Exploring the Social Value of Parking Booking Intermediaries

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.

4 thoughts on “Exploring the Social Value of Parking Booking Intermediaries

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  2. Scott, great post. It is fascinating how parking booking intermediaries are allowing travelers to choose their mode with more complete knowledge of their options. They take the guesswork out of driving decisions while also assuring that parking spots are used more intensively, which–as you show–reduces roaming. It is surprising how little previous research their has been on this rapidly expanding sector.

  3. As a loyal Spothero user, this was a very interesting study to work on. It was fascinating to learn more about the different parking options and booking platforms available. I have downloaded all of these applications to my phone and have continued to use them as a way to compare prices and find additional parking spots in the Chicagoland area. It will be interesting to see the future of online parking reservations.

  4. This is really fascinating – and it paints a very positive portrait of how the relationship between parking intermediaries and parking facility operators can be mutually beneficial. Does the study address ways that the city can help facilitate these relationships, perhaps through different taxes on bookings through intermediaries?

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