Parking

Free Parking Isn't Free: A New Guide to Getting It Right

Parking reform is one of the most powerful tools we have for improving our transport systems and the liveability of places. As I have written before, free parking is not actually free. So, how should we undertake parking reform? The Victoria Transport Policy Institute has just released a Comprehensive Implementation Guide to Parking Management.​

Key Takeaways

• Parking management refers to various policies and programs that result in more efficient use of parking resources.
• Cost-effective parking management programs can usually reduce parking requirements by 20 to 40%
• Parking problems are often defined as inadequate supply (too few spaces available), but they can also be defined as inefficient management (existing supply could be better utilised).
• The guide includes 10 Parking Management Principles:

• Parking management generally improves travel options (better walking, bicycling, public transit, carsharing, etc.), parking options (allowing motorists to choose between more convenient but higher priced or less convenient but cheaper spaces), and pricing options (hourly, daily or monthly fees, electronic payment, etc.).
• Parking management is becoming more feasible due to new technologies, services and planning goals.
• Thinking about parking is shifting from a 'Predict and Provide' to a 'Decide and Provide' paradigm.

• Parking Management Strategies included in the guide:

Comment

The guide is an excellent and comprehensive technical overview of parking management strategies. However, the biggest barrier to parking management reform is often political. These strategies need to be combined with smart political tools to see substantial change.

What next?

Do you have a strategy for parking reform?

E-Bikes

Realising the Potential of E-Bikes

I am still maturing my thinking around e-bikes, their potential to improve transport systems and how we best help them reach that potential. There is also a lively debate in Sydney, where the NSW Government is considering banning e-bikes from trains.

Therefore, I was pleased to come across two relevant pieces this week: this research article asking whether e-bikes will revolutionise urban mobility, and this Conversation article explaining how e-bikes could reduce our dependence on cars and the regulatory challenges.

Key Takeaways

• Current transport models often overlook the growing impact of e-bikes on urban mobility. The research article describes a model that takes into account the differences between a conventional bicycle (c-bike) and an e-bike.
• The higher acquisition and maintenance costs of an e-bike make it essential to model ownership and mode choice separately, as many potential users do not own one.
• Infrastructure expansion primarily increases conventional bicycle use, as low e-bike ownership limits e-bike use.
• Promoting electric bicycle ownership leads to a strong increase in electric bicycle trips, mostly replacing car trips.
• Collecting detailed travel behaviour and ownership data, segmented by bicycle type and user demographics, is crucial for accurately modelling c-bike and e-bike usage.
• A study of frequent car drivers in Sweden found that the distance people drove fell close to 40% once they were provided with an e-bike.
• As authorities grapple with overpowered e-bikes, making the best use of these vehicles will also have to include clearer, tighter regulations.
• Reports of e-bikes catching fire and hitting pedestrians have triggered public anxiety and even proposals to restrict or ban them.
• The reality is, battery fires and lethal crashes are overwhelmingly due to non-compliant e-bikes with low-quality batteries or with power levels well beyond the limit legally allowed.
• Researchers have shown that the benefits of e-bike subsidies outweigh the cost.

Comment

The data on e-bikes reducing car use highlights their potential for improving our transport systems and strengthens the case for investing in cycling infrastructure. Therefore, there is a strong case for lowering the barriers to access of (well-regulated) e-bikes, through subsidies, shared e-bikes or e-bike libraries.

What Next?

Are you exploring how supporting e-bikes could improve your transport system?

Planning

Integrating Transport and Land Use: What the Latest Research Reveals

The best transport systems integrate successfully with land use. This week, I came across two pieces of research on this issue. This article examined the impact of the built environment on walking, and this article explored the impact of mixed-use developments on transport.

Key Takeaways

• The research on walking used mobile phone data to compare how it changed when people moved from one built environment to another.
• Previous studies on the effects of the built environment on physical activity have led to mixed or modest findings and have not been able to distinguish between direct environmental impacts and individual preferences reliably.
• They found that higher walkability is associated with significantly more daily steps across all age, gender, BMI and baseline activity level groups.
• Moving from a less walkable (25th percentile) city to a more walkable city (75th percentile) increased walking by 1,100 daily steps, on average.
• These findings suggest that changes to the built environment can influence large populations.
• The mixed-use development research looked at 710 developments across 36 US regions.
• The impact of mixed-use developments on reducing vehicle miles travelled (VMT) has been well-documented.
• However, the usual methods for estimating the impact are limited. The research created a model to produce better data.
• Mixed-use developments reduced vehicle miles travelled (VMT) by one third compared to traditional developments, but in some regions it was up to 80%.
• Over time, mixed-use developments impact increased, reducing VMT by 50%.
• There were significant regional disparities in VMT outcomes, so a one-size-fits-all policy approach is insufficient. Instead, policy interventions must be context-sensitive, calibrated to region size, local built environment characteristics, travel behaviour patterns, and infrastructure capacity.

Comment

It is good to get better research on the impact of the walkability of the built environment on physical activity. Similarly, it is good that we have a better understanding of how mixed-use developments can be further enhanced to reduce car dependency.

What next?

Do your local planning policies and traffic modelling guidelines need to be updated to design better places?

Quick Adventures in Transport Wonderland

Here is what else I came across this week:

• Why does the car still predominate in urban areas? This blog was based on a discussion at the European Urban Research Association 2025 Conference
• A comeback guide to anti-cycling arguments.
• How do e-scooters affect mode share? This research finds that it is mostly taken from active transport.

Blog

Steering Autonomous Vehicles and Sustainable Cities Toward a Liveable Future

This week, my blog features an article I wrote for the New Polis E-Journal, discussing the policies we need to use Autonomous Vehicles to shape what we want our cities to be like.

Innovation

Enforcement of Bus Lanes

The blocking of bus lanes by drivers can significantly slow buses and is a major issue in some jurisdictions. This article describes how AI and Bus Cameras are being combined to provide automated bus lane enforcement.

Tool

Micromobility Infrastructure

​This research describes an Equal Infrastructure Allocation score and associated indicators as tools for planners and policy makers implementing micromobility infrastructure projects, and found that even large improvements to micromobility infrastructure have a minor effect on space allocated to cars.