Parking Demand Measures at Campuses: Strategies for the American University of Beirut

The American University of Beirut (AUB), an urban campus in the city center of Beirut, Lebanon, is seeking solutions to its parking and congestion problems in its neighborhood. This paper examines parking demand measures at other campuses, with a focus on transport service provision for students and employees. Lessons for Beirut are drawn, namely in terms of the feasibility of implementing transit incentives amidst an unorganized, informal public transport sector; the impact of increasing parking supply; and the challenge of influencing mode choice in a high-income campus population. Relevant findings for AUB are highlighted: public transport services to campus don't always stem from existing public transport services; some campuses have successfully initiated their own mass transport systems; designing a mass transport system catered to the target population can be extremely effective; and ridership on mass transport systems is highly correlated with driving disincentives such as limited, priced parking. Accordingly, the authors propose that AUB commuters would best utilize a mass transport system which combines the professionalism and comfort of private taxis with the vehicle occupancy and cost of shared taxis; parking practices are also recommended. Other major institutions in the AUB neighborhood are surveyed and found to be facing parking constraints and show interest in a collaborative mass transport service for their members. Such community-organized public transport arrangements can be a paradigm for expanding ridership in cities like Beirut where top-down transport reform is lacking, public transport is limited to captive riders, and cities are struggling to manage increasing driving trends and their externalities.