This paper was presented at the `Cost-Effective Traffic Operations Through Innovation' session. The importance of parking policies as complementary policies to an overall urban transportation strategy has been acknowledged as a key component in influencing both transit use and ridesharing. The main focus of this article is the relationship between downtown long-stay parking supply and transit use, and the implications of this relationship for developing downtown parking policies. Based on a survey of Canadian cities, it was determined that peak hour transit modal split to downtown areas is inversely proportional to the ratio of long-stay parking stalls per downtown employee. The analysis indicated that this relationship is highly statistically significant for Canadian and American cities. The implication of the findings is that the main choice with respect to establishing a long-stay parking policy is directly linked to the modal split goal. Thus, policy makers should first establish a desirable and achievable modal split goal and then establish a long-stay parking strategy which would match the supply of long-stay parking with the modal split goal. (A)
Samenvatting