Delineating and Justifying Performance Parking Zones: Data-Driven Criterion Approach in Washington, D.C.

In the ongoing challenge to balance competing demands for curb space in dense urban areas, pricing has become an increasingly popular tool for better matching supply and demand. Performance parking, which applies variable pricing to parking, relies on performance metrics from responsive data and technology to manage pricing and occupancy or availability of parking. However, as parking managers and policy makers have embraced a more data-driven approach to price setting, they have not applied the same objectivity to the delineation of where performance parking should be implemented. The District of Columbia Department of Transportation is faced with the problem of where to apply performance parking appropriately. Initially, performance parking zones were legislatively designated, but in 2012, the enabling legislation was expanded to allow application citywide. Embracing the fact that performance parking is driven by objective metrics, the department developed a methodology to identify and define the objective efficacy of subareas to possibly implement performance parking. The background of the performance parking program is described and shows how the program goals were used to define several metrics for analyzing potential performance parking subareas. The analysis identified 10 potential subareas prime for implementation of performance-based curbside management pricing. This analysis provides an approach to establish the objective justification for the use of performance pricing within subareas of the District. As a result, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation can articulate why certain areas are selected and can implement performance parking with a higher level of confidence that the program will produce the intended impacts.