BROADCAST PARKING INFORMATION: BEHAVIORAL IMPACTS AND DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

For the past 2 years Nottinghamshire County Council, in collaboration with local radio stations, has been running an experimental broadcast parking information service during the Christmas period that provides drivers with up-to-the-minute information on occupancy, queues, and parking alternatives. The results of a study designed to investigate the impact of the service on motorists' travel and parking behavior are presented. The study involved a mail-back survey distributed to drivers at city center parking lots, on-street parking areas, and peripheral park-and-ride sites. The results of the study indicate that awareness of the service is high but that its impact on parking behavior is more limited. Although substantial use is made of the service by drivers en route to the city center, there is little evidence that this mode of use results in any significant impact on parking behavior or experienced search and queueing time. By contrast, the minority of drivers who use the broadcast service at the pretrip stage on average enjoy significantly reduced search and queueing time and are more likely to divert to park and ride. Drivers' tolerance of searching and queueing and the nature of their knowledge of parking alternatives are important factors conditioning the use and impact of the broadcast service.