Giving parking the time of day: A case study of a novel parking occupancy measure and an evaluation of infill development and carsharing as solutions to parking oversupply

Abstract

In the US, parking is oversupplied in both residential and commercial settings, a consequence of the widespread application of minimum parking standards, which typically supply excess parking for peak-hour demand. Yet the evidence base for specific parking reforms is thin, and alternatives to the peak-hour metric still under-explored. In this illustrative case study, I study time-of-day parking occupancy in a 146-unit apartment complex in Davis, CA to obtain preliminary results, demonstrate new data collection and analysis methods that can be applied at a wider scale, and explore policy analyses that are facilitated by this novel, detailed parking behavior information. First, I systematically observe parking occupancy in the apartment complex to understand hourly variation. I find that the peak and off-peak occupancy rates in the apartment complex are 55% and 34%. I calculate that the 45% of spaces left unused across a day could be converted to roughly 32 new townhouses. I also estimate a multilevel latent class analysis to identify distinct patterns of household parking use and find that 54% of households could be likely candidates for carshare adoption. I conclude by noting implications for housing availability, shared parking standards, the rise of shared and autonomous vehicles, and future research.