The parking problem is no longer a hot potato.

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Shoup (2005) suggested curb parking because people spend a lot of time and effort on the road looking for space to park their cars. Many state governments are trying to solve parking problems by introducing the curb parking price which is based on the Goldilocks principle. For example, San Francisco applies the ambitious curb parking system in the SF Park, getting prices depending on the occupancy rate.
Nevertheless, parking is still one of the biggest issues that need to be solved, given the fixed amount of space. According to Seymour Taylor’s research (1959), 28% of the downtown area in Los Angeles is used in the street, freeway, and service ways and another 38% is used as off-street parking. Wilbur Smith and Associates (1966) said that 59% of the LA Central Business District was composed with 10% of sidewalks, 25% of the streets and 24% of the parking lots. If most workers commute by automobile, the parking space may require 400 sqft, even though the office space for a working person needs to be 250 sqft. People demand more parking space than their physical workspace.

Banerjee and Associates (2003) highlight 16 common parking problems, including payment methods and location of parking lots. However, I think parking problems may not be a problematic issue in the future any more. According to Morris (2018) and Walker Consultant (2018b), as more and more people are using ride-hailing services, the demand for parking lots at facilities such as airports, event facilities, and hotels has decreased. The demand for hotel parking in San Diego has dropped by 5% to 10%, while restaurant valet demand decreased to 25%. If people go to the airport with their own car, they will have to pay the parking fee for the duration of their travel. However, if they use the Uber or Lyft, it can be more economical and efficient because they have to pay only when they go to and from the airport.
In addition, the ride-hailing market is gradually growing compared with rental cars and taxis. Major airports in the United States charge entrance fees to transportation network companies like Uber or Lyft to conserve profits earned from parking lots (Walker Consultants, 2018a).
Figure 1. Comparison of car rental, taxis, and ride-hailing by the period
Figure 2. Airport charging fee for ride-hailing companies
In addition, I expect autonomous vehicles (AVs) to have more impact on parking and urban forms as AVs become a more prevalent type of transportation. As Metz (2018) said, when the driverless vehicles are commercialized, the parking lots near the workplace do not need any more since the car can return home. If autonomous taxis were to replace personally owned vehicles, it would result in a similar effect on parking space.
Reduction in parking lots near the workplace would permit the opportunity for land development. Autonomous vehicles no longer require the driver to open the door (Nourinejad et al., 2018), and although people travel by ride-hailing, parking spaces are not necessary as much as before they were (Fulton, 2015). Therefore, urban planners have to be more intentional with parking spaces to ensure they are a valuable and used space in the urban environment.

References
Banerjee and Associates (2003). An Overview of Common Parking Issues, Parking Management Options, and Creative Solutions, City of Pasadena Department of Transportation. Retrieved from https://pipta.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Parking-Problems-and-Creative-Solutions.pdf
Fulton, W. (2015, April 1). The Future of Parking in an Era of Car-Sharing. Retrieved from http://www.governing.com/columns/urban-notebook/gov-drive-less-park-less.html
Gaskell, A. (2018, April 13). How Autonomous Vehicles Might Reshape Our Cities. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2018/04/13/how-autonomous-vehicles-might-reshape-our-cities/#4d15a1a33078
Manville, M. and Shoup, D. (2005). Parking, People, and Cities, Journal of Urban Planning and Development,131(4), 233-245.
Metz, D. (2018). Developing Policy for Urban Autonomous Vehicles: Impact on Congestion, Urban Science, 2(33).
Morris, D. Z. (2018, February 24). Yes, Uber Really is Killing the Parking Business, Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/02/24/yes-uber-really-is-killing-the-parking-business/
Nourinejad, M., Bahrami, S., Roorda, M. J. (2018), Designing Parking Facilities for Autonomous Vehicles, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 109, 10-127.
Shoup, D. (2011). Free Parking or Free Markets., Access Magazine,1(38), 28-35.
Smith, W. and Associates (1966), Transportation and Parking for tomorrow’s cities, New Haven, Conn.
Taylor, S. (1959). Freeways alone are not enough., Traffic Q., 346-365.
Walker Consultant (2018a, January 29), Airport Parking in the Age of Uber. Retrieved from https://walkerconsultants.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Airport-Short-Paper.pdf

Walker Consultant (2018b, January 29), Ride-hailing Impacts on Parking. Retrieved from https://walkerconsultants.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/TNC-Impacts.pdf



Written by: Minju Kim
Edited by: Kyuri Kim and Jensen Perrick

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