Model-Based Assessment of__the__Cruising Traffic and Environmental Impact of__Parking Restrictions

TL;DR

This paper presents a versatile modeling framework to evaluate how parking restrictions influence cruising traffic and environmental impact in urban areas, balancing increased cruising against mode shifts to greener transport.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible parking search model applicable to simulations and theory, demonstrating its use in assessing environmental effects of parking policies in Lyon.

Findings

Parking restrictions can reduce congestion but may increase cruising traffic.

The framework helps quantify environmental trade-offs of parking policies.

Application to Lyon shows potential for policy optimization.

Abstract

In many large metropolitan areas, cars cruising for parking significantly contribute to congestion and pollution. At the same time, parking restrictions are contemplated to encourage the use of greener transport alternatives. We give a short overview of a versatile modelling framework for parking search, which can be solved by both numerical simulations and theoretical developments, and we illustrate its applicability in Lyon, France. Then, we show how this framework can be leveraged to assess the environmental impact of parking restrictions, weighing the antagonistic effects of the thus-induced excess cruising vs. mode shift.