Collaborating With Other Service Providers to Make Parking Easier and Reduce Congestion in Washington D.C.
Project Context
From the city: “Prior to SFpark…parking rates and fines were used to achieve turnover goals through short time limits as well as, often, to increase revenues to balance budgets. Rates were not tied to transportation policy goals, and rates at on-street meters were the same all day every day, regardless of demand. Meter rates were set lower than the rates at municipal garages, giving drivers financial incentive to circle to find on-street parking. The historical approach…has been reasonably effective, but it is not convenient for drivers, nor does it explicitly manage towards creating parking availability and thereby achieving broader goals for the city or its transportation system.”
“How cities manage parking really matters, as how we manage parking can help us be more successful as a city. When parking is difficult to find, many people double park or circle to find a space. This circling doesn’t just waste time and fuel—it’s also dangerous. Circling drivers are distracted drivers making lots of right and left turns who are more likely to hit someone crossing the street, a cyclist, or another car.”
“Parking also affects economic competitiveness—if very few spaces are available, fewer people can access our commercial districts. The reality or even just the perception that it is hard to find a parking space in a particular area can hurt its economic vitality.”
Project Goals and Strategies
Collaborating With Other Service Providers to Make Parking Easier and Reduce Congestion in Washington D.C.
Project Context & Goals
The growing number of residents, commuters, and visitors circling to find parking and parking illegally was creating congestion and stress in the District. There was limited information on parking availability, and illegally parked vehicles were impacting public safety by blocking critical routes for emergency responders.
Fybr’s Role
Conduent (now Trellint) was the lead operator for the entire project. Fybr designed, manufactured, installed and maintained all of the sensor-supporting hardware being used on the project in addition to all of the parking sensors monitoring motorist arrival and departure information for each space. The data collected by Fybr was transmitted electronically to the Conduent database.
Project Outcomes & Reflections
The District Department of Transportation’s ParkDC pilot successfully implemented a cost-effective, data-driven approach to managing on-street parking. The deployment of Fybr’s parking sensors was successfully combined with a range of data sources, including transactions, historical occupancy, and citations to produce real-time availability information and inform pricing algorithms, which had the following outcomes:
Better information, viable occupancy detection, and demand-based pricing has helped to reduce parking congestion downtown.
Parking availability increased in high demand areas and empty spaces were more utilized. At the beginning of the pilot, 62% of block spaces had the desired level of usage which increased to 72%.
Collected data proved that parking pricing plays an important role in addressing parking demand. By increasing time limits and lowering prices in low-demand areas, occupancy increased by 12% and length of stay increased by 14 minutes.
Parking customers reported a 7-minute decline in the time it took to find parking.
The connection has been made between roadway congestion and curbside management. As the supply of parking spaces opened up, circling, illegal parking, and double parking decreased.