multimodal traffic corridor with some numerical examples that show the effects of different pricing policies. A Deterministic User Equilibrium assignment procedure is used to calculate certain performance indicators such as user travel costs, social costs and private profit. The results show that the system is highly sensitive to pricing policy and that a proper joint pricing of park-and-ride facilities, city centre parking and road tolls can be developed to simultaneously attain good private and social benefits.     

Changes in the frequency of shopping trips in response to a congestion charge

This paper presents an analysis of shopping trips into London's central shopping district (Oxford Street area) before and after the introduction of the congestion charging scheme in February 2003. In collaboration with a major department store, three surveys have been conducted in order to understand the changes in shopping frequency and the reasons for so doing. The analysis is based on tabulations of the raw data, binary logit models to analyse which customer groups have reduced their shopping frequency and ordered logit models to analyse which groups have reduced their shopping more than others. The outcome shows that within the sample surveyed the congestion charging scheme has caused a significant number to shop less often in central London and only a few to shop more often in the Oxford Street area. Negative experiences with the congestion charging scheme or a generally bad perception of the scheme are the main reasons for this. Other events, such as the Central Line closure or terrorist threats occurring at the same time also have a temporary influence on the shopping frequency in central London. Evidence from other travel demand measures on city centre shopping activities suggest that the long-term effects of the congestion charge could be more positive.     

Assessing the welfare effects of congestion charges in a real world setting

The standard textbook analysis shows that drivers as a group lose from congestion charges. However, it omits taste heterogeneity, shorter travel times far out in the larger network arising from less blocking back of upstream links and the possibility for drivers to reschedule. Taking account of these factors, using a dynamic scheduling model with heterogeneous users we find that all three add significantly to the benefit of the Stockholm congestion charges and that drivers as a group benefit from these charges even without recycling of revenues. This paper also provides an update on the consumer benefits of the Stockholm charges.     

Support for innovative on-street parking policies: empirical evidence from an urban neighborhood

Municipalities and planners often hesitate to implement restrictive parking policies because residents regularly oppose any changes to on-street parking space. Residential parking is one key factor of parking management because its location and availability influence a household's car ownership and use. Moreover, as more residents regularly use other means of transportation that need space and infrastructure in the urban realm, and as parking takes up a vast amount of land, municipalities are considering the reuse of on-street parking space for other purposes. As public acceptability is a precondition for the successful implementation of a proposed policy, our empirical analysis investigates to what extent residents support restrictive and demand-oriented on-street parking policies in the dense, highly urbanized neighborhood of Frankfurt-Bornheim, Germany (N = 1027). Surprisingly, despite some variations, the majority of the residents in our survey are in favor of the policy options suggested. Support for the demand-oriented policies (extension of bicycle infrastructure, improved sharing supply and mobility hubs, neighborhood garages, and improved public transit supply) is higher than the acceptance of the restrictive policies, and of policies that are a combination of restrictive and demand-oriented policies. However, surprisingly, a majority is still in favor of many of these (extension of parking fees and parking restrictions, and reuse of parking space for better livability). Furthermore, we classify residents who live in a household with private cars into the stage model of self-regulated behavior change to analyze their intention towards a reduction in private car use. Results from linear regression analyses indicate that residents who have intentions to change their behavior towards car use reduction assess the policy options more similarly to car-free households and regular bike users, and not like the other car-owning households. The findings suggest that while the residents support financial-related policies the least, they are more receptive towards parking policies than policy makers and planners assume if the reuse of parking lots creates space for other users or if it increases the quality of life, for instance, by adding bike lanes, wider sidewalks or greenery. Hence, a combination of restrictive and demand-oriented on-street parking policies results in high acceptance among residents, and the communication from municipalities regarding the implementation of the different policies needs to vary depending on the kind of household.     

The political economy of parking charges in “first” and “second-best” worlds

The paper explores ways in which economists view parking charges within the context of policy formulation. Recent trends in economic analysis have taken more note of the institutional structure in which decisions are made; institutions embracing both formal structures such as laws but also the de facto ways in which actual outcomes emerge. While this distinction is often applied to final consumers, it also has relevance for those setting and enforcing micro economic policies such as parking policies. Taking a neo-classical economic approach would lead parking policies in one direction, but allowing for transactions costs, hysteresis, second-best factors, game-playing, etc. as well as normative concerns over equity of various kinds, all of which reflect institutional structures, can lead into a variety of others. The aim is to explain why current parking policies deviate from classical economic ideals.     

Evaluating the effects of parking policy measures in nature areas

Parking policy measures are widely used to manage cars in nature areas. Only with data from long-term monitoring projects is it possible to separate “normal” fluctuation in the number of cars from fluctuation caused by trends or caused by the effects of these measures. An evaluation of measures implemented in two dune areas in the Netherlands shows that parking policy measures affect the number of cars. While the number and location of parking places can be used to manage the number of cars and their spatial distribution in the area, the implementation of parking charges only brings about a temporary effect.     

UK airport employee car parking: The role of a charge?

Airports employ significant numbers of workers who favour using the private car for the journey to work because of the location of many facilities and the times they need to travel. At the same time official policies for congestion and environmental reasons seek to limit car use. This can pose parking problems for the airports. This note looks at some of the particular issues confronting UK airport management when trying to conform to official policies while at the same time meeting the needs of their workers and the role charging may play in the solution.     

Lessons from travel planning and road user charging for policy-making: through imperfection to implementation

In 1978 Gunn published a seminal paper which explained why implementation of policy is so difficult. The paper set out 10 conditions, which should be satisfied if perfect implementation is to be achieved. Whilst it is clear that perfect implementation is not possible in the real world, and Gunn has subsequently been criticised for his ‘top-down’ approach to decision-making, these conditions do, nonetheless act as an effective framework through which to evaluate good practice in the implementation of urban transport policy instruments. Two urban transport policy instruments, which form an increasingly important element of the Government's strategy in the UK for reducing the demand for private transport as set out in a New Deal for Transport (DETR, 1998), are travel plans and road user charging. Travel plans are a relatively recent policy instrument in the UK and seek to reduce trips to work by car by providing, through individual employers, a targeted, integrated package of incentives and disincentives to influence commuters' choice of mode of travel to and from the workplace. Road user charging, whereby motorists are charged for the road space they use in urban areas, seeks to reduce the congestion problem via the price mechanism, and has a longer history in the UK. To date the implementation of travel plans in the UK has been more widespread than that of road user charging. It is fair to say, however, that the widespread implementation of both urban transport policy instruments is a complex and sensitive area for decision-makers.The aim of this paper is firstly, to analyse travel plans and road user charging in the UK with respect to the conditions for perfect implementation put forward by Gunn and secondly, to highlight the elements of good practice, pertinent to the implementation of road user charging, in the process of the implementation of travel plans. Overall, the paper uses Gunn's theoretical framework as a basis for recommendations for better decision-making that will aid the wider implementation of both travel plans and road user charging internationally.     

Effects of parking and cordon charge policies on tourist's modal shift in central business district of Mashhad city,Iran

The second largest holy city of the world, Mashhad, attracts high volumes of tourists and pilgrims every year. Most visitors travel by private car and are a source of considerable funds for the local economy. Among road users, tourists as one of the major traveller categories in Mashhad city behave differently due to the particular trip purpose. The aim of this research is to model tourist's shifting modes of travel behaviour when policy measures, such as the parking and cordon fares, are implemented. The tourists’ preferences were examined using binary logit analysis when different options of travel cost and time scenarios were provided. Results indicate that travel time, parking cost, cordon cost, education level and vehicle price influence tourist's modal choice. In addition, the finding shows that congestion pricing will be more effective than a parking pricing strategy in encouraging switching of modes.     

Optimizing EV-based P&R subsidy policies for commuting corridor based on cross-nested logit model

The promotion of electric vehicles (EVs) is restricted by cruising range limitation and charging station deficiency. Given the mature development of Park and Ride (P&R) mode, which is used in many cities worldwide to attract more travelers to use public transit, a new travel mode, i.e., EV-based P&R is introduced as an alternative for commuters’ daily travel. This seems quite attractive to expand the use of EVs and further increase their market share. This paper aims to investigate the impact of EV-based P&R introduction on travel mode choice along commuting corridor, and further aid in the optimal subsidy policies decision for the government. A bi-level model is proposed to model the presented problem. The lower level describes commuters’ joint mode and transfer choice behavior through a cross-nested logit (CNL) model, while the upper level minimizes the system cost. A genetic algorithm is developed to solve the formulated model with a partial linearization algorithm for solving the lower level model. And a numerical example is then used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology and illustrate how the network flow pattern reshapes due to the introduction of EVs into the P&R mode and the change of corresponding subsidy policies. As the results show, improving the EV hardware, applying the intelligent supporting service system, developing new technologies for EV fast charging, appropriately improving the parking space capacity, and increasing the parking fee of transfer stations near the central business district (CBD) are all helpful to save the social cost and promote the usage of EVs.     

Lessons from the Stockholm congestion charging trial

The Stockholm congestion charging trial in 2006 resulted in large effects on traffic volumes and congestion. During the trial, public opinion gradually changed from a large majority opposed to the charges to a small majority in favour of them, and a referendum resulted in the charges being reintroduced in 2007. This paper summarises effects on traffic, travel times, travel patterns etc., and discusses what lessons can be learnt from the trial and the development after the reintroduction of the charges.     

Where to park? A behavioural comparison of bus Park and Ride and city centre car park usage in Bath,UK

Integrating car parking facilities with public transport in Park and Ride (P&R) facilities has the potential to shorten car trips, contributing to more sustainable mobility. There is an ongoing debate about the actual effects of P&R on the transport system at the subregional level. A key issue is the relative attractiveness of city centre car parks (CCCP), P&R and public transport. The paper presents the findings of a comparative empirical case-study based on a field survey of CCCP and P&R users conducted in the city of Bath, UK. Spatial and statistical analyses are applied. Radial distance to parking, availability of P&R sites in the direction of travel, gender, age, income and party-size are found to be important factors in a binary logistic regression model, explaining the revealed-preference of parking type. Stated analysis of foregone parking alternatives suggests more use of public transport and walking/cycling would likely occur without first-best parking alternatives. The policy implications and possible planning alternatives to P&R at the urban fringes for achieving greater sustainability goals are also discussed.     

Identification of land-use characteristics using bicycle sharing data: A deep learning approach

Extensive research has shown that urban land-use characteristics, including resident, work, consumption, transit, etc., are significantly interrelated with travel behaviors and travel demands. Many research efforts have been made to evaluate the impact of land use planning or policies on travel behavior, however, few studies are able to quantitatively measure the land-use characteristics based on the data of travel behaviors or travel demand. In this paper, a new hybrid model that combines time series feature extraction and deep neural network is proposed to identify regional land use characteristics and quantify land use intensity using ridership data of bicycle sharing. This method consists of four main parts: (i) A set of land-use characteristic labels are evaluated based on planning and Geographic Information System (GIS) data. (ii) An ensemble clustering method is used to determine the segmentation points of ridership time series. (iii) The statistical characteristics of the segmented time series are extracted and used as input to the neural network. (iv) A deep neural network is established and trained based on the processed ridership features and land-use labels. In terms of data collection, ridership data of the bicycle-sharing parking spots and land-use planning data are obtained from bicycle-sharing system and planning department in San Francisco Bay Area, California U.S.A., respectively. The test results show that this approach has high accuracy for identifying land-use characteristics based on several standard evaluation measures and that the identification distribution can be well explained. The extension results further prove that the model can be applied to effectively analyze the main land-use characteristics of the region although the identification results may become unstable after 3–4 months.     

Enhancing Park and Ride with access control: A case study of Southampton

Implementing and promoting more sustainable forms of urban transport are key policies of Local Authorities throughout the UK. Park and Ride (P&R) is one such system implemented widely in the UK, especially in historic towns and cities with limited road and parking space in the centre. Some cities (e.g. Rome and London) have also implemented forms of ‘access control’ to reduce congestion and/or pollution in central areas. This paper describes a feasibility analysis of a unique application studied for potential implementation in Southampton—the integration of P&R with access control on a key corridor in Eastern Southampton where traffic demand is likely to increase significantly in the coming years because of new housing developments. The system concept is a P&R facility with express buses to the City centre, keeping the corridor free-flowing for these buses (and other traffic) using a combination of bus lanes and access control.Following an outline of the policy context and system design, this paper then describes the corridor and network modelling undertaken to predict the impacts of the scheme and alternatives of it. This has been based mainly on the CONTRAM dynamic traffic assignment model, which covers the whole of Southampton and its surrounding motorway network. The assessment of the benefits of the various options in this scheme showed that the combination of P&R with signalised access control was the best option to improve the movement of people on the corridor. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential issues for implementation, including the need for complimentary measures and a consistent policy framework.     

The implications of environmental costs on air passenger demand for different airline business models

Various environmental measures, including both regulations and fiscal instruments, have been used at airports globally to reduce the impacts of aircraft noise as well as aircraft engine emissions. Internationally, it is recognized that the costs of environmental and social externalities of air transport must be internalized and paid for by the aviation industry and its users. The use of noise related charges or taxes, which theoretically should be based on their respective social costs, has been proved to be effective at some European airports. This research aims to investigate the impacts of environmental costs, through environmental charges, on air passenger demand for different airline business models. The paper presents the mathematical models measuring the social costs of aircraft noise and engine emissions as a basis for setting up environmental charges. Six intra-European short-haul routes in two city pairs, namely London–Amsterdam and London–Paris, are selected for the empirical analysis. The environmental charges are then hypothetically applied to airlines with two different business models, full service carriers (British Airways and Air France-KLM) and low cost airlines (EasyJet). The results show that the potential percentages of demand reduction for both leisure and business passengers would be higher for Easyjet's markets, although with less environmental cost per passenger.