Click here to skip to main content.
scenic picture from Washington state
Subjects › Transportation › Downtown Parking
Updated 06/2011

Downtown Parking

Contents

Introduction - What makes downtown parking special?

There are special issues associated with parking in downtown areas where land is valuable and relatively scarce and large numbers of people converge to work, shop, and visit. The lack of parking is sometimes cited as a reason for the declining vitality of a downtown business district. Some downtowns seem to thrive despite a shortage of parking because of the attractions they offer, as long as they provide alternative ways of getting there and getting around. Parking is not an end in itself but is intended to serve the needs of the various users of downtown, including workers, shoppers, tourists, and others.

Provision of adequate parking can be challenging in downtowns of all sizes. In large cities and major metropolitan areas, transportation policies typically emphasize the use of transit and ridesharing programs instead of providing low-cost downtown parking. Some smaller communities, especially resort communities, have developed systems of parking lots and shuttles to reduce the demand for parking in the town center. In most cities, there is likely to always be a need for a certain amount of parking, whether it be on-street or off-street. Some downtowns predate the widespread use of the automobile and were not laid out with parking in mind. Downtowns are typically compact, which also means that there is not ample space for parking. Parking is not intrinsically an aesthetic asset to a city's character, and extensive parking lots are particularly jarring in historic downtown environments. In metropolitan areas, for downtown businesses to successfully compete with suburban shopping centers, a workable balance of parking, transit service, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and other access options is essential.

Decisions about downtown parking and other access solutions require trade-offs between the use of expensive land to achieve a viable and attractive downtown and the provision of workable parking and access programs to support downtown's vitality. Thus, parking is only one element in a broad range of access and circulation options for downtown.

This Web page is organized into several general topics related to downtown parking.

Downtown Parking in General

This section includes general materials addressing basic downtown parking issues, principles, and goals.

  • Parking management made easy: a guide to taming the downtown parking beast (Adobe Acrobat Document) prepared by the Oregon Downtown Development Association for the Transportation and Growth Management Program, June 2001. Useful step-by-step handbook to addressing downtown parking issues including inventories and potential solutions
  • The Dynamics of On-Street Parking in Large Central Cities, by Allison L. C. de Cerreño, Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, December 2002
  • Parking: The Parking Handbook for Small Communities, by John D. Edwards, ITE, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1994. Library Loan - Primarily oriented toward downtown parking; also a useful overview of parking issues in small cities.
  • Downtown Parking Made Easy: 6 strategies for improving the quality and quantity of downtown parking, by Mary Barr, Downtown Research & Development Center, 1997. Library Loan

Downtown Parking Studies, Inventories, and Plans

Many communities have undertaken parking studies and inventories to assess their downtown parking situation and have developed plans to address downtown parking issues. This section includes information on how to develop parking management plans as well as examples of parking inventories, studies, and plans.

Inventories and Studies

Parking Plans

Downtown Parking Management, Regulations, and Solutions

This section includes information on downtown parking management, downtown parking regulations, local government strategies to address downtown parking, and specific techniques for addressing downtown parking issues. Communities have adopted a variety of specific solutions to address downtown parking, such as parking and business improvement areas, parking pricing strategies, shared parking policies, employer programs to encourage ridesharing, remote parking lots, and commuter financial incentives.

Downtown Parking Management

The management of downtown parking includes strategies to increase efficiency, parking guidelines and actions to address downtown parking needs, and downtown parking advisory committees.

Downtown Parking Code Regulations

These are sample general downtown parking regulations. Additional specific regulations addressing fee-in-lieu of parking, parking maximums, and shared parking are found in separate sections below.

Commuter Financial Incentives

These are incentives for commuters to encourage use of alternative travel modes (such as transit, bicycles, or walking) and to reduce the use of parking facilities.

Fee-in-Lieu of Parking

Some cities allow developers to pay a fee in lieu of providing the parking spaces required by zoning ordinances, and use this revenue to finance public parking spaces to replace the private parking spaces the developers would have provided. This is particularly useful in downtown areas and can help to fund a central municipal parking facility. This mechanism can provide flexibility and efficiency in providing parking in downtown areas and other commercial districts to meet the needs of new development; however, it cannot be used to remedy existing parking shortfalls.

Meters and Pay Stations

Quite a few communities, including Bellingham, Kirkland, and Seattle, are using automated kiosk pay stations for parking in downtown areas.

Parking Maximums

Limits on the number of parking spaces to be provided through off-street parking requirements can help to encourage transit use and other alternatives to single-occupant automobile use. Parking maximums are used in downtowns and commercial centers where land is scarce and expensive.

Parking Pricing

Parking pricing means that motorists pay directly for using parking facilities. It may be used as a transportation demand management strategy, as a parking management strategy, to recover parking facility costs, to generate revenue for other purposes, or for a combination of objectives.

Donald Shoup advocates eliminating off-street requirements and charging market rates for parking.

  • The High Cost of Free Parking, by Donald C. Shoup. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2005 Library Loan 
  • Pave paradise? No, ditch the parking lot, by Philip Langdon, New Urban News, April/May 2005 (a review of The High Cost of Free Parking, by Donald Shoup, APA, March 2005)
  • Turning Small Change into Big Changes, Chapter by Douglas Kolozsvari and Donald Shoup, excerpt from The High Cost of Free Parking, by Donald Shoup, APA, March 2005.

Shared Parking

Shared parking is often encouraged in downtown areas but may be used in other locations as well.

Remote Parking

The provision of remote parking may work well for smaller communities, particularly resort communities. This approach has been used successfully in Jackson, Wyoming, Whistler, British Columbia, and Aspen, Colorado as well as in La Conner and Winthrop in Washington. In some locations, shuttle bus service is provided between the parking lots and downtown or ski resorts.

Other Innovative Solutions

Promoting Downtown Parking

Cities have developed brochures, maps, marketing programs, and websites to provide information on downtown parking and access opportunities.

General

Washington Cities

Cities in Other States

MRSC Related Pages

Return to Top