Increasing off-street parking supply is not as useful as you might think. Only on-street parking management can solve on-street parking problems. Three ways parking can cause congestion. The harm caused by high parking minimums. A map of reform options. Adaptive Parking as a promising alternative. Presented in Mumbai at Studio X on 24 October 2013.

1. Rethinking Parking
Paul Barter
http://www.reinventingparking.org/
http://www.adb.org/publications/parking-policy-asian-cities

2. Is parking like toilets?
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
What is parking?
Infrastructure needed on every site

3. Is parking like the local streets?
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
What is parking?
Infrastructure serving multiple sites within each local area

4. Is parking like restaurants?
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
What is parking?
A real-estate service serving an area
Photo: Matthew Roth

5. Conventional approach
Worldwide, cities model
parking efforts on the USA’s
conventional suburban
approach:
Parking is on-site
infrastructure
Every site needs enough
parking for its own demand
(Like toilets with buildings)
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Source Seth Goodman http://graphingparking.wordpress.com/
2013/02/06/parking-requirements-for-restaurants/
Do high parking norms help?

6. Conventional approach
efforts in South and
Southeast Asia
http://www.adb.org/publications/parking-policy-asian-cities
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
The conventional approach in Asia
Do high parking norms help?

7. Increasing off-street supply is not as
useful as you may think
It is common for off-street
parking to be under-used
even when nearby on-
street parking is chaotic
ESPECIALLY when on-street
parking is chaotic
Shenzhen, China
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

8. Dhaka
Indonesia
Increasing off-street supply is not as
useful as you may think
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

9. Daoli district,
Harbin, China
Photos from NelsonNygaard and ITDP’s study
Increasing off-street supply is not as
useful as you may think
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

10. No amount of off-street
parking will magically
attract vehicles if it is easier
and cheaper to park in the
streets
Dhaka
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

11. Only on-street management
can solve on-street problems
Efficient pricing increases
perceived capacity of
on-street parking
How?
Mostly NOT by shifts to public
transport!
Primarily by nudging long-
duration parking away from
busiest places
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?
Makati, Metro Manila

12. On-street
management helps
with off-street supply
too
Improves willingness
to pay for off-street
parking
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?
Seoul, Korea

13. 1. Obstruction
Usual lesson taken?
Remove parking from
streets
More off-street parking
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
THREE ways parking can cause congestion
Palembang, Indonesia
Do high parking norms help?

14. 2. Parking search traffic
FULL on-street parking
causes ‘cruising for
parking’, double parking,
and waiting
Even if the parking itself is
orderly and no obstruction
Seoul, Korea
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
THREE ways parking can cause congestion
Do high parking norms help?

15. 3. Traffic generation
In dense cities, parking supply efforts
can quickly create more parking than
surrounding road network can cope with
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
THREE ways parking can cause congestion
Bangkok
Do high parking norms help?

16. High parking minimums are a
‘fertility drug for cars’
Auckland, New Zealand
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

17. High parking minimums are an obstacle to
transit-oriented development
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

18. High parking minimums harm housing affordability
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

19. High parking minimums (and government-
built parking) involve regressive subsidies and
unjust cross-subsidies towards motorists A new, heavily subsidized
parking structure in Delhi
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Do high parking norms help?

20. High (and rigid) parking norms hasten blight
of old urban districts
Near the center of Houston, USA (via Google Maps)
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Do high parking norms help?

21. A “map” of reform options
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Every site should
have its own
parking
Parking facilities
serve whole
neighbourhoods
Parking is
“infrastructure”
1. conventional
2. parking
management
Parking is a
“real-estate
based service”
3. Responsive
With sub-types distinguished by parking policy goals (especially regarding parking supply)
So what else can we do?

22. 1. Moderate the conventional suburban approach
Same assumptions but a moderated goal: Avoid excessive
wasteful parking supply, not just shortage
For example, King County, Washington, USA:
“Right-sizing” of parking requirements
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
http://www.rightsizeparking.org/
So what else can we do?

23. 2. “Parking management”
Parking is still ‘infrastructure’
but now for whole area
Active management (prices,
eligibility, time-limits, sharing, supply, etc.)
Various goals
Management often favours residents
and retailers
Many cities limit parking
supply in city centres
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
So what else can we do?

24. Conventional approach works badly in old areas
Initially tried building public parking facilities
Found they still had no choice but to manage on-
street more vigorously
Prompts the “parking management” MINDSET
Parking is infrastructure (like streets and bus stops)
Mostly planned district by district,
not site by site
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Inner cities in the West (especially Europe)
So what else can we do?

25. ‘Parking management’
Many tools
Various goals
Manages conflict
Tools:
pricing, restricted eligibility, time-limits,
design, sharing, public parking not private,
parking taxes, supply adjustments
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Inner cities in the West
So what else can we do?

26. City Centre parking supply
restriction
To limit traffic
And for public realm
improvements
See also Seoul in Korea
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Nyhavn in Copenhagen – before and after 1980
Source: Kristian Skovbakke Villadsen, May 2012
Inner cities in the West
So what else can we do?

27. Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
3. Responsive
Parking is a real-estate based
service (like meeting rooms) serving
each area
Make on-street prices
responsive (occupancy target)
Make off-street supply choices
responsive to context
Involve very local stakeholders
Source: Shoup, D. The High Cost of Free Parking
So what else can we do?

28. Responsive: Donald Shoup’s proposals
i. Price on-street parking for 85%
occupancy
ii. Use revenue as desired by local
stakeholders
iii. Abolish minimum parking
requirements
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
So what else can we do?

29. Responsive (de facto) in Japan
Almost no on-street parking
Parking minimums are low
and exempt small buildings
Proof of parking law
In inner areas of Japanese cities, most
parking is commercial and supply and
prices depend primarily on market
conditions in each area
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
So what else can we do?

30. Adaptive Parking
A variation on, and extension of,
Donald Shoup’s proposals
Nudge policies along these five reform
directions to make your parking system
more responsive to local context
Share! (make most parking
shared or open to the public)
Price! (price to prevent queues
and cruising for parking)
Sweeten! (make
stakeholders happy)
Relax! (about supply)
Choice! (improve options
and ensure competition in
parking)
For more information see
www.reinventingparking.org
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
So what else can we do?

31. Adaptive Parking
Share! (make most
parking shared or open
to the public)
Foster ‘park-once districts’
Discourage
this
Australia
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Various cities have incentives for parking with buildings to be open to the public
Shared parking, like shared seating
at food courts, is much more efficient
So what else can we do?

32. Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
San Francisco has an ambitious
version (SFPark) but many cities do
this to some extent. This is Central
Seattle for example.
Adaptive Parking
Price! (price with the aim of
preventing queues and
cruising for parking)
For example, have an on-street
OCCUPANCY TARGET
If >>85% full THEN ↑ price
If <<85% full THEN ↓ price
Otherwise no change
See http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/paidparking.htm
So what else can we do?

33. Adaptive Parking Sweeten! (make
stakeholders happy)
For example, spend local parking
revenue very locally
Parking Benefit Districts are one
possible mechanism
Singapore
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
So what else can we do?

34. Adaptive Parking
Despite high car ownership, Japan has
very low parking requirements and
exempts small buildings
Relax! (about supply)
Many jurisdictions have
abolished parking
requirements, with little
evidence of ill-effects:
For example, England, Berlin,
central parts of San Francisco, New
York, Boston, Portland and Seattle
and city centres in Australia.
http://beta.adb.org/publications/parking-policy-asian-cities
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
So what else can we do?

35. Adaptive Parking
Parking options
Alternatives to
driving a private car
Counter “my car is
necessary” pleas
Choice! (improve options and
ensure competition in parking)
Tokyo
Ahmedabad
Sydney
Vienna
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
So what else can we do?

36. A “map” of reform options
Paul Barter, Reinventing Parking
Every site should
have its own
parking
Parking facilities
serve whole
neighbourhoods
Parking is
“infrastructure”
1. conventional
2. parking
management
Parking is a
“real-estate
based service”
3. Responsive
So what else can we do?
http://www.reinventingparking.org/