Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
21.1
Introduction
Most metropolitan areas suffer from traffic-related air pollution. A major reason for
this phenomenon is related to the increase in vehicle-kilometers traveled (VKT),
which is an outcome of urban sprawl and an increase in the motorization rate.
Despite positive effects brought about by technological progress in reducing
emissions per unit of distance traveled (Parrish et al.
2011
), the overall increase
in VKT adversely affects urban air quality. Although significant progress in vehicle
technology has greatly improved air quality in developed countries, there is still a
lack of policy mechanisms to mitigate air quality impacts resulting from traffic
pollution.
A high level of air-pollution concentrations in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area
(TAMA), especially in the Central Business District (CBD), is the motivation for
this research. Mobile sources have been determined to be the main pollutant factors
in the Tel Aviv CBD (Ranmar et al.
2002
; Shefer
1994
).
Several factors affect air-pollution emissions from mobile sources: technology,
urban form, and economic factors. Technological factors dealing with the internal
mechanism of mobile sources (type of motor and the technological means
employed to decrease pollutant emissions; i.e., catalytic converters, etc.) and
beyond the scope of this article, which will examine the two other factors influ-
encing air-pollution emissions from mobile sources (urban form and economic
factors).
A variety of policy measures could be employed in order to decrease
air-pollution emissions from motor vehicles, among them parking policy,
congestion tolls, compact urban development, transit-oriented development
(TOD), traffic calming, improved public transit level of service, encouraging the
use of slow modes such as bicycle paths, comfortable sidewalks for pedestrians, and
low-emission zones (Newman et al.
1988
; Lyons et al.
1990
,
2003
; Katz
1994
;
Bernick and Cervero
1997
; de Roo
1999
; Burton
2000
). This paper specifically
focuses on parking-policy measures. The objective is to gain an understanding of
the relationship between parking-policy enforcement in the CBD and air-pollution
emissions from motor vehicles in the metropolitan area.
The research relates to work done on parking-policy enforcement and its effect
on travel patterns, which are defined in such variables as private VKT, number of
private vehicle trips, and travel time in metropolitan areas (Marsden
2006
; Marsden
and May
2005
; Shoup
1999
,
2005
). The paper examines the relationship between
physical and economic aspects of parking policies and its direct influence on private
VKT and number of trips, as well as its indirect effect on air-pollutant emissions
and travel time.
Several parking-policy measures were reviewed, focusing on measures that can
have a direct impact on VKT; for example, whether a reduction in the supply of
on-street and/or off-street parking and an increase in parking fees would lead to a
decrease in private VKT and, hence, to a decrease in motor-vehicle air-pollutant
emissions. The methodology presented is applied to a real-world situation, using
data and models from the Mass Transit project initiated by TAMA. Tel Aviv,
