Trip Generation and Parking Requirements in Traditional Shopping Districts

Abstract

The New Urbanists assume that if you build a village center or Main Street-style retail businesses in the middle of a residential neighborhood, it will, among other things, reduce the level of automobile usage. Based on the claim of reduced automobile travel, advocates suggest that parking requirements and transportation impact fees should similarly be reduced. Although it would be ideal to test these claims using New Urbanist development, current developments lack well-established retail businesses. Thus, this study considers these claims of the New Urbanists using six prototypical traditional shopping districts in the Oakland-Berkeley subarea of the San Francisco Bay Area. Each of these districts is surrounded by residential areas of moderately high density [between 5.3 and 8.5 persons per hectare (13–21 persons per gross acre)] and middle-class residents. These shopping areas vary in scale and mix of businesses covering the range of sizes and types espoused by the New Urbanists. The trip generation rates and parking needs for each of these prototypical shopping areas are calculated and compared with ITE-based rates for both an average hour and a daily rate. Based on these comparisons, a conclusion is reached that the claims of the New Urbanists for reduced parking and transportation fees cannot be wholeheartedly supported if the needs of the neighborhood are to be considered. Although many customers walk to these shopping areas, the trips by modes other than automobile are offset by a higher overall level of activity in the shopping area.

Examining Consumer Behavior and Travel Choices

“…Research has also shown that people trade off convenience with price, quality, parking availability, and other intangibles when grocery shopping (Handy and Clifton, 2001). An empirical investigation of traditional shopping districts found that while these districts are associated with higher rates of walking, bicycling and transit, many people still access them by car, especially if visiting grocery stores (Steiner, 1998). Results of these studies have suggested and supported the notion that driving to supermarkets is attractive compared with other travel modes due to the ease of transporting grocery bags.…”

Measuring transportation at a human scale: An intercept survey approach to capture pedestrian activity

“…Intercept surveys are useful for gathering a sufficient sample of trips associated with specific activity centers. Intercept surveys can be used to gather sufficient data about travel to specific activity locations, such as shopping districts (Steiner 1998), transit hubs (Schaller 2005), and multi-use trails (Krizek et al 2007). Household travel surveys often capture a representative sample of people in residential neighborhoods, but they may not provide sufficient data for documenting trips to, from, and within particular activity centers.…”

Intelligent parking systems

“…1016/j.ejor.2005.02.033 strategy. During the last four decades numerous parking search models have been developed (Van der Goot, 1982;Axhausen and Polak, 1991;Polak and Axhausen, 1990;Young et al, 1991a,b;Saltzman, 1997;Shoup, 1997;Steiner, 1998;Thompson and Richardson, 1998;Arnott and Rowse, 1999;Tam and Lam, 2000;Wong et al, 2000;Waterson et al, 2001). In many decision-making situations in transportation (modal split, choice of air carrier, choice of airport, etc.)…”