The Challenge of Soliciting Voluntary Participation in Parking Cashout: Lessons from San Francisco

Four San Francisco city agencies launched the Travel Demand Management (TDM) Partners Project in 2011 after receiving a grant from the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). The project aimed to test methods of reducing greenhouse gases from driving through voluntary employer pilot programs. This included a program to support employers in implementing parking cashout, defined as replacement of free parking with cash or equivalent incentives for non-automobile modes of travel, which some studies have shown to reduce drive-alone trips to the work site. The pilot purpose was to determine the potential for increasing voluntary employer adoption of cashout through provision of technical support and incentives. A secondary study objective was to collect information that could inform approaches to possible future enforcement of California’s parking cashout law. To investigate these questions, the city’s research team conducted a background literature search and expert interviews, a survey, and employer outreach to pitch the pilot program. Ultimately, employers were not motivated by the assistance offered, and were concerned with losing access to parking in an environment where parking is scarce, physical parking spaces may be lost if released, and access to parking is viewed as a perk. Further work is needed to identify more effective pathways for parking cashout implementation in San Francisco, whether through enforcement or through a more holistic trip management approach.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE30 Transportation Issues in Major U.S. Cities.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Greene-Roesel, Ryan
  • Singa, Krute
  • Karlin-Resnick, Joshua
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 9p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Economic factors; Employee benefits; Employers; Greenhouse gases; Parking; Plan implementation; Travel demand management; Volunteers
• Uncontrolled Terms: Cash out programs (Parking); Financial payouts
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco (California)
• Subject Areas: Environment; Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; I10: Economics and Administration; I15: Environment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01556998
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-5022
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 16 2015 11:35AM