The effects of parking measures on traffic congestion.

Using stated preference techniques and in- depths interviews, the effects of parking measures on the modal split of commuters and locational behaviour of companies in suburban business areas were investigated. Peak hour traffic congestion is a major problem in the western part of the Netherlands. A large part of this is due to commuters. Parking measures in suburban business areas have been proposed to lessen this problem. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the effects of these parking measures in suburban business districts on the modal split of commuters and the consequences of these measures on the locational behaviour of companies. The evaluated measures include increasing the costs of parking and reducing the number of available parking space. Nine suburban business districts in the western part of the Netherlands, the "Randstad", were selected for this study. Possible effects of parking measures on the modal split, i.e. a reduction in car use in favour of public transport and carpooling are evaluated using stated preference techniques. In-depth interviews were carried out to investigate the consequences for the locational behaviour of companies. Preliminary results show that parking measures can be an influential tool in changing the modal split of commuters in suburban business areas. Differences in impact between segments of commuters exist. Availability of transit service will influence the impact of these measures. Overall acceptability of parking measures is low, however a direct influence on the locational behaviour is not expected. This paper was also published in seminar B, volume P304 of this conference (see IRRD 842343).