Residential Permit Parking: Better Off Without It?
Abstract
Residential permit parking (RPP) programs are an often-used yet imperfect solution to parking spillover concerns in residential neighborhoods. A common form of RPP allows residents to purchase stickers that permit unlimited on-street parking but imposes short time limits on nonresident parkers. These programs succeed in general to protect on-street spaces for residents but raise concerns about costs, enforcement difficulties, and inefficiencies if parking goes unused. The concept also raises issues about the equity of favoring resident parkers over others. New technologies (e.g., license plate readers, variable pricing, pay-by-phone systems) may provide new forms of residential parking management to upgrade or replace the older programs. The study presented in this paper developed a set of metrics to evaluate the success of RPP programs. The metrics were applied to a case study of parking in three residential neighborhoods on the south side of Berkeley, California, adjacent to several activity centers, which included three shopping corridors and the University of California's Berkeley campus. At the time of the study, the parking system in Berkeley's residential neighborhoods allowed nonresidents to park for up to 2 h, free of charge, while residents with a city-issued sticker displayed on their vehicles could park for unlimited amounts of time. This design was one commonly used in residential parking policy. The study found that this system worked well for residents but limited availability for nonresidents who had justifiable reasons to park on the neighborhood streets. Many blocks within the study area were underused, and, in this context, the introduction of longer-term pay parking for nonresidents in the residential neighborhood was found to be a better alternative to RPP.
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Article first published online: April 28, 2019
Issue published: January 2014
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