Evaluation of Real-Time Parking Information

Abstract

Although parking is an important issue in transportation engineering and planning, little research has examined the use of new parking information technologies in rural communities. The Clemson University campus, in South Carolina, was used as a case study to determine the ability of roadside parking information systems to reduce delay, cut travel time, and manage changing volumes of cars. To examine these effects, a traffic simulation model of the campus was built, calibrated, and validated. The model used a dynamic assignment approach to capture the rerouting of vehicles in response to parking availability information for several key parking lots. It was found that use of roadside parking information systems, such as dynamic message signs, can reduce delay while not significantly affecting volumes, travel times, or speeds. The findings suggested that delay reduction was caused by a decrease in vehicle circulation time.

How Much Can a Smart Parking System Save You?

“…Although our findings were significant and savings could be realized with an SPS, the costs of the system outweigh the benefits in this case. There is reason to believe, however, that the benefits of an SPS would be magnified on a greater scale in which there were many lots to choose from, much like the study conducted by Fries et al (2010). The next step in determining whether or not an SPS would be beneficial to ERAU is to model multiple parking lots to get a more accurate depiction of parking search time savings and their economic impact.…”

“…Researchers use DES to model systems such as manufacturing plants, computer networks, and parking lots (Kelton, Sadowski, & Swets, 2010). DES is a viable tool for studying the problems of evaluating the effect of real-time parking information on parking search time (Fries, Chowdhury, Dunning, & Gahrooei, 2010; Harris & Dessouky, 1997; Kelton et al, 2010; Lu et al, 2009).…”

“…In another example, Fries et al (2010) conducted a simulation study to evaluate the effect of real-time information on the parking activities on a rural campus. The real-time parking information was distributed to drivers via three variable-message signs placed along a perimeter road.…”

“…This study builds on the Lu et al (2009) and Fries et al (2010) studies in that it demonstrates SPS benefits under a different set of assumptions (e.g., there is no metered parking at the participating university), adds to the scarce DES parking literature, and provides a resource on which the participating university can conduct in-depth assessments of how SPSs can affect its unique parking environment.…”

Evaluating the Effect of Smart Parking Technology on Campus Parking System Efficiency using Discrete Event Simulation

“…gas, time, and emission savings). There is reason to believe, however, that the benefits of an SPS would be magnified on a greater scale in which there were many lots to choose from, much like the studies conducted by Thompson and Richardson (1998) and Fries et al (2010). In conclusion, the next step in determining whether or not an SPS would be beneficial to the Embry-Riddle campus is to model multiple parking lots to get a more accurate depiction of PST savings and their economic impact.…”