This report will be of interest to transportation and urban planners and to local decision-makers. The effectiveness of automobile parking strategies as a means of increasing transit ridership was analysed. Eight strategies affecting the price and availability of parking and transit service levels were examined, alone and in combination, to assess their effects on travel mode choice, particularly transit. The final chapter of the report is an implementation guide for transportation planners and decision-makers. TCRP Project H-3, Strategies to Attract Auto Users to Public Transportation, focused on parking strategies as a means of increasing transit patronage, particularly for work trips. Specifically, the following research questions were pursued in this project: • How does parking price and transit service affect transit use in U.S. cities? • How does parking price and transit service affect transit use for downtown-destined work trips? • How does increasing parking price compare with other strategies in reducing worktrip single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) travel? • How do different parking strategies compare with one another in reducing SOV worktrips? To answer these questions, the researchers examined eight price- and non-price-based parking strategies, alone and in combination, to determine their effect on mode choice, their political feasibility, and their potential secondary consequences. The price-based parking strategies were increasing the price of parking through a tax on parking revenues, increasing the price of parking through a tax on parking spaces, cashing-out employer-provided parking, increasing the number of parking meters and accompanying residential permit programs, and imposing parking impact fees. The non-price-based strategies were changes in zoning ordinances to restrict parking supply, shared parking, and transportation demand management. The study concludes that no single strategy is both effective and politically feasible enough to warrant implementation throughout a metropolitan area. Rather, the researchers recommend that policy-makers implement combinations of parking strategies, in response to the policy and transportation objectives of specific geographical areas. The final chapter of the report, an implementation guide, provides forms, examples, and other information to assist agencies in selecting combinations of parking strategies that will be appropriate for local needs. (A)
Abstract