Parking Utilization in Neighborhood Shopping Centers on Transit Routes in San Jose, California

This paper examines the minimum parking requirements for shopping centers located near Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail stations in San Jose, California. VTA, the primary transit provider in Santa Clara County, California, has supported reduced parking requirements for proposed transit-oriented developments along its transit lines, but parking reductions have often been opposed by local decision makers, city council members, and the public. Until recently, VTA has been unable to provide locally based research to support the claim that current parking minimums have led to excessive parking. This paper seeks to provide evidence to decision makers that supports the argument that parking requirements can be reduced along light rail transit lines. Two parking utilization surveys found that the utilization of free surface parking was far lower than the capacity during both the holiday shopping season and the off-season for 13 neighborhood shopping centers located near VTA light rail stations. Furthermore, the surveys found that increases in seasonal parking demand did not occur for most of the surveyed shopping centers. The results suggested that the minimum parking requirements for these neighborhood-oriented shopping centers located near VTA light rail stations are too high.

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