Paper Details

TRB 91st Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Event Number:	336
Event Title:	Parking: Getting the Supply Right
Event Date:	Jan 23 2012 1:30PM- 3:15PM
Event Location:	Hilton, Columbia Hall 7
Event Description:
Event Agenda:

Price Elasticity of On-street Parking Demand: Case Study from Seattle, Washington (12-4553)

This study investigates the elasticity of on-street parking demand using the automatic transaction data from parking pay stations obtained before and after a parking rate change that was implemented in Seattle in early 2011. The parking rate implementation consisted of a rate increase in some neighborhoods, a rate decrease or no rate change in others. We formulated elasticity as a function of time of day and neighborhood characteristics by developing two generalized least square (GLS) models. We also probed into the potential presence of “asymmetric behavior” — on-street parking demand response to an increase in pricing might respond differently to a decrease in pricing. Results confirm our hypotheses — price elasticity of the parking occupancy is inelastic and varies by time of day and neighborhood characteristics. Furthermore, the price elasticity for neighborhoods with increased rates is higher (-0.304) than that for those with decreased rates (-0.103), suggesting that parking demand is more sensitive to rate increases than decreases, supporting our hypothesis on asymmetric behavior. For policy guidance on pricing, we demonstrated that the estimated elasticities can be used to determine the optimal parking rate to achieve a desired level of parking occupancy at every block in the study area. This method can be easily applied in every city that has similar parking pay stations.

Authors
     Ottosson, Dadi Baldur, University of Washington
     Lin, Haiyun , City College of City University of New York
     Chen, Cynthia , University of Washington