On-Street Parking Demand Assessment in CBD Area Using Different Data Frequency

Abstract

In many Indian cities, CBD areas are characterized by high demand for on-street parking, which has often led parking space problems, especially during peak hours and special events. Lack of data for on-street parking demand and absence of unambiguous on-street parking policy result in business as usual condition for parking on major streets of CBD area. To analyze on-street parking demand and optimize the survey interval for which parking survey should be carried in CBD area, two busy urban streets of Rajkot city, Gujarat, India were considered. Selected streets have two different land-use types, namely medical and commercial. On-street parking inventory survey was carried out by license plate method 1 h interval during business hours for a normal working day to determine peak parking hours. Microscopic parking investigation was further carried out during peak parking hours by collecting demand data at 10 min data monitoring interval for four normal working days and weekends. Uniform patterns of parking were observed throw out the survey period of frequency at 10 min, however, variation in demand observed among the day. Data monitoring interval had a significant effect on observed demand. To probe further, the percentage of unique parked vehicles was extracted from the observed demand for different data monitoring interval. Analysis of PUPV revealed that PUPV followed a progressively increasing trend as monitoring interval increases. Further, a consistent trend was observed for all survey day for both subject land use. Consistency of PUPV in the form (C.V) was observed for 30 min data monitoring interval for both subject land-use types. Microscopic behavioral analysis carried by obtaining percentage repetition of parked vehicles (PRPV) between two successive sets of observations for different data monitoring intervals revealed that PRV followed a decaying trend with data monitoring interval. Statistical analysis on PRV values between different data monitoring intervals revealed similar behavior post-20 min data monitoring interval. Turnover analysis revealed a decaying trend with data monitoring interval. Turnover was observed to be consistent at 30 min data monitoring interval. In the context to consistent PUPV and consistent turnover, the study proposes to evaluate parking utilization and parking efficiency at 30 min data monitoring interval in CBD areas of developing countries. In addition, based on the statistical result on PRV, the study proposes to provide 20 min as free parking duration.