Development of Parking Choice Models for Special Events

Abstract

Research was conducted to evaluate parking lot choice in the context of special events. Three major factors—driving time, parking cost, and walking time—are considered as the principal components of utility associated with the choice of a parking lot. The lot choice model is derived by using the logit function, while the joint parking lot destination choice and assignment model is formulated from the concepts of user equilibrium traffic assignment and entropy maximization for trip distribution. Parking lot choices by University of Wisconsin men’s basketball game attendees at the Kohl Center in Madison are used as a case study for model calibration and application. The parameter calibration was conducted both for all lots and for public and private lots separately. Parking lot choice was also analyzed by direction of approach. Two distinct assignment scenarios were evaluated by using the user equilibrium assignment methodology. The impact of the system optimal and minimum-cost assignments on total network costs was evaluated. The parking lot choice model was applied to estimate the impact of opening a new private parking lot to season permit parking.