Parking Management Strategies for Asian Developing Countries

TLDR: In this paper, the authors investigated the parking situation and policies in urban areas of developing countries with a higher focus placed on eight selected Asian cities, focusing on parking supply and demand and parking user behavior.

Abstract: Rapid motorisation with high motorcycle volume is a unique traffic situation in Asian developing countries. The travel behaviour in these countries is dominated by motorcycle-traffic-culture in which the convenience of this transport mode is exploited. With the ability to enter small alleys and to serve door-to-door mobility, motorcycles are excellent in accessibility. They are also relatively small in size, offering manoeuvring flexibility and freedom to park practically nearly anywhere. At user level, such a motorcycle-dominated culture has resulted in a number of parking issues in Asian developing countries. Transport users are having a unique travel behaviour regarding parking duration, parking searching time and walking distance. The number of private vehicles has been increased while the available space on the roads has remained unchanged, leaving a huge gap between parking supply and demand. Illegal parking occurs frequently in many urban areas, especially central business districts. At city level, rapid motorisation and its uncertain future growth rate are making the planning for parking a challenge. The parking policy has not only poorly aligned with transport policy but also rarely been a particular focus of policies of urban systems. Furthermore, parking spaces have attracted higher opportunity cost due to increased land price in densely-populated urban areas. Given the current problematic parking situation in Asian developing countries, parking management is of critical significance and must be addressed. Appropriate parking planning could positively influence destination choice, modal choice, the volume of car traffic, traffic flow quality, and even land-use and urban structure. Proper parking management might significantly contribute to the sustainability of urban transport development. This study aims to develop parking management strategies for urban areas in Asian developing cities to control motorisation and promote public transport, walking and cycling. Firstly, the study investigates the parking situation and policies in urban areas of developing countries with a higher focus placed on eight selected Asian cities. Eight principles of parking management are then proposed: 1) Parking policy should align with the overall transport management policy and the urban development policy to ensure the liveability of the cities; 2) Parking policy should be made specific for individual urban zones due to their dissimilar characteristics; 3) Mutual effects of parking policies in neighbouring zones should be considered by implementing an area-wide parking management; 4) Parking demand should be analysed for specific user groups; 5) Qualified demand, which should be satisfied by the parking supply, should be distinguished from the general parking demand; 6) Different parking regulations should be used to prioritise specific user demand groups; 7) The amount of parking supply should be controlled to ensure that not any parts of the supply remain unregulated; and 8) Illegal parking should be avoided by physical measures and strict enforcement of parking regulations. Secondly, parking planning methodologies are investigated and compared to recommend a method to efficiently analyse parking supply and demand. Data collection in parking studies in Asian developing cities has been a major challenge due to the local rapid motorisation. Two-step planning at macro and micro level is recommended in this study to overcome this challenge. At macro level, the parking analysis mostly utilises the O-D traffic data within city zones to estimate type and volume of transport mode and required parking spaces. In many Asian cities, data on attraction and modal split of many urban zones are yearly collected. The data can be re-utilised for long period of time. At micro level, the parking analysis helps to verify the planning by analysing parking demand, behaviour and characteristics at typical streets and land use types. The case of Hanoi, focusing on parking supply and demand and parking user‘s behaviour, is further studied. Thirdly, potential parking management measures are defined, followed by a thorough discussion on their advantages and disadvantages in the local context. It is argued that a localised parking supply enhancement measure is needed. The concept of para-parking or the legalisation of illegal parking is developed, covering the requirements of different stakeholder groups, detailed parking regulations, strict enforcement of parking, and a parking pricing scheme. Para-parking is positioned as a significant measure which could potentially enhance the sustainable mobility in urban areas of developing cities. It particularly benefits transport planners in the sense that parking resources can be reasonably shared and efficiently utilised and that unplanned land use is controlled. Furthermore, para-parking also helps develop new parking businesses in urban areas while establishing reasonable pricing schemes and effective regulations. Finally, zone-based parking management strategies are recommended to facilitate the reduction of automobile dependency and promote environment-friendly public transport and non-motorised transport. In summary, the application of two-step parking planning method, para-parking concept, and zone-based parking management strategies in Asian developing cities would be useful for transport planners and authorities. Those actions facilitate sustainable mobility for all user groups, which has been seen as one of the most important factors for urban development and a vital goal of traffic management.