Tradable Parking Permits as a Transportation Demand Management Strategy: A Behavioural Investigation

Abstract

Tradable parking permit schemes can be an effective transportation demand management strategy by allocating parking spaces efficiently and encouraging the use of non-single occupancy modes of transport. We investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of tradable parking permit schemes in high density cities with parking constraints. We focus on the effect of four behavioural factors, namely, reference dependence, endowment effect, social nudge, and environmental consciousness. Online experiments are conducted via Amazon Turk Prime platform, with participants recruited from eight Chinese cities. Our investigation on reference dependence and endowment effect suggest that tradable parking permit schemes is feasible and efficient. Environmental consciousness can improve the schemes’ effectiveness in encouraging participants to switch to public transport, but social nudge shows no significant effect. Our study provides much-needed empirical findings about tradable credits for transportation management on the individual level.