Evaluating parking reservation policy in urban areas: An environmental perspective

This paper investigates a parking reservation mechanism to reduce car cruising to find parking. To consider the benefits for drivers and parking facility providers, we charge drivers for making reservations in addition to parking fees, by introducing a reservation pricing model that makes reservation prices equivalent to the value of saved search time. By modeling the number of vacant spaces as a stochastic variable, and applying binomial pricing methods, parking reservation prices are obtained. Numerical examples based on the data for two parking facilities in Taiwan are given.

► A parking reservation mechanism that by reducing cruising helps reduce pollution is developed.
► Numerical results from two simulations in Taiwan are presented.
► Results suggest that the reservation benefits drivers, parking operators and the environment.