Assessing Overnight Parking Infrastructure Policies for Commercial Vehicles in Cities Using Agent-Based Simulation

André Romano Alho,Moshe Ben-Akiva,Raja Gopalakrishnan,Yusuke Hara,Lynette Cheah,Takanori Sakai

doi:10.3390/su12072673

Abstract

Urban freight transport is primarily fulfilled by commercial road vehicles. Within cities, overnight parking is a critical element influencing commercial vehicle operations, particularly for heavy vehicles with limited parking options. Providing adequate overnight parking spaces for commercial vehicles tends to be a challenge for urban planners. Inadequate parking supply can result in illegal parking and additional vehicle kilometers traveled, contributing to traffic congestion and air pollution. The lack of tools for evaluating the impacts of changing parking supply is an impediment in developing parking-related solutions that aim to minimize the negative externalities. In this study, we develop an overnight parking choice model for heavy commercial vehicles and integrate it with SimMobility, an agent-based urban simulation platform, demonstrating the potential of this tool for policy evaluation. Using simulations applied to a case study in Singapore, we compare two parking supply scenarios in terms of vehicle kilometers traveled due to changes in the first and last trips of vehicle tours, as well as resulting impacts in traffic flows.

Highlights

The rapid urbanization and structural change in logistics, such as the proliferation of just-in-time inventory management practices and growth in e-commerce, have led to a significant increase in urban freight movements around the world [1]
To contribute towards our understanding of these relationships, we propose the use of an overnight parking choice model, integrated with an agent-based urban freight simulator
This allows us to evaluate traffic impacts of various parking supply scenarios, the extent of inefficiency introduced in vehicle tours due to overnight parking choice, such as the empty trips from overnight parking locations to pick-up and delivery points

Summary

Introduction

The rapid urbanization and structural change in logistics, such as the proliferation of just-in-time inventory management practices and growth in e-commerce, have led to a significant increase in urban freight movements around the world [1]. While analytical models provide valuable insights on the impact of parking policies, the results might not hold under the assumptions of homogenous agents and of a Manhattan Street Network, especially when the study area is extended to an entire city In such cases, a simulation-based approach is more appropriate to evaluate parking policies. To contribute towards our understanding of these relationships, we propose the use of an overnight parking choice model, integrated with an agent-based urban freight simulator This allows us to evaluate traffic impacts of various parking supply scenarios, the extent of inefficiency introduced in vehicle tours due to overnight parking choice, such as the empty trips from overnight parking locations to pick-up and delivery points. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2673 simulator—SimMobility [12,13]—inclusive of its land-use models, to analyze traffic impacts associated with different overnight parking supply scenarios

Case Study Description

SimMobility Overview

HCV Parking Supply Scenarios

Findings

Simulation Setup