EVALUATION OF RIDEFINDERS AND CENTRAL RICHMOND ASSOCIATION'S TRANSPORTATION AND PARKING INFORMATION SERVICE

In vibrant cities the demand for parking often exceeds the available supply. Pricing mechanisms are used to balance the demand for off-street parking needs for commuters, clients, and customers. The high cost of parking often makes commuters more receptive to transit and ridesharing alternatives. Reaching the commuter before he or she contemplates his or her parking options provides a marketing opportunity for transit and ridesharing agencies. The commuter may have been forced to reassess his or her parking decision because of new building construction or a rise in out-of-pocket parking costs. It may be a decision of choice, such as changing jobs. Ridefinders and the Central Richmond Association used a marketing technique used by the retail industry to combine the downtown business community's desire for a single source of parking information and the need for ridesharing and transit agencies to reach commuters in the midst of making a commuting mode choice. Retailers frequently discount items to lure customers into the store with the probability that many will purchase other items. Ridefinders offers information on the location and cost of commuter parking to attract commuters with the probability that many will request and use ridesharing and transit information. The effects of the provision of parking information on the frequency of requests for carpool ridematching information and on the enhancement of the image of transit and ridesharing alternatives and providers, as well as the measures used to design and implement the project, are described. It is concluded that such strategies contribute to the increasing demand for ridematching services, enhancing the image, and expanding the exposure of the ridesharing agency's services to commuters.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1989/1212/1212-009.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=EVALUATION+OF+RIDEFINDERS+AND+CENTRAL+RICHMOND+ASSOCIATION%27S+TRANSPORTATION+AND+PARKING+INFORMATION+SERVICE&author=P.+Winters&publication_year=1989
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1212, Ridesharing--Transportation Demand Management. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Winters, Philip L
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 76-82
• Monograph Title: Ridesharing: transportation demand management
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1212
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Carpools; Commuters; Information dissemination; Marketing; Mode choice; Parking; Public transit; Ridesharing
• Geographic Terms: Richmond (Virginia)
• Old TRIS Terms: Modal selection
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00492045
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309048109
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 31 1990 12:00AM