The City of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada attracts millions of visitors each year to the Falls and a variety of other attractions the area has to offer. A new People Mover System will be introduced to address this growing need to accommodate visitor trips to the City. A People Mover Parking Strategy Study was conducted to promote system ridership, reduce congestion, and act as a catalyst to economic growth by providing effective parking supplies and policies. The People Mover Parking Strategy will relieve traffic congestion and conflicts associated with required vehicular travel in the tourist areas (i.e. hotel and Casino patrons, local business activities, etc.) and permit further development of prime properties. The People Mover Parking Strategy will accomplish these objectives by (a) the identification of new parking supplies that meet demand profiles, (b) the implementation of a flexible Management Model that addresses stakeholder needs, (c) the involvement of the private-sector in the distribution of People Mover passes and the provision of People Mover parking supply, (d) the implementation of an advanced wayfinding signing strategy, and (e) the amendment of current parking-related by-laws (e.g. zoning, commercial parking, etc.) and policies (e.g. cash-in-lieu and signing policies) to encourage the use of the People Mover lots and to improve traffic circulation around the roadways in the City of Niagara Falls. The paper focuses on those strategies, which supports ridership, the results of the private sector consultation, and highlights the challenges of implementing such a strategic plan in an environment with competing stakeholder requirements.
Abstract