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Park & Ride systems (urban)

FACT SHEET NO.: Cat-No.6 / Subcat-No.6.2

General Information

Title

FACT SHEET NO.: Cat-No.6 / Subcat-No.6.2

Category

6. Transport planning

Subcategory

6.2 Urban mobility: plans & audits

Transport policy measure (TPM)

Park & Ride systems (urban)

Description of TPM

Park and ride systems (P&R) are parking facilities at the periphery of cities linked to public transportation. Hence, urban / suburban trips do not have to be entirely performed by car and can partly be conducted by bus or other modes of public transport. Park and ride mostly aims at commuters but is also made for people who make irregular trips to the inner city as well as tourists. The concept targets to improve the accessibility of people which are poorly connected to public transportation and therefore are reliant upon the usage of a car.

Implementation examples

- EC Smile Project: Park and Ride System in Prague, Czech Republic in 2001 [1]
- Park and ride system in Greater Manchester [8]

Objectives of TPM

- Reduction vehicles in the inner city and thus a reduction of congestion.
- Reduce the number of parking facilities in the inner city.
- Achieve modal shift to public transport by integrating it with private car use. [4]

Choice of transport mode / Multimodality

- Increase of multimodality
- Choice of transport mode is not definite: Some (exclusive) car users will use the park and ride system and travel part of their journey by public transportation. Concerning people, which used public transportation systems so far, the convenience of the parking spaces close to the station reveals the opportunity to partly use the car for the trip.

Origin and/or destination of trip

P&R facilities instead of city center

Trip frequency

Slight increase number of leisure trips with city relevance.

Choice of route

Dependent on the location of park and ride facilities.

Timing (day, hour)

No impact

Occupancy rate / Loading factor

Increase of public transport occupany rates

Energy efficiency / Energy usage

Depends on the overall vehicle mileage, which is difficult to determine. Likely higher energy efficiency due to increased public transport usage and less energy consumption.

Main source

[1] European Commission Energy: http://www.managenergy.net/resources/771.
[2] Whitfield, Cooper (1998): The travel effects of park and ride, in Public Transport Planning and Operations. Proceedings of Seminar F held at the European Transport Conference, Loughborough University, England, 14-18 September 1998. Volume P425
[3] Parkhurst (2000): Influence of bus-based park and ride facilities on users’ car traffic, in: Transport Policy 7, p. 159–172
[4] Department for Regional Development, Transport Policy Division (2011): Strategic review of park and ride: Report of the park and ride project group, UK
[5] Oxford et al. (2010): OPTIC Deliverable 1: Inventory of measures, typology of non-intentional effects and a framework for policy packaging
[6] Meek, Ison and Enoch (2007): Park and ride: Lessons for the UK experience, Proceedings of 87th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Paper 08-0730. Washington DC, January 2008
[7] KonSULT: Policy Instruments: A Policy Guidebook, Park and ride: Evidence on Performance.
http://www.konsult.leeds.ac.uk/private/level2/instruments/instrument035/l2_035c.htm
[8] Transport for Greater Manchester: Greater Manchester’s third Local Transport Plan 2011/12 – 2015/16,
http://www.tfgm.com/ltp3/documents/Greater_Manchester_Local_Transport_Plan_Core_Strategy.pdf.

Traffic Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Travel or transport time

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Risk of congestion

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vehicle mileage

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Service and comfort

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

- The effect on vehicle mileage is ambiguous, there are several effects that increase or reduce the vehicle mileage, depending on the specific area:Inner city: The TPM is expected to reduce traffic in the inner city and reduced congestion. Whether congestion is really reduced depends on how much induced traffic occurs due to the freed road capacity. [3] [4] Whether a reduction of traffic occurs also depends on the available parking space in the inner city. [4] Park and ride might, due to the increased convenience (concerning parking possibilities and avoidance of congestion) induce (leisure) traffic to the inner city. [4] [6]
- An increase in traffic occurs in the suburban areas, especially around the park and ride facilities. This is enhanced by public-transport and slow mode users switching to park and ride and thus using a car. [3] But the negative impact on congestion is smaller than the positive impact in the inner city. [3] [4] The new trips to the park and ride facilities might be longer than trips to the city centre, but empirical evidence indicates that even with some longer trips, the overall vehicle mileage of the P&R trips decrease in comparison to the trips made before. [6]Considering urban and non-urban areas, the reduction of vehicle mileage of cars is expected to be larger than the additional mileage of the P&R-buses [3], but they are high frequent and thus have often a low load factor. [6] This indicates, that then effect on vehicle mileage for all modes can not be determined.
- The travel and transport time of road users isexpected to increase, because of an additonal mode shift. The very transport time on road infrastructure is not affected.

Quantification of impacts

- Case study of seven UK cities of traffic implications of the installment of short-range bus-based park and ride opportunities: The traffic avoided in case studies, where reduction occurred, ranged between 1.1 car-km per intercepted car (Brighton) to 6 car-km (Shrewsbury). [3]
- Case study of seven UK cities: removed/redistributed traffic outside urban area: The range of traffic redistribution per intercepted car is between 1.5 car-km (Reading) to 6 car-km (Cambridge). [3]

Economic Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Transport costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Private income / commercial turn over

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Revenues in the transport sector

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sectoral competitiveness

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spatial competitiveness

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Housing expenditures

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Insurance costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Health service costs

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Public authorities & adm. burdens on businesses

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Public income (e.g.: taxes, charges)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Third countries and international relations

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

- Increase of spatial competitiveness concerning local businesses and shops compared to those of a town nearby, but without park and ride facilities. [4]
- The public bodies have to subsidise the parking spaces (in good location), as these are expensive and not be accepted otherwise, thus in fact subsidises car owners. [4] Some P&R spaces can even be used for free. At the same time, this reduces the need for urban road maintenance and construction, which reduces costs. [4]
- The impact on transport costs depends on the implemented scheme.
- Effects on public income: Less charges due to reduction of parking fees, higher revenues for public transport services.

Quantification of impacts


Social Impacts
Environmental Impacts

Passengers 

         

Transport operators 

           

Unassigned 

         

Air pollutants

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Noise emissions

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Visual quality of the landscape

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Land use

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Climate

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Renewable or non-renewable resources

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Overall impacts on social groups

Implementation phase

Operation phase

Summary / comments concerning the main impacts

- The reduced traffic in inner cities reduces air pollutant and noise, while the traffic in the non urban areas increases air pollutants and noise. [7]
- As it is difficult to determine the overall effect on the vehicle mileage, the effect on CO2 emissions and thus the effect on the climate is not definite.
- Negative impact on the visual quality of the landscape as well as land use for the peripheral areas. [4] The latter includes the direct negative impact on land use due to large parking spaces near the stations, which are costly and could be used otherwise and furthermore fostering the urban sprawl. [3] [5]
- Positive impact on land use for the urban area as it opens former parking space for other uses. [4]

Quantification of impacts


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