[sustran] Re: parking impact on use versus ownership

[Todd Alexander Litman]

Parking facilities are a very valuable resource and generally 
everybody can be better off by pricing them efficiently and capturing 
the value for the public. If pricing parking reduces city vehicle 
ownership by half, the total number of parking spaces can be reduced, 
freeing up land for walkways, greenspace, housing and other 
beneficial land uses. The starting point is to establish planning 
objectives, for example, that the most convenient parking spaces will 
be managed for short-term use rather than for use by residents and 
commuters, and that the total number of parking spaces will be minimized.

That total car trips to the Westwood Village increased after pricing 
was implemented may seem undesirable from a traffic management 
perspective, but it probably reflects increased business activity in 
the area, which is desirable from a economic development perspective. 
I don't think we want to suggest that traffic and parking management 
require constraining economic development, we want to emphasize that 
economic activity can increase without increasing parking supply by 
managing existing supply more efficiently. Shoup's other example, Old 
Pasadena, is experiencing significant economic growth and downtown 
residential development due, in part, to the livability improvements 
funded by parking pricing revenues. I think that is a real success story.


Best wishes,
-Todd Litman


At 08:43 AM 4/27/2006, Walter Hook wrote:
>I am having a hard time jiving your statistics with the statistics 
>presented by Don Shoup.  He sites a study done in westwood village, 
>California, when they increased the parking charges from very low to 
>market rates in the village, the total number of motor vehicle 
>arrivals per hour increased from 829 to 1410.  (p.366)  This 
>generated a lot of new daily traffic, not less daily traffic.
>
>In Eastern Europe, people used to park their old trabants and 
>wartburgs in front of their apartment buildings and they would sit 
>there for months at a time without use.  Shopkeepers would really 
>complain, of course.  Maybe this encouraged continued auto ownership 
>but not auto use.   The shopkeepers were strong supporters of the 
>charge on parking.  This allowed the city to tow a lot of these 
>vehicles.  Now, maybe hundreds of cars could share the space 
>previously occupied by a vehicle generating zero trips.  Maybe this 
>encouraged use but not ownership.  Subsidy or no, use of a motor 
>vehicle and parking of a motor vehicle are different phenomenon.
>
>Imagine a theoretical situation: a city and a suburb.  City 
>residents own one million cars, occupying all the parking spaces, 
>and they are free.  City residents also have a good transit system, 
>so they drive their cars out to the country once a month, and use 
>the transit system to get to work.  Suburban residents have lousy 
>transit service, and would love to drive into the city, but they 
>cant because there is no place to park, so they struggle onto 
>commuter trains, take slow buses, etc.  Then the parking fees are 
>increased sharply.  Half the urban residents sell their 
>cars.  Ownership in the city goes down by half.  Half the suburban 
>residents can now drive to work every day.  Suburban auto ownership 
>stays the same, but auto use measured in terms of vmt increases dramatically.
>
>Unquestionably, charging for parking is more efficient, but it seems 
>quite possible that increasing parking charges across the board 
>could induce demand rather than reduce demand, though you may be 
>right that it could depress ownership.
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org 
>[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org] On 
>Behalf Of Todd Alexander Litman
>Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 11:34 PM
>To: Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport; Asia and the Pacific 
>sustainable transport
>Subject: [sustran] Re: On vs off street parking or simply reducing 
>on streetparking.
>
>
>There is no doubt that shifting from free to priced parking can 
>reduce vehicle ownership and use. Underpriced parking is the largest 
>subsidy of automobile travel - for each dollar a motorist spends 
>directly on their vehicle, somebody spends about $0.50 to subsidize 
>its parking. In typical situations, shifting from free to 
>cost-recovery priced parking (parking priced to cover its facility 
>and operating costs) reduces automobile ownership by 5-15% if 
>applied to residential parking, and reduces vehicle trips by 10-30% 
>if applied at destinations such as worksite and other commercial 
>destinations. This implies that about 20% of our traffic problems, 
>road and parking costs, traffic accidents, fuel consumption and 
>pollution emissions can be "explained" by vehicle parking 
>underpricing, or described more positively, correcting parking 
>underpricing can significantly improve transportation system 
>efficiency and address problems such as excessive traffic risk and 
>energy consumption.
>
>Pricing can even be revenue neutral, for example, by "unbundling" 
>residential parking (parking is sold and rented separately from 
>building space, so for example, rather than renting an apartment for 
>$1,000 per month with two "free" parking spaces, the apartment rents 
>for $800 per month, and each parking space is a separate $100 per 
>month) and "cashing out" subsidized employee parking (commuters can 
>choose between a subsidized parking space or its cash equivalent, 
>such as $100 per month).
>
>To be effective parking pricing must be correctly implemented. This 
>means appropriate price structures (preferably hourly and daily 
>fees, with higher rates during peak periods, and minimal exemptions 
>and discounts), effective enforcement, and good travel options 
>(walking and cycling conditions, good ridesharing and public transit 
>services, etc.). To effect vehicle ownership and use (rather than 
>just parking location) pricing must be implemented over an area, so 
>motorists cannot simply park for free nearby.
>
>Business people often demand parking subsidies to attract customers, 
>but their efforts are often misdirected. After all, people spend 
>money, not cars. While its true that if two businesses are otherwise 
>equally attractive, the one that offers free parking will tend to 
>attract more customers, there are other more important attributes, 
>and areas which focus only on cheap parking to attract customers 
>often fail. For example, if charging for parking reduces taxes and 
>prices, increases parking turnover, or funds transit services and 
>local street improvements, many people while choose an area where 
>they must pay for parking (see Douglas Kolozsvari and Donald Shoup, 
>"Turning Small Change Into Big Changes," Access 23, University of 
>California Transportation Center 
>(<http://www.uctc.net/>www.uctc.net), Fall 2003, pp. 2-7; 
><http://www.sppsr.ucla.edu/up/webfiles/SmallChange.pdf>www.sppsr.ucla.edu/up/webfiles/SmallChange.pdf 
>).  Similarly, many areas with limited and priced parking are 
>attractive places to live and work, because they have better 
>livability. Described differently, charging for parking improves the 
>quality of customers by weeding out the cheepskates who won't pay a 
>few cents to park, leaving better spenders.
>
>This is not anti-car. It recognizes that some trips will be made by 
>automobile and that we need to accommodate their need to park. But 
>charging for parking and using shared, public parking facilities 
>(including on-street and for-profit commercial parking) is far more 
>equitable and efficient, and significantly reduces the total amount 
>of parking supply needed compared with conventional parking planning 
>practices which result in generous amounts of parking at each destination.
>
>For more information see:
>
>Todd Litman, Parking Management: Strategies, Evaluation and 
>Planning, Victoria Transport Policy Institute 
>(<http://www.vtpi.org/park_man.pdf>www.vtpi.org/park_man.pdf ), 2006.
>
>MRSC, Downtown Parking Solutions, Municipal Research and Service 
>Center of Washington ( 
>www.mrsc.org/Subjects/Transpo/Tpark/transsolut.aspx), 2005.
>
>Nelson/Nygaard Consulting, Housing Shortage / Parking Surplus, 
>Transportation and Land Use Coalition ( 
>www.transcoalition.org/southbay/housing_study/index.html), July 2002.
>
>Oregon Downtown Development Association, Parking Management Made 
>Easy: A Guide to Taming the Downtown Parking Beast, Transportation 
>and Growth Management Program, Oregon DOT and Dept. of Environmental 
>Quality ( www.lcd.state.or.us/tgm/publications.htm), 2001.
>
>Ryan Russo, Planning for Residential Parking: A Guide For Housing 
>Developers and Planners, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern 
>California 
>(<http://www.nonprofithousing.org/>www.nonprofithousing.org) and the 
>Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy ( 
>http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu), 2001.
>
>USEPA, Parking Spaces / Community Places: Finding the Balance 
>Through Smart Growth Solutions, Development, Community, and 
>Environment Division (DCED); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( 
>www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/parking.htm), 2006.
>
>
>At 11:14 AM 4/26/2006, Sunny wrote:
>
>I really like Todd's idea of pricing the parking but implementing the
>same is a bit difficult in the developing cities as there is a
>increasing trend of vehicle ownership. In my opinion initially focussing
>on limiting the available parking spaces and then going with the pricing
>would be better as this firstly might control the ridership and then the
>pricing would have the economic effect.
>
>On the other hand I doubt if parking pricing will really reduce the
>ridership because I presume that parking pricing would make the car user
>aware of the fact that they are being metered for the time they are
>spending for shopping and thereby reduce their shopping time which can
>tend to decrease the sales, yes they might shift to other modes but what
>if the other modes are not as developed as driving a car like in
>Bangkok. Secondly, providing priced or timed parking would allow the
>other car driver to feel that they might get a place to park their car
>and hence avoid them from shifting to other means. Correct me if I am wrong.
>
>Off street parking is the worst case especially when it is free/very
>very cheap like here in Bangkok and when the price is reducing with time
>rather than increasing. but even here i have the same doubts mentioned
>above. I would be glad if someone could clarify me.
>
>Sunny
>
>
>Sincerely,
>Todd Alexander Litman
>Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)
>litman at vtpi.org
>Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
>1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
>"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
>
>
>
>================================================================
>SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, 
>equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing 
>countries (the 'Global South'). Because of the history of the list, 
>the main focus is on urban transport policy in Asia.


Sincerely,
Todd Alexander Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)
litman at vtpi.org
Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"

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