Evaluating Parking Demand Management Interventions Using a Randomized Controlled Trial

This paper presents a trial aimed at reducing parking demand at a large urban employer through an informational campaign and monetary incentives. A six-week randomized controlled trial was conducted with (N=2000) employees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who frequently parked on campus. Split into four arms of five hundred each, one group received weekly informational ‘Commuter Digest’ emails highlighting MIT’s various new transportation benefits; a second group received monetary rewards proportional to any reduction in parking they exhibited during the prior week; a third group received both interventions, while a control group was monitored with no intervention. Success was measured as the extent to which drivers decreased their frequency of parking and increased their use of alternative modes during and after the campaign. It was found that while the combined treatment group contained the highest number of top-performing participants, no statistically significant differences-in-differences were observed amongst the treatment arms as a whole. A post-experiment survey indicated a widespread increase in awareness of employer transportation benefits, and a much larger stated shift from driving towards transit than was supported by revealed data. Survey results suggested that while intent to reduce car use existed, complaints of insufficient quality of transit service and relative convenience of driving suppressed long-term modal shifts.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE50 Standing Committee on Transportation Demand Management.
• Authors:
  • Rosenfield, Adam
  • Attanucci, John
  • Zhao, Jinhua
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 4p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Campaigns; Campus parking; Employee benefits; Modal shift; Parking demand; Testing; Urban areas
• Identifier Terms: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Uncontrolled Terms: Interventions; Parking management; Randomized studies
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01659515
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-00791
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 7 2018 1:41PM