Question

Identify and briefly describe the top 10 parking strategies.

Answer 1

Allocating the appropriate amount of parking to meet land use needs can be challenging. Providing too much parking
can result in underutilized lots, while not enough parking can negatively impact the vitality of an area (e.g.,
downtowns, business parks, and mixed-use districts). More importantly, parking needs to be balanced with new
development that supports active modes of transportation (e.g., walking, biking, transit, and carpooling), integrates a
complete streets approach, and values a high-quality public realm. While not a required plan element, the
comprehensive plan can help achieve this balance by recognizing various parking strategies and approaches.
1• District Wide Parking: A parking district defines an area to be managed holistically from a parking and
transportation perspective. A district‐wide parking approach allows all users (vehicles) within a geographical
area to utilize parking reservoirs, while taking into consideration a reduction in parking to support active
modes of transportation. Overall, this approach to parking helps reduce the need to build parking facilities for
each individual development.
2• Travel Demand Management (TDM) Strategies: Research has shown that TDM strategies are a useful
technique in helping alleviate parking demands. TDM strategies are applied to help reduce the number of
single-occupancy vehicles traveling and parking in a certain area. Travel Demand Management Plans
(TDMPs) are often required by cities and used by developers (for commercial, residential, and other
development types) to promote alternative modes of transportation.
3. Shared Parking: Shared parking is the simple concept of utilizing parking facilities jointly among different
buildings or businesses in an area to take advantage of different peak parking characteristics. This can be
addressed as part of your land use controls.
4• Parking Requirements: Cities should consider zoning code updates to support smart parking strategies to
reduce parking demands. Site plan review requirements may include maximum parking requirements
(forgoing minimum requirements), flexibility in providing parking off-site, and incentives for shared parking.
5• Adjust Parking Prices: A good way to control demand is through proper pricing. However, it can be difficult
to determine a precise shift in demand for change in price. For example, there are many factors that can
affect elasticity including the user’s income, distance from home to location, availability, convenience, and
cost of other transportation alternatives.
6• Parking Technologies: Integrating the use of new technologies is an effective strategy to manage parking.
The demand for these services has grown to meet the needs of the customer, who now typically pay by
phone or credit/debit card. Innovative technologies are now addressing autonomous vehicles.
7. Wayfinding: Wayfinding systems serve an important role well beyond responding to the need for basic
navigating, identification, and information. From a parking perspective, wayfinding elements can help direct
people to underutilized parking facilities and enhance their experience.

8. Maximum and Minimum Requirements
Traditional parking requirements specify a minimum number of spaces to be provided for each land use.
Alternatively, planners can use parking maximums to better utilize the space. Parking maximums can be used in
addition to, or instead of, parking minimums.
The parking minimums set by most communities are often based on the idea that more parking is better. Too
little parking can lead to spill over into neighborhoods and cars circulating unnecessarily looking for parking;
most local governments and developers want to avoid such outcomes. Unfortunately, the data used to set
minimum parking requirements is often limited and irrelevant.

9. Peripheral Parking Lots
Parking lots placed outside of the central business district, usually with shuttle service to major destinations, are
called peripheral parking. When within 1 mile of the activity center, however, most users will actually walk to
their final destination. The primary goal of peripheral lots is to divert traffic from the central business district (CBD) or major destinations where traffic bottlenecks might occur. Unlike other parking management strategies, the use of peripheral parking might change where people drive, but it is generally not an attempt to influence the mode choice or travel behavior of the driver.

10. Design Considerations / Best Practices
Rather than focus our efforts on increasing the supply of parking, we need to better manage the supply that we
have. Increasing the amount of parking that is shared, improving user information, and using pricing to curb
demand are all strategies that can be implemented to improve the management of parking.
Good design features can help reduce negative impacts on a community and on the environment.