Becoming a Smart City

Why cities choose Smart Parking

solutions from Streetline

Contents
Parking: One of the Great Unsolved City Problems........................................................... 3
And, its Not Getting Better Any Time Soon....................................................................... 3
Cities Want to Make Smarter Decisions............................................................................. 4
Information Can Help........................................................................................................... 6
Theres an Opportunity to Innovate.................................................................................... 6
Streetline: Providing New and Better Services to the Citizen........................................... 6
A Reduction in Congestion Means Economic Growth....................................................... 7
Using Parking Management to Revitalize Cities................................................................. 7
Streetline: the Leader in Smart Parking............................................................................. 8
Bibliography.......................................................................................................................... 9

The global gridlock crisis will stifle economic growth and our ability to deliver food and
healthcare [and] our quality of life will be significantly compromised. 1
Bill Ford
Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company

Parking: One of the Great Unsolved City Problems

There is no such thing as free parking. According to Mark
Delucchi of the University of California at Davis, Americans
spend as much to subsidize off-street parking as we do
on Medicare or national defense2. Its estimated that
99% of parking in the United States is free, while the true
costs of parking (i.e. construction, maintenance, etc.) are
passed along to consumers, employees and taxpayers via
increased higher prices for goods and services, reduced
wages and higher taxes.3 Moreover, the additional driving
encouraged by free parking increases traffic congestion,
air pollution and accidents. To fuel this extra driving, we
import more oil, and pay for it with borrowed money.
In most cities, the demand for curbside parking far
exceeds the supply. In cities like New York, this is
especially the case with curbside parking that is free or
priced 10 to 15 times less than garage rates4. As a result of
this mismatch, bargain-seeking drivers waste an average
of 3 14 minutes looking for parking. Once they find these
coveted spaces, they do their best to stay put.
The saturation of cheap or free curbside parking causes
traffic congestion, wasted gas and increased carbon
emissions. Cheap street parking encourages people to
drive solo rather than carpool, walk, bike, or take public
transportation which means more people on the roads
and more traffic looking for parking. These issues impact
not only our environment, but also a citys economy and
quality of life for its residents.

And, its Not Getting Better Any Time Soon

As the global population continues to grow at a steady
pace, more and more people are moving to cities at an
even faster pace. As a result, the number of cars on the
road is expected to grow exponentially.
Ostrow, Adam, CNN. March 3, 2011. How well beat traffic and find
parking spots in the future http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/
innovation/03/03/parking.future.mashable/index.html
2

CMAP 2040. Impacts of Parking Strategies. http://www.cmap.illinois.

gov/strategy-papers/parking/impacts-of-parking-strategies

Today

Future

Global
Population

6 billion

9 billion (2044)

Passenger
Cars

800 million

2 3 billion
(2050)

City Dwellers

50% of population
(3 billion)

60% of population
(5 billion in 2030)

Today, cities consume over three-quarters of the worlds

energy and produce about 80% of the worlds carbon
emissions.5 According to a 2011 report by Harvard Business
School (HBS), Research has shown that reducing
transportation congestion and improving the availability
of water contribute to economic growth and improved
competitiveness. Despite these facts, city managers
recognize that the demand for services is increasing at a
faster rate than services can be delivered. Unless changes
are made, the quality of life in cities will decline.6
Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford agrees.
Ford believes the answer to this crisis is not to build more
roads, but to build a smarter transportation system that
makes use of real-time data and connected cars. Ford
predicts that the global gridlock crisis will stifle economic
growth and our ability to deliver food and healthcare
[and] our quality of life will be significantly compromised.
Some argue that additional parking will result in more
traffic because more vehicles will travel into the city.
However, many transportation experts believe that the
issue is not the availability of parking that causes gridlock,
but the availability of free or underpriced parking that is
the problem. If drivers know theres a chance theyll find
that ever-elusive cheap metered space, versus a much
more expensive space in the garage, theyll keep circling
until they find it. Effective managed parking encourages
transit use, carpooling, walking and cycling and thus
improved traffic flow.7

Donald Shoup, The High Cost of Free Parking. APA Planners Press, 2005

2008. Driven to Excess: What Under-priced Curbside Parking Costs

the Upper West Side. New York: Transportation Alternatives. Available at
www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/driven_to_excess.pdf

Harvard Business School. Investing in Cities of the 21st Century:

Urbanization, Infrastructure and Resources.
5

HBS, ibid.

Tri State Transportation Campaign. Parking Management Report.

http://www.tstc.org/reports/parking.pdf
7

Cities Want to Make Smarter Decisions

Studies Show
There have been several studies that reveal
environmental and economic costs of inefficient
parking policies.

1) According to a study by UCLA Professor

Donald Shoup, who synthesized 70 years of
research on the subject, between 8 and 74% of
traffic in congested downtown areas is caused by
people searching for parking.

2) A recent study of New York traffic estimates

that 28% of drivers in Manhattan and 45% in
Brooklyn were cruising for parking.

3) Studies in major cities (including San

Francisco, Sydney, New York and London)
estimate that drivers spend 3.5 to 14 minutes
searching for a space each time they park.

4) In Los Angeles, a study of a 15-block area

estimates that drivers circling for parking cause
950,000 excess vehicle miles per year. This
translates to 47,000 gallons in wasted gas and
730 tons of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas.2

5) In New York, a similar study monitoring a

15 block area in Manhattan found that drivers
cruise an average seven blocks (.37 miles) for 15
minutes to find a metered parking space. During
peak periods, before lunch and from 6pm to 8pm,
theyll cruise an average of 14 blocks (.7 miles)
before finding a parking spot. As a result, lack of
available parking causes about 366,000 excess
vehicle miles of travel, 325 tons of carbon dioxide
greenhouse gas, $129,561 in fuel and 50,000
hours of wasted time annually.

A Siemens-commissioned study of more than 500 city

managers, municipal employees and private company
executives around the world found that transportation
was rated the highest priority for investment, ahead of
environmental protection and even education. From a
parking perspective, theres a great deal of opportunity
for improvement. Several urban planning experts argue
that cities that need to set a price for curbside parking
so that about 15 percent of spaces are vacant. Curbside
parking that is free or priced far below garage rates results
in gridlock, reduced sales for merchants, and lost revenue
for the city. If curbside parking is priced effectively,
people will consider alternative means of transportation
or alternative times and thus there will be less of a need
for drivers to cruise for parking.8
Moreover, many cities need to be more efficient with their
enforcement of parking violations. For example, the San
Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency had estimated
that fewer than 5% of parking violations in the city were
actually cited. Moreover, a Streetline study of 200 parking
meters in San Francisco showed that 45% of the meters
were unpaid. As a result, in many cities, metered-space
saturation can be 90% to nearly 100%, which results in a
great deal of congestion, driver frustration and lost sales for
merchants. By improving compliance, parking enforcement
productivity, and providing new payment options not only
can cities increase revenue and reduce enforcement costs,
they can also reduce gridlock by ensuring sufficient space
turnover so that parking is available.

Donald Shoup, The High Cost of Free Parking. APA Planners

Press, 2005
2

Donald Shoup, The High Cost of Free Parking. APA Planners Press, 2005

Smart Parking Ecosystem

Smart Parking Ecosystem

Consumers & Motorists

Private Parking
Providers

System Integrators
NEW SOURCES OF DATA

City & Department of

Transportation

Merchants

NEW INSIGHT FOR ACTION

Sensors & Apps

Meters & Smart Parking

Revenue Management & Parking Operations

The Smart Parking Ecosystem that connects the parking

providers, merchants, motorists, and technology will
enable Smart Cities to speak to us by sensing and
detecting parking activity in real time. Smart Cities close
the information gap that prevents us from measuring
activities and making informed decisions to improve
operations. They connect residents and visitors

to the information they need to make their lives easier

and more enjoyable. The systems in a Smart City from
transportation to utilities speak to one another, and most
importantly to the people who live and work there. They
allow city managers, workers, and citizens the opportunity
to work collectively to improve urban life.

Information Can Help

At a recent Harvard Business School conference, experts
concurred smart, connected communities are one way
to obtain efficiency gains and to improve the standard of
living. In many communities, the energy, transportation,
and safety systems operate within silos with no
connectivity. When systems become interconnected in
real time, however, efficiency gains are possible. Many
cities are creating a meshed fabric of services related to
traffic, employment, and police services.9
At a March 2011 TED conference, Bill Ford shared his
vision of a future where all cars are connected and
speak to each other. He pictures a future where people
can reserve a parking spot at their destination and be
automatically directed to the quickest route based on
real-time data being sent by the cars driving in front of
them. The solution will not be more cars, more roads
or a new rail system. It will be found in a global network
of interconnected solutions. I know we can develop the
technology that will make this work. But we have to be
willing to go out there and find the solutions.
At Streetline, we share that vision, beginning with parking.
We are helping to build a Smart Parking Ecosystem
that integrates all the key players in the system: from
motorists to parking lots and meters to the merchants
and cities even universities, airports, and shopping
centers managing the true supply and demand of
parking will enable cities and motorists to make smart
transportation decisions.

Theres an Opportunity to Innovate

Parking is a $25 billion industry thats seen little innovation
in the last 75 years. While there has been a great deal of
investment in creating energy-efficient hybrid and electric
vehicles, this still doesnt solve the problem of global
gridlock. A car is a car even if electric it still causes the
same burden on urban gridlock that gas-powered cars
do and, the need to park still exists.

HBS, Ibid

Sensing technology is more advanced than ever before

and when used as part of an ultra-low power wireless mesh
network give us the ability to connect citizens and cities
with the information to make peoples lives easier and
more efficient. How do we make a city talk to us? And how
do we leverage that information to make our cities more
efficient? Building and sustaining Smart Cities depends
on two vital components:

1) the ability to sense vehicle occupancy and driver

activities; and

2) software that collects this data and reports back

to mobile devices and websites so that motorists

can more easily find parking and city managers
can make quicker, better informed decisions.

Streetline: Providing New and Better Services to

the Citizen
Streetline provides cities real-time
status of every parking space at
curbside, in lots and in garages
allowing cities to optimize revenue,
spend less time and money
managing resources, improve
productivity, and reduce congestion
and emissions. Streetline helps
remotely manage a citys parking
assets in real-time and greatly
improves the efficiency of
operations for the benefit of residents, visitors, parking
enforcers, merchants and management.
Streetline can help you on your way to becoming a Smart
City in three fundamental ways.

1) Mobile Motorist Guidance Parker

Streetlines Parker app saves drivers the frustration of
circling the block by guiding them directly to available
parking even in congested neighborhoods and tourist
destinations. The app will show how many spaces are
available on nearby blocks and direct them to the most
likely block to find parking. Motorists can look at Parker
even before they leave the house and based on availability
decide what method to take to their destination car,
walk, public transport.

Parker is currently available for select smart phones and

compatible tablets, and in the future via in-car navigation
systems. Streetline does not promote accessing any
smart phone or its features or any other device while
a vehicle is in motion and recommends the use of a
hands-free dashboard cradle for all devices.
In addition to alerting drivers to available parking, Parker
also allows users to:
Pay directly from your phone in 84 U.S. cities today
with more added all the time
Use convenient reminders set a timer that alerts
you when your meter is about to expire
Find your car drop Google Maps pins, take
pictures & add comments
Save parking history for easy access later

2) Dynamic Parking Pricing & Parking Analytics

Many parking experts talk about the Goldilocks model of
parking pricing management: it shouldnt be so inexpensive
that too few spaces are available or too expensive that
too many spaces are left open. With Streetlines parking
sensing technology, you can monitor and analyze your
citys neighborhood parking patterns to better support the
varying populations consumers and merchants, residents
and visitors while improving congestion and convenience.
By analyzing this information, you can make more informed
decisions about what parking should cost at specific times
during the day and have the tools to enforce it.

3) Guided Parking Enforcement

Streetlines Enforcement Suite helps cities better
understand the trends in parking violations with real-time
information and includes applications for those in city
operations, as well as mobile apps for those in the field,
This allows cities and parking personnel to spend their
time far more efficiently and in some cases increase
productivity and efficiency as much as 150 percent.
Streetline Enforcement Suite includes two applications:
Streetline ME, a mobile application for Officers in the field,
and Streetline Enforcement Supervisor, a web-based
application for managing the enforcement operation.

A Reduction in Congestion Means Economic Growth

In congested cities, shops and restaurants lose out on a
multitude of sales opportunities due to the lack of available
parking. Their customer base is limited to mostly local
residents who can walk to their location for people from
outside the neighborhood dont want to deal with the hassle
of looking for parking. As a result, urban merchants (many
of whom are independent small businesses) lose business
to large box stores in the suburbs who offer ample parking.
By increasing the available parking for visitors, local
merchants can see a dramatic increase in their customer
base. Instead of being just a neighborhood business, they
can become a destination shop or restaurant and realize
dramatic growth.
Streetline can help merchants make it easier for patrons
to find parking with the help of our Parker app by showing
available parking information on their websites. They can
also receive daily or weekly web-based reports on parking
turnover and occupancy.
By optimizing curbside parking prices, cities can help
local merchants be more successful and see increased
revenue for the city. Not only will cities realize higher
parking revenue, they will also enjoy more sales tax
revenue thanks to the increased economic development.
With Streetlines Enforcement Suite, cities can achieve
this without increasing the number of officers. With
these additional revenues, cities can invest back in the
neighborhoods by repairing roads and sidewalks, planting
trees, removing graffiti, and more.

Using Parking Management to Revitalize Cities

Cities understand that they are going to have to solve the
parking problem if they want to see economic growth.
An example of one city on the forefront of used parking
management to revitalize their downtown is Old Pasadena
in Southern California back in 1993.10 Working with local
merchants, the city added parking meters to a depressed
area and used the revenues to purchase street furniture
and trees, more police patrols, better lighting, more street
Douglas Kolozsvari & Donald Shoup. Access. Fall 2003. Turning Small
Change Into Big Changes http://www.walkablestreets.com/meter.htm
10

and sidewalk cleaning, pedestrian improvements, and

marketing (including maps to show local attractions and
parking facilities).11 As a result, the area was transformed
from skid row to a premier shopping destination where
local merchants saw a dramatic increase in safety and
their business.

Today, several other cities are turning to the next generation
of parking technology to achieve similar goals. Los Angeles
is one of the first major cities looking to increase the
availability of public parking spaces and decreasing traffic
congestion and pollution through smart parking solutions.
According to Los Angeles City Council President Eric
Garcetti sometimes it feels like more movie stars have
been discovered in Hollywood than parking spaces, and the
City is now turning to Streetline to help address this issue.
After initial success with Streetline in the Hollywood area,
the LA Department of Transportation is now making this
service available to residents and visitors to Studio City and
other parts of Los Angeles over the coming months.12
Other cities large and small are turning to Streetline
solutions to help alleviate traffic, increase city revenue,
and improve the livability of the city from sensors to
analytics to motorist guidance.

11

CMAP , Ibid.

USA Today, 2/23,2011 Streetlines Parker iPhone app finds parking

spots
12

Streetline: the Leader in Smart Parking

Streetline collects and organizes live data from the real
world to support sustainable development and transform
the way people live and work. With installations in select
areas across California, District of Columbia, New Jersey,
New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah, we have the
experience and expertise to help cities use Smart Parking
and become a smarter city.
To make Smart Parking a reality, we bring together all
aspects of parking management technology in one
integrated system from street-level sensors to mobile
apps, analytics and system management software so
that you can truly understand and manage your citys
parking to make changes for the better.
We are the industry leader in parking analytics, consumer
guidance and mobile enforcement that will benefit
residents, visitors, local merchants and cities alike. Our
solutions offer a substantial return-on-investment, using
the additional revenue to fund essential city programs
and services residents care most about.
To learn more about Streetline, please visit
www.streetlinenetworks.com or contact us at
solutions@streetlinenetworks.com to arrange for an
account manager to call you.

Bibliography
CMAP 2040. Impacts of Parking Strategies. http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/strategy-papers/parking/impacts-of-parkingstrategies
Ford, Bill. A Future Beyond Traffic Gridlock. 2011. Ted Talks. http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_ford_a_future_beyond_
traffic_gridlock.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-06-21
Harvard Business School. March 3-4, 2011. Business and Environment Initiative: Investing in Cities of the 21st Century:
Urbanization, Infrastructure and Resources. http://www.hbs.edu/environment/docs/HBS-Investing-in-Cities-of-the21st-Century.pdf
Kolozsvari, Douglas & Donald Shoup. Access. Fall 2003. Turning Small Change Into Big Changes http://www.
walkablestreets.com/meter.htm
Litman Todd. 2006. Parking Management: Strategies, Evaluation and Planning. Summary of Parking
Management Best Practices. Chicago: APA Planners Press. Online: http://www.vtpi.org/park_man.pdf
Litman, Todd. 2008. Parking Pricing: Direct Charges for Using Parking Facilities. TDM Encylcopedia, Victoria
Transport Policy Institute. http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm26.htm, Accessed: 09/09/09.
New York Transportation Alternatives. 2007. No Vacancy: Park Slopes Parking Problem and How to Fix It. New York:
Transportation Alternatives. Available at www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/novacancy.pdf.
New York: Transportation Alternatives. 2008. Driven to Excess: What Under-priced Curbside Parking Costs the Upper
West Side. www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/driven_to_excess.pdf
Ostrow, Adam, CNN. March 3, 2011. How well beat traffic and find parking spots in the future http://www.cnn.
com/2011/TECH/innovation/03/03/parking.future.mashable/index.html
Schaller, Bruce. 2006. Curbing Cars: Shopping, Parking and Pedestrian Space in SoHo. New York: Transportation
Alternatives. Available at www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/soho_curbing_cars.pdf.
Sfpark.org
Shoup, Donald. 2005. The High Cost of Free Parking http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-06-03/opinion/17379286_1_
parking-spaces-off-street-parking-free-parking
Shoup, Donald. The High Cost of Free Parking. APA Planners Press, 2005
Tri State Transportation Campaign. Parking Management Report. http://www.tstc.org/reports/parking.pdf
USA Today, 2/23,2011 Streetlines Parker iPhone app finds parking spots