Parking Policies and Road Pricing

Abstract

There are two main sources of inefficiency in urban transport markets. First, transport prices fail to reflect the external costs of travel, notably peak-period external congestion costs. Secondly, a large percentage of drivers park for free, particularly at the workplace. Economic theory suggests, in the absence of other market distortions, that efficiency can be restored with a perfectly differentiated external cost charge in conjunction with resource-cost pricing of all parking spots. In practice, urban transport authorities can try various combinations of imperfect road-pricing systems and imperfect parking charges. One example might be the use of a single cordon charge to enter a city, together with a tax on workplace parking. In this paper, we use a numerical simulation model of an urban transport market to examine the efficiency gains from various parking policies with and without a simple cordon system. As would be expected, we show that pricing of parking and road use need to be simultaneously determined. As the level of the parking fee becomes more efficient, or as the number of free parkers is reduced, so the level of optimally determined cordon charge falls. Additionally, by introducing a cordon charge, the level of the optimally determined parking fee falls. The model results show that the second-best pricing of all parking spaces produces higher welfare gains than the use of a single-ring cordon scheme, though marginally lower than the combination of a cordon charge with resource-cost pricing of parking spots.

An integrated model of downtown parking and traffic congestion

“…De…nition 1 A saturated, steady-state equilibrium is a pair (T; C) with T > 0; C 0, that solve (8) and (9) . …”

“…The …rst derives from the increase in steady-state ‡ow, holding travel speed …xed; the second, from the decrease in travel speed due to the increased ‡ow; and the third, from the decrease in travel speed due to the increased amount of curbside allocated to parking. The increase in the stock of cars in transit due to these three e¤ects is obtained by total di¤erentiation of (9), holding C …xed at 0, which yields @T @P (9) =T P ( 1…”

“…One circumstance under which a saturated equilibrium does not exist occurs when the road's ‡ow capacity -de…ned as max T T mt(T;0;W;P ) -falls short of P=l. In this case, if an equilibrium exists it entails parking being unsaturated 9 .…”

The dynamics of urban traffic congestion and the price of parking

“…In a static simulation model, Calthrop et al (2000) analyze the efficiency gains from parking fees and road pricing (a cordon toll). They find that these two policies are sub-additive: as roads are more efficiently priced, there is less need for pricing of parking.…”

Urban parking policy in Europe: A conceptualization of past and possible future trends

“…Additionally, only a few authors have tried to explore the theoretical aspects of parking as a whole. Arnott (2006) researches optimal parking policies in urban areas, whilst others (Verhoef et al, 1995;Calthrop et al, 2000;Button, 2006) focus on the economic analysis of parking policies as a substitute to road pricing. Next, some authors address the theoretical aspect of parking problems in specific areas such as the Central Business District (Ligocki and Zonn, 1984;Voith, 1997 and1998) or residential areas (Merriman, 1995).…”