Research Idea Details

Research Idea Scope

TERI Administrator Note (Feb 2009) – Research completed: Parking Management: Strategies for More Efficient Use of Parking Resource, Litman, Todd; (2008)

Current transportation and land use planning practices result in generous parking supply at most destinations, through minimum parking requirements and public subsidy of parking supply. More efficient management, using strategies such as sharing, cashing-out, regulations, pricing and more use of off-site facilities implemented to the degree that is cost-effective, can often reduce the amount of parking required by 20-40%, or even more if implemented with mobility management strategies  such as ridesharing and transit improvements.

This research project will identify planning reforms and best practices for implementing parking management strategies. It will examine the full costs of current practices that favor generous parking supply, identify planning and funding reforms that would favor more efficient parking management, and recommend best parking planning practices to support efficient parking and transportation.

For more information see:

CORDIS (2002), Parking Policy Measures and the Effects on Mobility and the Economy, Cost-Transport, CORDIS (www.cordis.lu).

Michael Kodama (1999), Parking Management Handbook; How to Use Parking Management to Better Utilize Parking Resources, Dept. of Environmental Quality, State of Oregon (www.deq.state.or.us).

Todd Litman (2006), Parking Management Best Practices, Planners Press (www.planning.org).

Todd Litman (2006), Parking Management: Strategies, Evaluation and Planning, Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org); available at www.vtpi.org/park_man.pdf.

Ryan Russo (2001), Planning for Residential Parking: A Guide For Housing Developers and Planners, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (www.nonprofithousing.org) and the Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy (http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu).

Ryan Russo (2001), Planning for Residential Parking: A Guide For Housing Developers and Planners, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (www.nonprofithousing.org) and the Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy (http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu).

Donald Shoup (2005), The High Cost of Free Parking, Planners Press (www.planning.org).

USEPA (1998), Parking Management, Transportation and Air Quality TCM Technical Overviews, US Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov/oms/transp/publicat/pub_tech.htm).

Urgency and Payoff

Potential economic, social and environmental impacts are huge. Cost effective parking management can significnatly reduce the amount of parking needed in a particular location, the amount of land that needs to be paved, and the amount of automobile travel that occurs. Parking management can help integrate transportation and land use planning objectives, by allowing more compact, accessible, multi-modal communities, and providing an incentive to reduce per capita vehicle ownership and use, based on market principles.