Price Elasticity of On-street Parking Demand - A Case Study from Seattle

This study investigates the elasticity of on-street parking demand using the automatic transaction data from parking pay stations obtained before and after a parking rate change that was implemented in Seattle in early 2011. The parking rate implementation consisted of a rate increase in some neighborhoods, a rate decrease or no rate change in others. The authors formulated elasticity as a function of time of day and neighborhood characteristics by developing two generalized least square (GLS) models. The authors also probed into the potential presence of “asymmetric behavior” — on-street parking demand response to an increase in pricing might respond differently to a decrease in pricing. Results confirm the hypotheses — price elasticity of the parking occupancy is inelastic and varies by time of day and neighborhood characteristics. Furthermore, the price elasticity for neighborhoods with increased rates is higher (-0.304) than that for those with decreased rates (-0.103), suggesting that parking demand is more sensitive to rate increases than decreases, supporting the hypothesis on asymmetric behavior. For policy guidance on pricing, the authors demonstrated that the estimated elasticities can be used to determine the optimal parking rate to achieve a desired level of parking occupancy at every block in the study area. This method can be easily applied in every city that has similar parking pay stations.