Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 22.16 Average parking cash-out travel impacts for eight Southern California case studies
Measure
Average value
Before
After
Change
Drive alone mode share
76.8 %
65.3 %
11.5 %-pts.
−
Carpool mode share
12.9 %
20.0 %
+7,1 %-pts.
Transit mode share
5.8 %
8.3 %
+2.5 %-pts.
Walk mode share
3.1 %
4.6 %
+1.5 %-pts.
Bicycle mode share
1.1 %
1.4 %
+0.2 %-pts.
Annual vehicle trips per employee
379
335
−
11 %
Annual VMT per employee
5,348
4,697
12 %
−
Analysis based on employee travel survey data
average of 8 case studies. Average one-way trip
distance is 15 miles based on 1991 survey of commuters in the South Coast Air Basin
Source
Reference [
2
], pp 13
—
18, Table 13.12
-
22.4.6 Pricing Downtown Parking for Employees
and Shoppers
Pricing parking in central business districts should balance two differing objectives:
(1) parking should be convenient and relatively inexpensive for shoppers and
visitors
an essential requirement for city centers; (2) employee parking pricing
should be high enough to discourage all day (and monthly) parking. This second
objective is especially important where CBD employment exceeds 100,000 and
where good public transport service is available (e.g., off-street rapid transit).
Thus the pricing of commuter parking will be different in Boise as compared with
Boston; Dayton compared with Denver; and Cedar Rapids compared with Chicago.
From a congestion perspective, decreasing the parking supply
and
increasing the
average parking price can reduce both SOV use and traf
—
c congestion. But these
actions require consistent and continuous enforcement of on-street parking and may
not be acceptable to some communities.
To raise revenues and encourage commuter use of transit some agencies have
considered (or established) a parking tax. However, experience in large US cities
and in Melbourne, Australia, found that a signi
cant proportion of drivers who
contribute to the congestion problem had their parking costs paid by their
employers. In addition, in the US for participating employers the IRS allows the
amount their employees spend on commuter parking to be tax-free (as is the amount
paid by those who commute by transit).
22.5 Congestion Relief Implications of Parking Policies
Providing adequate parking in center cities for workers and shoppers makes activity
centers more competitive with surrounding locations. But as cities get
larger,
substantially increasing the amount of downtown
fl
floor area of of
ce buildings
