Tim Burgess' City View

Demand-Based Parking Showing Promise

A few cities around the U.S., including Seattle and San Francisco, are trying new on-street parking management techniques to reduce cruising for open parking spaces and ensure one or two available spaces on each block. Today's New York Times has an article about how San Francisco's experiment is going. Just like here in Seattle where Councilmember Mike O'Brien and I led the effort to switch to demand-based parking management, San Francisco's effort shows promise.

Read my earlier posts on better on-street parking management strategies here.

New Street Parking Policies: Are They Working?

In the fall of 2010, the City Council adopted new on-street parking management policies.

These new policies were designed to (1) keep one or two spaces available on each block in our neighborhood business districts, (2) reduce congestion and environmental harm from cruising for an open space, (3) and shift from a revenue-based orientation to an outcome-based orientation. (I wrote extensively about these new policies when they were being developed.)

Now, there are new concerns that the parking policy changes made in 2010 are adversely impacting businesses, essentially driving customers away. There are specific concerns about the decision to extend pay periods from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in certain neighborhoods. (As a clarification, the Mayor sets the times of day for paid parking; the City Council determines the days of the week.) However, collected occupancy data shows the new policies are working as they were intended.

In the Chinatown-International District, a study of occupancy this past fall by SDOT showed that

"Data collected in September 2011 showed that the new evening parking hours in Chinatown/International District are achieving the intended results.  The City Council approved policy calls for parking spaces to be occupied between 65% and 83% of the time. Parking occupancy at 7:00 PM was measured at 78%, right in the target range of one to two open spaces. Data from our pay stations also shows transactions per day have been consistent in Chinatown/International District since September.  This preliminary data is consistent with data we’ve seen in the other neighborhoods where parking was extended to 8 PM in 2011."

SDOT will soon complete another citywide assessment of parking occupancy and further divide neighborhood parking areas into smaller zones which will allow even more precision in setting meter rates and hours to achieve the desired outcomes. Later this year, we'll all be able to pay on-street parking meter fees by cell phone.

Nine Parking Scofflaw Boots Applied on First Day

Today was the first day of the City's new parking scofflaw enforcement program.  Vehicles with four or more outstanding parking tickets are subject to "booting," meaning the vehicle is immobilized until the owner pays all outstanding parking fines.  Here's what happened today.

Parking Enforcement Officers booted a total of 9 vehicles today.  The first boot was applied at 2:13 p.m. and the last was applied at 3:49 p.m.  At the lowest end of the range of vehicles booted today, $467 is owed on 4 outstanding tickets.  At the highest end of the range of vehicles booted today, $3,308 is owed on 34 outstanding tickets.

As of 4 p.m. today, one booted motorist had paid the amount owed and self-released the boot. Seventeen minutes elapsed from the time that the boot was applied until the boot was released.

• That vehicle was booted at 3:34 p.m.
• The motorist called the boot vendor at 3:44 p.m. 
• The amount owed, $475 (including the $145 boot fee) was paid at 3:50 p.m. 
• The vehicle was released from the boot at 3:51 p.m.

Save Money! Pay Traffic & Parking Tickets Now and Save

The City's Municipal Court judges have opened a special "save money" window of time that allows you to lower costs on outstanding traffic and parking infractions.  But, the window slams shut at the end of June.  Here's a link to frequently asked questions about the program.

These reduced cost program expires June 30, one day before the City's new Boot-the-Car enforcement effort begins.  So, get those unpaid traffic and parking tickets paid off or else your vehicle may be subject to booting, a device that attaches to your tire and makes moving your car impossible.  Don't get the boot!  Pay off your traffic and parking tickets today.

 

Parking Perspective . . . Again

"I can never find a parking spot when I go downtown or to Pioneer Square."

"It's so frustrating to try and park on Capitol Hill at night, there is no street parking."

"As a small business owner, I watch my customers drive by and just keep going.  They can't find spots on the street."

The above complaints are heard all around Seattle.  That's why Councilmember Mike O'Brien and I started asking questions and challenging assumptions when the Council began consideration of Mayor McGinn's proposed 2011 budget this past September.  How does the City manage on-street parking? What are our specific goals with regard to on-street parking? What drives our decisions about parking meter rates? 

Managing Parking with Facts

It's interesting how people react to change.  Some consider the options and make a decision based on personal preference.  Others reject change outright. "No way," they say.  Some look at the facts and try to make a reasoned decision.

Take on-street parking meter rates.  Yikes!  Talk about opinions. 

There's a front page story in today's Seattle Times on the city's switch to data-driven parking strategies.  Reporter Mike Lindblom does a good job covering the policy decision the Council made in November when we adopted next year's budget.  I've written a lot on this topic and you can read my thoughts here, including much more discussion of the underlying public policy implications of parking strategies.

The Value of Outcome Based Parking Policies

(This post was first published at Publicola.) 

By Tim Burgess and Mike O’Brien

If you’re like us, when you’re not on your scooter or bike you’re often frustrated trying to find on-street parking when running errands, shopping or dining out, particularly on Capitol Hill or downtown in the late afternoon and evening. Like us, you probably also want to pay as little as possible for parking.  Available and cheap parking would seem to be the answer, but unfortunately in Seattle there is often more demand than there is supply. When it comes to on-street parking, we have to choose between available and cheap.

Historically, Seattle has done what most cities do: focus on providing cheap on-street parking. 

Benefit for All: Market-Driven Parking Costs

Two proposals in this year's budget recommendations from Mayor Mike McGinn have generated the most controversy—reducing hours at neighborhood community centers and higher fees for on-street parking. With the city's annual budget approaching $4 billion these two items represent a tiny fraction of total spending, but they prove Tip O'Neill's famous quip, "All politics is local." 

Municipal government is closest to the people.  It's the form of government people see every day and use the most.  So when local government proposes a change, reaction can be quick and sometimes fierce.

The outcry over increased parking rates has indeed been quick and fierce.  My office has heard it loud and clear—you're just grabbing for more money, you'll hurt local businesses, you'll drive shoppers to Bellevue or the malls, don't you realize we're hurting out here.

But, what if the higher on-street parking rates are actually a benefit, a change that will help retail businesses, improve the flow of traffic, lower carbon emissions and help pay for pedestrian improvements, better lighting and more frequent cleaning?

A Pro Business Parking Strategy

Mayor McGinn's proposed 2011 budget calls for raising on-street parking prices to as much as $4 per hour in the downtown core and smaller increases in other city neighborhoods. (The Mayor's budget legislation actually sets a $5 top limit per hour on meter rates.) The Mayor is on the right track, but we should go even further and introduce demand-sensitive variable pricing as quickly as possible.

Demand-sensitive or performance-based on-street parking rates are pro business.  Here's why as explained by Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning at UCLA and the author of The High Cost of Free Parking.

"Prices that produce an occupancy rate of about 85% can be called 'performance-based' for three reasons.  First, curb parking will perform efficiently.  The spaces will be well used but readily available.  Second, the transportation system will perform efficiently.  Cruising for underpriced curb parking will not congest traffic, waste fuel, and pollute the air.  Third, the economy will perform efficiently.  The price of parking will be higher when demand is higher, and this higher price will encourage rapid parking turnover.  Drivers will park, buy something, and leave quickly so that other drivers can use the spaces.  Cities can achieve all these goals by setting curb parking prices to yield about an 85% occupancy rate." ("The Price of Parking on a Great Street," Parking Today magazine, February 2009.)

Shoup also recommends that parking meter revenue above the current base rate be dedicated to neighborhood-specific street improvement projects, including more frequent street and sidewalk cleaning, enhanced lighting, more police, litter and grafitti cleanup, and pedestrian improvements.  Shoup calls this revenue dedication "parking increment financing." 

San Francisco will soon launch a very sophisticated experiment in on-street parking management.  This three-minute video provides the essence of their program. Many of the core elements of the San Francisco program could be introduced here fairly quickly.  For example, we could adjust meter parking rates electronically by neighborhood on a quarterly or monthly basis to achieve the desired 85% occupancy rate.

And here's a New York Times opinion piece by Shoup that explains the most effective pricing model for on-street parking. 

The Council should adopt specific outcomes related to on-street parking, such as the 85% occupancy standard and then allow variable demand-sensitive meter rates.  When demand is low, for example on weekends and late at night, meter rates would be low or free.  When demand is high, primarily during the day or early evening hours, meter rates would also be high.  This approach to public policy is objective, is outcome-driven, and removes the political squabbles and conflicts of the traditional approach to setting meter rates.