BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

PARKING
THE IMPACTS OF PARKING

Availability, Convenience and Cost of Parking affects mode choice

An owner of a private automobile is likely to use their automobile
to access their destination if:
Parking is plentiful
Parking is conveniently located
Cost of parking is reasonable

An owner of a private automobile is NOT likely to use their

automobile, and choose to use alternative modes if:
Parking is scarce (hard to obtain)
Parking is inconvenient
Cost of parking is expensive
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

THE IMPACTS OF PARKING

Parking affects the vitality of communities, commercial and business

centres, transit systems and airports.

Sufficient parking is important:

when making trips for social visits

to keep businesses alive
to facilitate transport systems – buses, trains, LRT & air travel

Parking affects the circulation of traffic in downtown areas

Sufficient parking reduces the time spent by drivers to find
parking spaces, hence making traffic flow smoothly
In certain European cities, it was estimated that 40% of the
total travel time to work was spent on searching for parking!
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

PARKING POLICIES

To strike a compromise between the amount of curb space devoted to

parking, and for moving vehicles.

To make provision for parking of delivery vehicles, short term parkers

and long term parkers.

To design parking lots and their approaches so that street traffic is

not adversely affected by the ingress and egress of parkers.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

PARKING POLICIES

To ensure that the interests of business establishments along the

street is enhanced by good parking arrangements.

To ensure that parking policies and public transport policies are

complementary; for example, car parks adjacent to bus stations and
routes would enhance bus ridership.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

PARKING POLICIES

To preserve the character of the neighborhood by restricting parking

and enforcing land-use control.

To control parking supply and demand through pricing mechanism;

encourage short term parking, and discourage long term parking may
serve to enhance the CBD.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

TYPES OF PARKING

PUBLIC PARKING
On-street parking may be free or not, and it may be regulated or
unregulated (e.g. No Parking During Rush Hours, No Overnight
Parking).
Off-street parking is usually in parking lots, decks (with multi-
purpose buildings), or in exclusive parking structures.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

TYPES OF PARKING

PRIVATE PARKING
Usually off-street, private parking includes home or apartment
building garages, stalls, driveways, or affiliate-specific parking
(permit required).
For owners of homes and apartments or businesses, and exclusive for
members of clubs.
On-street private parking also can exist.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

ON-STREET PARKING (CURB PARKING)

PARALLEL PARKING
Tandem parallel parking is recommended
for major streets with heavy vehicles.
Also recommended for roadways which
are not wide.
Time taken to parallel park is longer and
may also encourage double parking and
waiting.

ANGLE PARKING
Angled parking allows more spaces per
linear length of curb.
Maneuver for angle parking is easier
compared to parallel parking.
However, it restricts traffic movement
on streets more than parallel parking.
Lecturer: Mr. Basil David Daniel

ON-STREET PARKING (CURB PARKING)

Curb Parking Geometry Design
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

OFF-STREET PARKING

SURFACE PARKING LOTS

BASEMENT CAR PARKS

BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

OFF-STREET PARKING

MULTISTOREY CARPARKS
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

OFF-STREET PARKING

MECHANICAL CAR PARKS

BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

OFF-STREET PARKING

Multi-storey Parking Geometry Design

BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

PARKING STUDIES

Parking studies are done in order to:

- estimate parking demand.
- analyse the capacity and use of parking facilities.

Parking studies include financial feasibility, functional design,

structural design and demand studies.

TYPES OF PARKING DEMAND STUDIES

- Comprehensive
- Limited
- Site Specific

Sampling must be done carefully in order to prevent bias toward

oversampling of shorterm parkers.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

PARKING STUDIES

METHODS OF COLLECTING PARKING DATA

Ins and Outs

All vehicles parked in the focus area are counted at the beginning of
the survey period.
Then the vehicles entering and exiting the area are counted.
This method can yield the overall accumulation and occupancy only.

Fixed Period
All vehicles parked in the focus area are counted at the beginning of
the survey period.
Occupancy counts are conducted every 15 minutes to 1 hour.
This method may miss short term parkers and may be difficult for
private garages.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

PARKING STUDIES

METHODS OF COLLECTING PARKING DATA

License Plate Survey

Most accurate and realistic data because every parking space is
monitored at fixed intervals.
This method is very labor intensive and it entails certain liability
problems.
This can be done by partly omitting the first or last digit of the
license plate.

OTHER PARKING STUDY METHODS

Photographs
Parking Meter Revenue
Attendant Receipts
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

Sample of License Plate Survey

* The numbers represent the first time that a vehicle parked in the space.

* The check marks indicate that the same vehicle was in the space on the next circulation.

* The E suffix indicates that the meter was expired.

* The T prefix indicates that a delivery truck was using the parking space. If this occurs frequently, there may be a need for a truck
loading zone.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

Parking Duration
is the average length of time that a vehicle is parked.

Parking duration = Number of Observations x Interval

Number of Vehicles

Example calculation (based on sample on slide 9)

Parking duration for space 109:

Duration109 = 8 x 15 = 24.0 mins / veh

5
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

Parking Turnover
is the number of different vehicles parked in the study period

Parking turnover = Number of Different Parked Vehicles

Number of Parking Spaces

Example calculation (based on sample on slide 9)

Parking turnover for spaces 109 to 112 over a 2.5 hour period:

Turnover109-112 = 12/4 = 3.0 veh / space

BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

EXAMPLE:

An office has the following characteristics:

Hours of operation: 6 A.M. to 8 P.M (14 hours)

Number of parking spaces in the garage: 500
80% are commuters with average parking duration of 8 hours
10% are visitors parking for an average of 2 hours
The remaining are shoppers parking for an average of 3 hours

However observations made at the garage indicate that 15% of

visitors during peak hours (10 A.M. to 12 P.M. and 1 A.M. to 3
P.M.) do not find parking.

How many additional spaces should be added to the garage to meet

the demand?
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

Solution

Space hours demanded:

Commuters: 80% x 500 x 8 =3200
Visitors: 10% x 500 x 2 =100
Shoppers: 10% x 500 x 3 = 150

Demand not served: 15% x 500 x 4 = 300

Total space-hours demanded = 3750

Total space-hours served = 3450

Balance space-hours = 300

Because the additional demand is during 4 hours;

The number of additional spaces needed is 300/4 = 75 spaces.

Discussion:
Although 75 additional spaces are needed only during the 4 peak hours, it is
open debate whether the garage owner should spend money to meet this
demand, because for the rest of the operating time (14 – 4 = 10 hrs), it is
likely that the 75 spaces may not be occupied
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

ANALYSIS of PARKING FACILITIES

ADEQUACY ANALYSIS

The adequacy of a parking facility can be measured by calculating the

probability that an entering vehicle may not find a parking space.

A high probability of rejection (not able to find a space) may indicate

that an expansion of the parking facility is warranted.

The probability of rejection can be calculated by comparing the

traffic load to the number of parking bays, as shown below:

A = Q x T

where A = traffic load (veh)

Q = incoming vehicle flow rate (veh/hr)
T = average parking duration (hr)
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

ADEQUACY ANALYSIS

Next, calculate the probability of rejection using the formula:

 AM 
 
 M! 
P   
 2 3 4 M
1  A  A A A A 
   ... 
 2! 3! 4! M ! 


where P = probability of rejection

A = traffic load
M = number of parking bays

If the probability of rejection is high, you may want to consider

adding more parking bays in the facility.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

Example:

A parking facility that has 50 parking bays receives an incoming

vehicle flow rate of 120 vehicles per hour. If the average parking
duration is 50 minutes, analyse the adequacy of this parking facility.

Solution:

Q = 120 veh/hr
T = 50 mins = 5/6 hrs

A = Q x T = 120 x 5/6 = 100 veh

 10050 
 
 50! 
 
P 
 2 3 4 50  = 0.509
 1  100  100  100  100  ...  100 
 2! 3! 4! 50! 


50.9% of the incoming vehicles will not find a parking space.

This parking facility is NOT ADEQUATE.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

Exercise:

It was observed during an 8-hour study that 96 vehicles enter the

parking lot of a local electronics store. The parking lot has only 5
parking spaces. Customers park their cars for an average of 15
minutes. Calculate the probability that an incoming vehicle will not
find a parking space.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

DEFINITIONS
Parking duration: the actual length of time a vehicle remains in one
parking space.

Parking accumulation: the total number of vehicle parked in a specific

area at a specific time.

Parking load: the area under the accumulation curve between two specific
times.

Parking space: an area large enough to accommodate one vehicle with

restricted access (no blockage by another parked vehicle), but excluding
maneuver space.

Parking demand: the number of vehicles whose drivers desire to park at

a specific location or in a general area. It is usually expressed as the
number of vehicles during the peak parking hour.

Parking supply: the number of parking spaces available for use.

Parking turnover: number of vehicle utilizing the same stall over a given
period of time (four or more during an 8-hour period indicates a high
turnover rate). Parking turnover measures utilization.
BFC3082 Traffic and Road Safety Engineering

DEFINITIONS

Walking distance: the actual distance traveled by foot from the

parking facility to the parker’s trip destination.

Parking deficiency: the extent to which parking demand exceeds

supply, expressed in number of parking spaces.

Average duration = total vehicle hours

----------------------------
total number of vehicles that parked

Occupancy (%) = 100 x number of spaces occupied

---------------------------------
Total spaces available