Civic Analytics and Urban Intelligence

Civic Analytics and Urban Intelligence | Research Plan Pupul Bhoumick | pb2652

Optimally utilizing existing parking spots to meet the parking demand and supply gap in New York City

Overview

The research project will emphasize developing a technologically innovative parking management program for New York Department of Transportation (NYC-DOT), to address the overarching parking shortage challenges in New York City. The program will optimally utilize the existing private parking spaces and recommend NYC-DOT to develop web-based platform for New Yorkers to share private parking spaces.

Background

Parking condition in New York City

· New York has 1.85 million on-street and off-street (public-owned garages) parking spaces for 8.4 million population. In general, New Yorkers cruise about 15, 30 or even 45 minutes to find a parking spot near their residence, office or shopping areas.

· During the COVID-19 pandemic, a sharp jump of 76% in Manhattan and 45% in Brooklyn was seen in vehicular registrations. This suggests more cars are and will be on street than before, resulting into increased demand for parking space (both for residential and commercial areas) requirement.

Need for innovative thinking

· Parking demand will always grow but providing more parking space by sacrificing public spaces/ streets is not the solution. However, making optimal use of the existing parking space should be the approach.

· The pandemic has changed the workplace’s culture, making work from home an adoptable mode, while leaving offices unoccupied. More parking spaces at privately owned commercial buildings are left empty, whereas the on-street parking in residential areas are filled to capacity.

· There is an urgent need for NCY-DOT to shift from its approach of providing more on-street parking to an innovative model of utilizing existing underused private parking spaces.

Focus Area

Proposed Technological Solution- Shared Parking Platform

· Parking demands operate on a peak and off-peak schedule depending on the land use type. This offers an opportunity for the city to better use the parking and satisfy residents and commuters parking needs without increasing parking supply.

· Shared Parking will serve as a tool for sharing parking among land uses with different parking peak timings. It makes private parking space publicly available rather than reserved for single use. It can also reduce the minimum parking requirements for mixed-use developments or single-use developments in mixed-use areas, making buildings more affordable.

Example: An office building sharing parking with a restaurant since most of the office workers (and their cars) will be gone in the evenings when there is the most demand for parking in the restaurant.

Benefits for:

1. City Transportation Department- Reduction in the land given for parking; Manage sudden increase in parking demand; Utilize existing private parking spaces

2. Private Parking Owners- Additional income from their unused parking spaces

3. Parking Renters- Guaranteed availability of affordable parking space within a reasonable range from their residence/ offices/ recreational areas.

Web-Based Platform

The shared parking concept can be implemented on-ground through the development of a web-based two-sided online platform that connects people who have empty garage or car spot with individuals looking for affordable, clean and safe parking. The platform will:

At the User end:

· Allow private properties (residence, commercial building owners, etc.) to register their vacant/ not effectively used parking spot for renting and earn rental money.

· Allow renters to identify suitable parking spots, check available parking slots and parking charges.

· Provide opportunity to the users to create their profile, rate each other and write reviews about their experience (visible to all), ensuring safety and security of the place and vehicle.

· Allow parking space owners to select their choice of renter.

At the NYC-DOT end:

· Make NYC-DOT the transaction facilitator and potentially receive transaction fees upon every booking.

· Allow NYC-DOT to identify zones with high parking searches and registered private parking spots. This will help them understand actual parking requirement scenario for each land use, socio-economic aspect of the area and develop data-driven decisions.

Identify Organizations

· NYC Department of Transportation- Responsible for parking meter installation and maintenance, and municipal parking facility management.

· NYC Parking Authority- Provide web-based platform for finding, reserving and paying parking fees for publicly owned parking garages.

· Spacer- Private online platform for citizens to register their private parking spot for renting.

Key Challenges

· This platform will require coordination and involvement of multiple stakeholders.

· The success of the program will highly depend on public awareness about it and the benefits.

· This might reduce the off-street public parking revenue for the city transportation department.

List of resources reviewed

· PlaNYC 2030 released by Mayor Michael Bloomberg

· Zoning Resolution 2021 for New York City

· The working framework of SpotHero and Spacer web/ mobile based parking reservation application

· Quantified Parking: Comprehensive Parking Inventories for Five U.S. Cities

· Portland Metro’s Model Shared Parking Ordinance

· Shared Parking: Institute of Transportation and Development Policy

Way Forward

Plan for Additional Resources

· Conduct interviews with city officials within NYC-DOT, NYC Parking Authority and NYC Planning- Zoning Resolution, official representatives from Spacer and SpotHero and an official representative of Northwest Portland Parking and Transportation Programs

· Detailed review of Northwest Portland Parking and Transportation Programs Shared Parking Policy for Beijing, China and Montogomery County Zoning Ordinance, Maryland

· Interview with NYU Professor Dr.Zhan Guo to understand and discuss the challenges specific to New York City, anticipated challenges while developing the web-based application, financial implication and funding requirements and manage coordination between multiple stakeholders.

Implementation Roadmap

· Identify pilot project location as a testing bed for conducting and evaluating the feasibility of the program. Based on the learnings from the pilot project, the program can be improved prior to performance of a full-scale project.

· Feasibility study of PPP model (with private companies’ coordination) for implementing the program.

· Identify infrastructural requirement, policy and zoning reforms

· Recommend institutional framework for efficient formulation and implementation of the program and achieve envisaged outcome.

· Formulate Monitoring Framework to determine if the program is on track and is achieving its long-term goals of effective utilization of private parking spots.