TEM-202:

Transportation Planning
Lecture Series: Parking Planning and Management
Lecture 1: Types of parking and parking studies
Date: 04.03.2013
Instructor: Dr. Zahara Batool

Planning for Parking

Introduction
Parking Policy
Parking Method
Parking Studies
Parking measurement and analysis
Key Terms

Background
Parking is an important urban transportation element.
It affects mode choice (parking availability, accessibility, cost
of parking).
It affects the vitality of communities, commercial and
business centers, transit system and airports as well as the
efficiency of traffic circulation in downtown areas.
It has certain direct economic activities.

Types of Parking Methods

The Parking Methods play a major role in controlling traffic and
avoid chaotic confusion and traffic jams because of lack of
Parking facility.
On Street Parking
Off Street Parking

On-Street Parking
As the name itself suggests, On-street Parking means the
area allotted for Parking purpose at the sides of the roads.
For efficiency in Parking system; the On street Parking is
divided into following types:
Parallel Parking
Angular Parking
Perpendicular Parking (efficient Parking Method)

On-street
Parking

Parallel Parking System

The vehicles are parked one behind the other.
It has been surveyed that the area required for Parallel
Parking is much lesser that required for Angular Parking.
Therefore, more number of vehicles can be parked in this
Parking System.
For this reason, this Parking system is generally adopted.

Parallel Parking System

Angular Parking
The vehicles are parked at an angle. It may be a 30 degree angle or
45 degree.
The vehicles can be easily reversed if parked at an angle. Hence,
proving as an efficient Parking System in case of vehicular
circulation.
The major drawback of Angular Parking System is that it requires
larger space for parking than required for Parallel Parking.
Hence this system is adopted where the space is available in plenty.

Angular Parking

Perpendicular Parking
The vehicles are parked at right angle to the road.
It is an efficient system of Parking.

Perpendicular Parking

Off Street Parking

As the name suggests, Off street Parking means a Parking
Area is designed adjacent to the Road or in a place or building
which is not the part of the road.
Parking lots
Bypass road
Multistory Building Garage
Parking Lanes

Supply and Demand

Parking supply is merely the number and location of all parking
spaces in the study area.
The supply is defined by the parking inventory (described later).
Supply is much easier to quantify than is demand because it is a
physical count.
Supply is generally constant, although there can be some changes
during the day (e.g., tow away zones during peak hours, part-time
loading zones, etc.).

Supply and Demand

Demand, on the other hand, is an estimate of the number of drivers
who wish to park in the study area at any given time.
Demand varies by time. In fact, one of the elements to be defined in
the study is the time of peak demand.
In some areas there may be multiple peaks because of the differing uses
within the study area. A simple example is an office complex. The peak
employee accumulation may be by 9:00 A.M., while the peak client or
visitor accumulation may be 11:30 A.M. or 2:30 P.M. Deliveries or service
personnel may peak at still different times.

Parking Studies
Parking studies are needed to be conducted
in order to collect information about the capacity of existing parking
facilities
in order to collect information about the use of existing parking facilities
in order to collect information about the information about the demand for
parking is needed.
Parking studies may be restricted to
A particular traffic producer or attractor, such as a store, or
They may encompass an entire region, such as a CBD.

Types of Parking Studies

Inventory of Parking Facilities
Accumulation Counts
Duration and Turnover Surveys
User Information Surveys
Land Use Method of Determining Demand

Inventory of Parking Facilities

Information is collected on the current condition of parking facilities. This
includes:
the location, condition, type, and number of parking spaces.
parking rates if appropriate. These are often related to trip generation or
other land use considerations.
time limits, hours of availability and any other restrictions.
layout of spaces: geometry and other features such as crosswalks and city
services.
ownership of the off-street facilities.

Accumulation Counts
These are conducted to obtain data on the number of vehicles
parked in a study area during a specific period of time.
First, the number of vehicles already in that area are counted
or estimated.
Then the number of vehicles entering and exiting during that
specified period are noted, and added or subtracted from the
accumulated number of vehicles.

Accumulation Counts
Accumulation data are normally summarized by time period for
the entire study area.
The occupancy can be calculated by taking accumulation/total
spaces.
Peaking characteristics can be determined by graphing the
accumulation data by time of day.
The accumulation graph usually includes cumulative arrival and
cumulative departure graphs as well.

Accumulation Counts
Period

Arrive

Cum. Arrive

Depart

4 6 AM

25

6 -8

50

15

8 10

250

25

10 12 Noon

50

30

12 2 PM

100

50

2-4

50

75

46

25

220

68

25

100

8 - 10

10

65

Total

585

585

Cum. Depart

Accumulation

Accumulation
Factor

Accumulation Counts
Period

Arrive

Cum. Arrive

Depart

Cum. Depart

Accumulation

Accumulation
Factor

4 6 AM

25

25

20

0.0341

6 -8

50

75

15

20

55

0.0940

8 10

250

325

25

45

280

0.4786

10 12 Noon

50

375

30

75

300

0.5128

12 2 PM

100

475

50

125

350

0.5982

2-4

50

525

75

200

325

0.5585

46

25

550

220

420

130

0.2222

68

25

575

100

520

55

0.0940

8 - 10

10

585

65

585

Total

585

585

Accumulation Counts
Accumulation Diagram
700
600
500
v
e
h
i
c
l
e
s

400

Cum. Arrive
Cum. Depart
Accumulation

300
200
100
0
0

5
Time

10

Accumulation Counts
Accumulation data are normally summarized by time period for
the entire study area.
The occupancy can be calculated by taking accumulation/total
spaces.
Peaking characteristics can be determined by graphing the
accumulation data by time of day.
The accumulation graph usually includes cumulative arrival and
cumulative departure graphs as well.

Duration and Turnover Surveys

The accumulation study does not provide information on
parking duration
turnover or
parking violations
This information requires a license plate survey, which is often
very expensive. Instead, modifications are often made to the
field data collection protocols.

Duration and Turnover Surveys

In planning a license plate survey, assume that each
patrolling observer can check about four spaces per minute.
The first observer will be slower, because all the license plate
numbers will have to be recorded, but subsequent observers
will be able to work much faster. The form shown below can
be used for a license plate survey.

Duration and Turnover Surveys

Typical License Plate Survey Field Form
Street

Side

Study Date

Data Collector
_________________________________________
To: _________________
Stall

From
___________________

Direction of Travel:

Type

Time at beginning of Patrol

8:00 8:30

9:00

9:30

10:00

User Information Surveys

Individual users can provide valuable information that is not
attainable with license plate surveys.
The two major methods for collecting these data are
parking interviews and
postcard studies

For the parking interviews, drivers are interviewed right in the

parking lot. The interviews can gather information about origin
and destination, trip purpose, and trip frequency.

User Information/Characteristics
Surveys
The postage paid postcard surveys requests the same
information as in the parking interview. Return rates average
about 35%, and may include bias.
The

bias

can

take

two

forms. Drivers will sometimes

overestimate their parking needs in order to encourage the

surveyors to recommend additional parking.
Or, they may file false reports that they feel are more socially
acceptable.

User Information/Characteristics
Surveys
User characteristics analyses are made to assist in parking management in an area.
Such studies are used in establishing time-limit parking, employee parking, loading
zones, etc.
Information is obtained on the magnitude of the various segments of the parking
demand.
In other words, the study is used to project the demand for short-term parking (15 to
20 minutes); for banks, pharmacies, dry cleaners, etc.; for limited parking ( 1 to 2
hours) covering short-term shopping or business appointments; for longer term
parking (8 hours or ore) for employees in the area.

Land Use Method of Determining

Demand
Parking generation rates can be used to estimate the demand for parking.
Tabulate the type and intensity of land uses throughout the study area.
Based on reported parking generation rates, estimate the number of
parking spaces needed for each unit of land use.
Determine the demand for parking from questionnaires. A rule of thumb is
to overestimate the demand for parking by about 10%. If the analysis
suggests that the parking demand for a particular facility will be 500
spaces, then the design should be for 550 spaces.

Parking Measurement and Analyses

There are four major indices describing the parking utilization
of the area or site of focus.
Occupancy (%) = 100 *
Accumulation = number of vehicles parked at a given time
Turnover = number of vehicles utilizing the same stall over a
given period of time (4 or more during an 8-h period indicates a
high turnover rate)
Average duration = =

Adequacy Analysis
The adequacy of a parking facility can be measured by
calculating the probability that an entering vehicle will not be
able to find a parking space.
A high probability of rejection (not finding a space) may
indicate that expansion of the parking facility is warranted.
The probability of rejection can be calculated by comparing the
traffic load to the number of parking stalls as shown below.

Adequacy Analysis
First, the traffic load is estimated using:

A = Q*T
Where:
A = traffic load,
Q = incoming vehicle flow rate, and
T = the average parking duration

Adequacy Analysis
Next, calculate the probability of rejection using the following formula:

P = (AM/M!)/(1 + A + A2/2 + . . . + AM/M!)

Where:
P = the probability of rejection,
A = the traffic load, and
M = the number of parking stalls.
If the probability of rejection is high, you may want to consider adding more parking stalls to
the parking facility.

Example
Over the course of an 8-hour day, 96 vehicles enter a local
electronics stores parking lot. The parking lot has 5 spaces
and the average customer stays in the grocery store for 15
minutes. Calculate the probability that an incoming car will be
rejected.

Solution
i.

Calculate the incoming flow rate:

Q = 96 vehicles/ 8 hours
Q = 12 vehicles/hour

Since we know the average vehicle is parked for 15 minutes, or 0.25 hours, we can
calculate the traffic load as follows.

A = Q*T
A = 12 vehicles/hour * 0.25 hours
A = 3 vehicle

Solution
ii. Find the probability of rejection using the equation below.
P = (AM/M!)/(1 + A + A2/2 + . . . + AM/M!)
Where:
P = the probability of rejection,
A = the traffic load, and
M = the number of parking stalls.
P = (35/120)/(1 + 3 + 32/2 + 33/6 + 34/24 +35/120)
P = 0.11
Each entering vehicle has an 11% chance of being rejected. As a result, the electronics
store loses one out of each 10 customers entering their lot.

Key Terms
Aisle-- the portion of the parking lot devoted to providing immediate
access to the parking stalls. The recommended aisle width is dependent
on the parking angle. A parking angle of 45 o requires an aisle width of 12
feet for a 9.0-foot stall, and a 90o parking angle requires an aisle width of
26 feet for a 9.0-foot stall. These dimensions lead to wall to wall
distances of 47 feet for 45o and 63 feet for 90o.
Parking turnover is the rate of use of a facility. It is determined by
dividing the number of available parking spaces into the number of
vehicles parked in those spaces in a stated time period.

Key Terms
Long Term Parking-- parking with a duration of three hours or
more.
Short Term Parking-- parking with a duration of three hours or less.
Parking Accumulation-- the total number of vehicles parked in a
specific area (usually segregated by type of parking facility) at a
specific time.
Parking Space or Stall-- an area large enough to accommodate
one parked vehicle with unrestricted access (no blockage by
another parked vehicle).
Stall Length-- The longitudinal dimension of the stall, normally 18.5
feet.
Stall Width-- The width of each parking space as measured
crosswise to the vehicle. The most common width is 8.5 to 9.0 feet.

Lecture 4:
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