Abstract Index #: 692 DYNAMIC PARKING PRICING: EVALUATING ...

Abstract Index #: 692 DYNAMIC PARKING PRICING: EVALUATING APPROACHES TO PRICE GRANULARITY AND FREQUENCY OF ADJUSTMENT Abstract System ID#: 107 Individual Paper WILLSON, Richard [Cal Poly Pomona] [email protected], presenting author, primary author ALLAHYAR, Arianna [University of Washington] [email protected] Parking pricing is transforming transportation and district management practices. Communities that traditionally provided free public parking are beginning to charge for it, while those that have charged fixed rates are moving to systems that modify parking prices to achieve desired parking occupancies. While traditional static parking charges provide revenue and have some influence on parking locations and duration, they do not produce efficient use of parking resources because the most desirable spaces are full most of the time. This paper evaluates four west coast dynamic parking pricing projects that illustrate the range of approaches to varying parking pricing, explaining how pricing strategy should be aligned to context. Dynamic parking pricing varies price to achieve desired parking occupancy levels. It is becoming well established and proven in practice (Shoup 2011, Pierce and Shoup 2013). Despite widespread agreement about the advantages of dynamic parking pricing, there are differences of opinion on how parking prices should be adjusted. Conventional practice is a stable pricing scheme implemented in simple pricing zones. Adjustments require political decisions and are seldom made. This system offers drivers certainty about price but is inefficient. On the other hand, occupancy-responsive, block- and time-specific pricing can better achieve desired space occupancy targets, e.g., setting a price so one or two space always available on each blockface. These strategies usually set a schedule of prices by parking location, time of day, or day of the week. Regular, staff-driven modification of prices seek to achieve adopted occupancy goals. This paper compares practices and results in four case studies: Los Angeles, CA, Redwood City, CA, San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA. We explain the pricing adjustment scheme in each locale and provide insights from interviews with local parking managers and academic and consultant evaluations. The material is organized in an outcome framework that includes: delivering targeted occupancy rates, revenues and expenditures, equipment and sensor reliability, administrative operability, parking and customer feedback, and political feasibility. The current state of dynamic pricing practice is to make adjustments on monthly or bi-monthly basis using predefined occupancy level thresholds, either average block face occupancy or the fraction of time a block face is at defined levels. There is no evidence of a consumer or political backlash to adjustments on this frequency of adjustment, although signage explaining time-of-day prices must be clear. Evaluations show that this adjustment frequency increases the percentage of block faces meeting target occupancy levels, but there are concerns with limitations on the frequency and amount of price changes, and the impact of disabled placard abuse. While dynamic pricing is used in some off-street public parking, private off-street parking often follows its own pricing protocols, and is therefore uncoordinated with the public parking scheme. We conclude that the level of granularity and frequency of adjustment in dynamic pricing should respond to community context. Further, promising next steps in dynamic pricing include (1) adjustments based on peak use days or periods, such as peak holiday shopping days or seasons, (2) fuller integration of public and private parking resources, (3) reforming disabled parking rules to ensure pricing effectiveness, and (4) real-time dynamic pricing in locations with advanced parking applications and parking information systems. References Shoup, Donald. 2011. The High Cost of Free Parking, Updated Edition. Chicago, IL: American Planning Association Willson, Richard, 2015. Parking Management for Smart Growth. Washington DC: Island Press. Pierce, Gregory and Donald Shoup. 2013. “Getting the Prices Right: An Evaluation of Pricing Parking by Demand in San Francisco.” Journal of the American Planning Association. 79(1) 67-81. Millard-Ball, A., Weinberger, R. and R.C. Hampire. (2014) Is the curb 80% Fill or 20% Empty? Assessing the Impacts of San Francisco’s Parking Pricing Experiment. Transportation Research Part A: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2014.02.016. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. 2014. “SFpark Pilot Project Evaluation Summary.” Accessed July 7, 2014. http://sfpark.org/docs_evalsummary