Year: 2019

Exploring the Social Value of Parking Booking Intermediaries

Image csmit263 Uncategorized

When having to drive to downtown Chicago or other parts of the city, the most frustrating detail is oftentimes finding a place to park your car. Like many other travelers, you may spend time roaming block to block, searching for an available, convenient and low-cost location.

Even when you act as a conscientious trip planner and, prior to departure, compare options posted on various parking facility websites, you are likely to find that most provide standard parking rates but not always options to reserve a space, extend your stay or check availability.

The Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development’s recent study, Driving Toward Efficiency, examines the impact of parking booking intermediaries–such as SpotHero, Parking Panda, ParkWhiz and Best Parking–and the degree to which these online platforms help foster the efficient allocation of parking.

Cover page of Driving Toward Efficiency report

The study begins with a review of common problems associated with private off-street parking and carries out various geographic analyses comparing the prices as advertised via these intermediaries with more traditional parking options in Chicago, including on-street parking meters. Overall, the study finds that parking booking intermediaries help operators maximize inventory, provide flexible, cost-efficient options for drivers and more closely align their decisions with public goals.

The study finds that parking intermediaries add to the quality of the parking experience by creating user-friendly platforms that ease the drivers’ selection and reserving of parking spaces. The table below shows conveniences and information available on booking intermediaries versus parking operator websites. For example, our analysis indicates that more than 20% of facilities listed on SpotHero do not offer the option to pre-purchase a reservation on the official website of the parking facility operator and some do not have websites at all. For these facilities, of course, various online conveniences are also not available, such as extending reservations without returning to the facility, obtaining a lost receipt by logging in to a digital account, or checking out customer reviews of the facility.

Conveniences and Information Available on Booking Intermediaries vs. Parking Operator Websites
Conveniences and Information Available on Booking Intermediaries vs. Parking Operator Websites

The study also utilizes datasets from different sources in order to visualize and compare both on-street and off-street facilities within the city. Researchers extracted parking price and location data from the SpotHero website for 499 listings. The Chicago Parking Meter API endpoint was also used to identify associated locations and rates for on-street parking. To compare on- and off-street prices, the weighted average of hourly rates were calculated for all parking meter spaces located within a 200m buffer of each facility listed on SpotHero. (Thanks to Steve Vance for guidance on how to access relevant Chicago Parking Meters, LLC data.) The map below shows the distribution of parking facilities listed on SpotHero and their associated prices relative to Chicago’s parking meters expressed in hourly rates. Facilities represented as red circles have hourly SpotHero rates greater than nearby parking meters whereas facilities represented with green circles have SpotHero rates that are less than parking meters.

Overall, the two options are rather cost competitive, with a slightly higher share of facilities shaded red on the map (50 percent) compared to green (44 percent). This suggests that, in some cases, on-street parking can still be a more cost-efficient option compared to off-street parking if the location and parking restrictions (i.e., all Chicago parking meters have a two-hour maximum stay) align with the driver’s trip.

Distribution of Parking Facilities Listed on SpotHero
Distribution of Parking Facilities Listed on SpotHero Relative to Parking Meters

For more information and findings, please read the entire report. We also encourage you to post your questions and comments below.

The E-Scooter Summer: “A Day in the Life”

mjacques Transportation

Chicago’s e-scooter pilot program, which is set to run through mid October, is one of this summer’s hottest transportation stories. Ten operators were authorized to operate up to 250 e-scooters apiece west of Halsted Street and the Kennedy Expressway. Nationally, the buzz for this new mobility option has been going for some time now, and the transport mode certainly has its fans and detractors. But, now that e-scooters can finally be found zipping around our city, the Chaddick Institute wanted to check in on the first two months.

By agreement, the e-scooter companies had to make their data streams public, so, we picked a day (July 24, to be exact) and analyzed “A Day in the Life of Chicago’s E-Scooter Pilot Program” – the title of the latest Chaddick Institute report. Here’s a bit of what we discovered…

When the conversation isn’t charged up with stories of e-scooters in trees or bodies of water, a major point of focus is the potential “first mile/last mile” mobility benefits that this new mode could bring (especially for transportation buffs like us). Using a sophisticated time of day analysis, our expert, Scott Smith, found strong evidence that Chicagoans are in fact commuting via e-scooter, with the morning rush busier than the evening rush. Many are likely using scooters to reach transit stops.  

 

 

One finding isn’t up for debate – Chicagoans like to scooter! We measured that there were over 2,500 unique trips over our 12-hour study period. Another interesting aspect of the research is that e-scooters are being used in that scenario where it’s just a bit too far to walk and just short enough that waiting for the CTA also doesn’t make much sense. We found that the average trip was about two miles, based on reasonable assumptions regarding how long they sit idle before moving again.

Finally, the pilot included provisions for two priority areas where access to transit and household incomes tend to be lower in the western half of the zone; in these zones, operators are required to keep half of their scooters in the two zones. Are the e-scooter providers complying? Yes. While the percentage of scooters in the priority zones drops during the day to about 48%, it peaked at 52.8% around 8:38am on July 24.  In short, coverage in the priority areas is relatively good, but there appears to be more work to be done.

With two months left in the e-scooter pilot, the Chaddick team will continue to monitor the newest transportation mode to hit our streets. What do you think – e-scooters…friend or foe? Post your thoughts or experience below, we’d love to hear what you think!

 

A Bold Proposal to Expand Divvy

csmit263 Uncategorized

The winter weather is almost behind us, and for your friendly neighborhood Chaddick team, that means it’s time to get excited about summer biking around Chicago!

Source: Flickr, Brent Roman

Apparently, Mayor Emanuel is thinking the same thing. He, along with the city’s Department of Transportation, is proposing amendments to the contract with Divvy operator Motivate International.

We at Chaddick are fully behind this proposal, which, if passed by City Council, would bring bikesharing to all 50 of the city’s wards and make hopping on a Divvy bike much easier for tens of thousands.

We feel passionately about this issue. Our report, Dimensions of Divvy, authored by C. Scott Smith and Riley O’Neil, traced the evolution of our docked bikeshare system through its first and second expansions to its current network of 600 stations and 6,200 bicycles. We found that Divvy has:

  • improved connections to public transit
  • made strides toward broadening access to lower-income communities; and
  • provided a time-saving travel option to private vehicle travel

Plus, thanks to Divvy For Everyone and other community-based programs, Chicago is regarded by many as a national success story when it comes to bikesharing.

This map shows the distribution of Divvy stations by level of economic hardship, with red community areas having the highest level of economic hardship.
This map shows the distribution of Divvy stations by level of economic hardship, with red community areas having the highest level of economic hardship. Source: Dimensions of Divvy (Smith and O’Neil, 2018)

But the road ahead is bumpy. The largest share of Divvy bikeshare stations remains concentrated in middle- to higher-income areas of the city. Much of the south and southwest sides are underserved, with little relief in sight.

The areas of greatest economic hardship in Chicago (shown above in red) tend to be on the South, Southwest and West sides. Our analysis shows that, although the share of stations in these areas has increased (see pie charts), these neighborhoods continue to be disadvantaged in terms of both the quantity and density of stations.

Also, usage in some areas across the city has plateaued, and future investments remain uncertain. A looming funding shortfall, coupled with Divvy’s chronic inability to return a profit, makes it imperative that the city find new ways to improve the system. We can’t afford to hit the brakes as technological advancements – such as electric bikes and dockless systems – change the way bikes are being shared nationwide.

These pie charts show the distribution of Divvy stations by level of economic hardship after initial rollout (2013) and after the second expansion in 2016. Source: Dimensions of Divvy (Smith and O’Neil, 2018)

The Mayor’s efforts to address these problems through an amendment to the contract with Motivate are commendable. It would grant Motivate, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lyft, exclusive rights to offer the sharing of bikes in the city over a nine-year period in exchange for assuming the financial burden of extensive expansion, operation, and maintenance.

Under the proposal, Lyft would add 10,500 bikes and 175 stations over the next three years to create a total system with approximately 16,500 bikes and 800 stations. Residents would see a 50 percent increase in bicycles over the first year alone. Excitingly, all new bikes would be “electric pedal-assist” with “hybrid-locking” capability, giving riders ready access to state-of-the-art mobility technologies. The agreement requires city approval when fares are increased more than 10 percent in a year, and the city retains approval over any new fare product, fare policy and fees as well as oversight via service level agreements.

Flickr, Danny Navarro

Are there risks? Of course. But the upside is considerable, making this a good deal for our city. Let’s make it so everyone can enjoy a Divvy bike year-round, including during our glorious summer seasons!

— Chaddick Team