Zoning and Zone Permit Pricing for Smart Parking Management at a University Campus

Abstract

Most universities are constantly challenged by not having enough parking spaces for students, faculty (professors), and staff. One common solution used by the universities to manage the access and use of limited parking spaces is "zoning". Zoning is grouping one or several adjacent parking lots into a zone and controlling the zone’s usage by issuing parking permits. This paper introduces a methodology called Zoning and Zone Permit Pricing (Z2P2) to assist University Parking Offices in grouping parking lots into zones and recommending the annual permit price for each zone. This methodology incorporates the concept of the value of time and the last-mile travel time. It has been coded as part of SPARKMAN: A Smart Parking Management Decision Support Tool. The paper reports the application of the Z2P2 methodology to a university campus. The analysis results have suggested ways to improve the current permit prices.