Factors Affecting Residential Parking Occupancy in Madison, Wisconsin

Abstract

Policy makers in urban areas throughout the United States are interested in managing parking provision and minimizing the negative impacts of excess parking, yet those policy makers often lack an understanding of how much the existing parking is used and how different factors affect its use. This paper presents a study of multifamily residential parking use and related factors at 80 sites in Madison, Wisconsin. Twenty-two factors, including neighborhood and building characteristics, are considered. During the evening peak, parking use ranges from 0 to 1.4 spaces per residential unit, and the existing supply is 67% occupied. This paper presents three simple models of parking occupancy that require only two neighborhood characteristics and three building characteristics. These models explain roughly two-thirds of the variation in occupancy. Neighborhood characteristics are highly collinear and explain roughly 40% of the variation. Building characteristics explain more than 50% of the variation. This work validates similar findings from prior studies of larger cities and also offers important guidance for practitioners in other cities to understand factors affecting parking demand and to develop models of their own. Given the vast amount of unused parking observed in this study, this work reinforces the notion that cities should implement policies to manage their supply better.