Charge for Parking: AMajor Policy Step for Glendale, CA


BY MICHAEL KODAMA


off-street parking in amore comprehensive and integrated approach. But first, the city of Glendale had to charge for parking.


A Glendale,CA, is located at the southern base of


the Verdugo Mountains. With a population of 207,000, it is the third-largest city in LosAngeles County. It has regional access from three freeways, linking it to neighboring communities such as Bur- bank, Pasadena, North Hollywood and downtown LosAngeles. Two years ago,Glendale adopted a broad-rang-


ing transportation andmobility plan to revitalize the city’s downtown core, to move away from tradition- al car-centered patterns of urban growth and to bet- ter utilize its parking resources. The comprehensive GlendaleMobility Study, designed to improve the quality of life in the downtown core,was adopted by the City Council in 2007.


A Parking Shortage Perception A key part of Glendale’s strategy was to reduce


the perception that it was very difficult to find cus- tomer parking downtown and increase use of avail- able parking resources. Part of the reason for this perception was the high utilization of free on-street parking spaces (especially by employees in the unregulated evening hours). Glendale now has an integrated on-street and


off-street pricing system that allows people to pay for parking spaces in the most convenient on-street spaces and to find short-term(90minute) free park- ing in the surrounding garages.


Creating a ‘Demand-Responsive’ Pricing System Evidence fromother U.S. cities suggests that at


New Pay by Space equipment was installed on city streets in Glendale, CA.


any given time, drivers cruising for parking account for 30% of traffic volume on downtown streets. The Glendale system is now designed to reduce cruising for parking, allowing the user to find paid parking on-street and 90-minute free park- ing off-street. Studies of peak parking occupancy rates inGlendale showed


that occupancy rates varied significantly among different facili- ties.While public garages were never more than three-fourths full – and often only half full – on-street parking space in heart of the commercial district on Brand Boulevard was occupied more


24 JANUARY 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


than 90%of the time. Rather than going into a nearby garage, drivers cruised the


block, waiting for a vacant space. The core of the problem was the price of parking and the need for an integrated on- and off- street parking system. “While the garages are not overly expensive, it is difficult


to justify going into a garage to pay for something that seems to be given away for free,” the GlendaleMobility Study report-


Continued on Page 26


SOUTHERN CALIFOR- nia city’s new approach to parking relies on an innova- tive management program that uses existing on- and


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