2008 Parking Study Final Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 2222 ParkingParkingParkingParking 2.12.12.12.1 Existing Parking Supply and DemanExisting Parking Supply and DemanExisting Parking Supply and DemanExisting Parking Supply and Demandddd 2.1.1 Introduction and Key Points This section describes the existing parking supply and existing demand levels, as well as evaluating use of the two-hour spaces in detail. Supply and Demand Estimates: · Downtown Charlottesville has approximately 6,000 spaces, of which about 5,000 (84%) are off-street and about 1,000 (16%) are on-street. The off-street spaces include 500 in the Market Street garage, 1,019 in the Water Street garage, and 125 in the Water Street lot alongside the garage. · The study examined parking occupancy during a typical business day (weekends and special events were outside the scope of the study). Overall, there is enough parking for everyone on a typical business day. At the busiest time on the survey day, only 63% of spaces were occupied. · However, the on-street parking is under stress. In particular, the two-hour spaces exceed 85% occupancy (the desirable maximum) for much of the day. This corroborates concerns about customer/visitor parking. · There are approximately 800 spaces available in the public lots. (‘Public lots’ means lots for which the public can buy hourly or monthly parking, and includes privately-owned lots.) (Note that this refers to a typical business day. On busy weekend evenings with special events, the two main garages can be full or nearly full.) · The private lots (lots that are restricted to employees or customers of a particular business) have approximately 1,200 available spaces. However, many of these lots are unsuitable for public parking (e.g. residential, very small lots, etc). Some are suitable for public parking if the owners see a market – currently this is unlikely due to the free on-street parking. Existing Use of Two-Hour Spaces: · The two-hour spaces were examined in more detail, because there are concerns about the ‘Two-Hour Shuffle’ of commuters using these spaces. · The average length-of-stay in two-hour spaces is 1.6 hours, but this hides the fact that many stays exceed the time limit. We estimate that about 20% of stays are overstays. · We estimate that at least 10% of vehicles using the two-hour spaces are either performing the ‘Two-Hour Shuffle’ or staying in the same space for four hours or more. Both of these groups are a problem, because they are not using the two-hour spaces as intended. · Although these are a relatively small proportion of the vehicles, their all-day presence gives them a disproportionate impact on parking occupancy. At the busiest times of day, more than 30% of the two-hour spaces are occupied by these people. Without them, occupancy of the two-hour spaces would not have exceeded 75% at any time – a level that would make it much easier for genuine customers and visitors to find a convenient space. Implications: · The survey has therefore confirmed the suspicion that commuters (or other long-stay visitors) are creating a problem for short-stay visitors.