U.S. Parking Policies from Page 29


• Cashing-out Parking: employees are given the cash


equivalent of a parking perquisite (where free parking had been offered). The employees may then choose whether to “buy back” the parking space or keep the cash.Where parking cash-out is offered, single occupant vehicle use and, thus, park- ing needs, have been reduced. • Parking Benefit /Travel DemandManagement Districts


with Curbside and Off-Street Parking Coordination: revenues fromcurbside parkingmeters in downtown Boulder help fund shared, public parking garages and free transit passes for downtown employees. The prices of curbside and off-street parking are coordinated to shift curbside demand to off-street parking facilities.As a result, Boulder,which is surrounded by a heavily automobile dependent suburban area, has much higher transit, walk and bicycle-to-work shares than other small U.S. cities.


Curbside parking practice and best practices in the United States Because off-street parking can be continuously expanded


and the supply of curbside parking is essentially fixed, curb- side parking policy is fundamentally about managing the demand for an unchanging supply. Commercial streets have the greatest competition for curb


space, with delivery and service vehicles competing with shoppers, store employees and local residents for parking spots. Parking policy on these streets has a long and complex political history, reflecting this conflict. However, there is a strong consensus that the most effi-


cient use of commercial curb space is for short-term parking. Businesses largely agree and, as a result, commercial streets have a wide variety of metering, time limits and usage restric- tions, intended to encourage short-term use. In contrast, resi- dential streets are not metered, regardless of demand, and are typically either unregulated or restricted to local residentswith residential parking permits. The focus of this report is on commercial streets, where


pricing policies and new technology are transforming tradi- tional practice. Curbside management employs four basic approaches:


See us at the IPI booth #938


metering, time limits, user restrictions and parking bans.All four approaches depend on enforcement to be effective. Unfortunately, numerous studies show that parking enforce- ment is rarely adequate to prevent widespread illegal parking. Where studies have been done, approximately one-fifth to one-third of vehicles are parked illegally. However, three technologies in the early stages of adop-


tion have the potential to revolutionize parking enforcement. The first two are license plate or vehicle recognition scanners mounted on vehicles.These can drastically reduce the person- nel required to enforce time limits. The third involves the use of sensors embedded into parking spots, as seen in San Fran- cisco’s SFpark. Enforcement is important because of the considerable


costs of illegal parking. Double-parked vehicles endanger oth- er road users, especially bicyclists; sharply reduce the capacity of roadways; delay emergency vehicles, buses and other traf- fic; and add to air pollution and travel costs.Vehicles that over- stay time limits reduce parking availability and cause other Continued on Page 32


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