Decision-Making Toolbox to Plan and Manage Park-and-Ride Facilities for Public Transportation: Guidebook on Planning and Managing Park-and-Ride (2017)

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1 Decision-Making Toolbox to Plan and Manage Park-and-Ride Facilities for Public Transportation: Guidebook on Planning and Managing Park-and-Ride Introduction This summary provides an overview of TCRP Research Report 192: Decision-Making Toolbox to Plan and Manage Park-and-Ride Facilities for Public Transportation: Guidebook on Planning and Managing Park-and-Ride. This guidebook is a route map for plan- ning and managing park-and-ride facilities—from concept to day-to- day management, covering key themes such as design, implementation, operation, and maintenance. Park-and-ride facilities for public transportation provide numerous benefits to transit agencies and communities. Park-and-ride benefits include access to transit as an alternative to driving alone, concentration of rider demand to enable transit service in low-density areas, conve- nient meeting points for carpools and vanpools, reduced vehicle miles traveled and associated vehicle emissions, reduced parking demand in central business districts and other destination activity centers, and increased transit ridership for more productive transit services. A com- panion document, TCRP Web-Only Document 69, includes two volumes. S u m m a r y TCRP Research Report 192: Decision- Making Toolbox to Plan and Manage Park-and-Ride Facilities for Public Trans- portation: Guidebook on Planning and Managing Park-and-Ride is a resource for transit staff seeking to better plan and manage park-and-ride facilities for public transportation by incorporating improved strategies and best practices. P h ot og ra ph c ou rt es y of D al la s A re a R ap id T ra n si t.

2 Decision-making Toolbox to Plan and manage Park-and-ride Facilities Volume 1 summarizes a literature review, an inventory of park-and-ride facilities in the United States, and a scan of the state of the practice. Volume 2 provides 16 case studies of transit agen- cies in the United States and Canada that demonstrate park-and-ride planning and management trends, best practices, and strategies. What Is Park-and-Ride? Park-and-ride facilities provide people using public transportation with a parking location, drop-off point, or transfer point. A prototypical trip involving park-and-ride begins with the customer leaving his or her origin, driving to the park-and-ride facility, parking, riding public transportation, alighting, and walking to his or her destination. However, the traveling public’s actual trips involving park-and-ride facilities vary greatly from this example. Some customers incorporate biking into their trip, while others carpool or vanpool. Some customers do not park but are dropped off. Some commuters must transfer, and others have a direct, express trip. The nexus of parking and public transportation makes park-and-ride a unique form of public transit. The design and characteristics of park-and-ride facilities can vary immensely. Facilities range from small surface lots to multilevel parking structures in a transit-oriented development (TOD). The type of public transportation may vary too. Park-and-ride facilities in the United States and Canada complement local bus, commuter bus, bus rapid transit, light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, and ferry services. Chapter 1: Introduction of this guidebook introduces readers to the guidebook and describes its organization, research process, terminology, and resources. Chapter 2: Park-and-Ride Overview introduces basic park-and-ride concepts. In addition to answering the question “What is park-and-ride?” the chapter addresses four other questions: • Why do transit agencies provide park-and-ride? • How does park-and-ride fit in a transit agency’s suite of services? • What are the types of park-and-ride facilities? • How does a transit agency implement and operate park-and-ride? Planning Considerations for Park-and-Ride Implementing park-and-ride begins with long-range planning—determining how park-and- ride fits into both a transit agency’s vision of how to attract passengers to its services and transit’s role in the community’s vision for its future land use. After potential locations have been identi- fied for park-and-ride facilities, planning continues with site-specific project planning to address a given location’s unique opportunities and challenges and to determine the type of ownership and management desired for the location. Financial planning is also a vital part of park-and-ride planning, both in terms of initial capital costs and ongoing operating and maintenance costs. Transit agencies should consider community desires, transit goals, and financial implications throughout the planning process. Long-Range Planning Long-range planning can develop policy for park-and-ride, identify the need for new facili- ties, and evaluate future needs and uses for existing facilities. Park-and-ride planning can hap- pen ad hoc, when an opportunity arises at a specific site, or can occur as part of larger planning processes.

Summary 3 Chapter 3: Strategic Planning for Park-and-Ride discusses the following aspects of long- range planning for park-and-ride: • Processes for park-and-ride master planning. • Strategies for incorporating park-and-ride planning into long-range plans. • Park-and-ride planning as part of fixed-guideway and corridor planning efforts. Site-Specific Project Planning Once the general need for a park-and-ride facility has been established, site-specific project planning is used to locate and size the facility and to make decisions on the facility type and ownership. Sites should be located where there is good highway and transit access and visibility, strong ridership potential, and a perception of security. Facilities should be located where land is available and affordable, and where environmental impacts can be minimized. Transit agencies have many options in planning and implementing park-and-ride facilities. Transit agencies can: • Own or lease the land. • Invest directly in parking construction or partner with other public or private entities. • Manage or contract out parking facility management. The right decision in each area depends on many factors, including a transit agency’s regula- tory structure, goals and vision, and available resources. Moreover, preferences may change over time due to shifting policy or regional dynamics. Effective park-and-ride planning considers a wide range of opportunities and trade-offs and ensures flexibility moving forward. Regular and ongoing planning helps transit agencies stay ahead of these changes and fosters thoughtful deci- sion making into the future. Related to site-specific project planning, Chapter 3: Strategic Planning for Park-and-Ride describes (a) methods for estimating demand for parking, and (b) considerations when weighing a decision to own or lease a facility. Financial Planning Financial planning for park-and-ride facility implementation requires transit agencies to con- sider a variety of factors, including (at a minimum) location, size, scope (passenger amenities, multiple modes, etc.), environmental and seasonal impacts, community interest, and potential for return on investment. Each element can alter the final capital cost of a park-and-ride facility. Park-and-ride facilities require an investment in both capital and ongoing operating and maintenance costs. Capital costs include real estate purchases, development fees, and construc- tion. Operating costs include facility staffing expenses (if the facility is to be staffed), regular site cleaning, facility maintenance and repair, enforcement and patrol, and utilities. Transit agencies should carefully plan park-and-ride facility implementation to ensure long- range plans and budgets account for the associated investments. Funding park-and-ride facilities may require various revenue sources, such as federal grants, state grants, local government funds, transit-generated revenues, non-transit revenues, transit-oriented development, and joint- development activities with private-sector partners. Chapter 4: Financial Planning for Park-and-Ride discusses: • How transit agencies obtain funds for capital investment. • How park-and-ride facilities require ongoing operating expenses. • How the different sources of funding for capital investment and operating expenses may be applied.

4 Decision-making Toolbox to Plan and manage Park-and-ride Facilities Designing and Implementing Park-and-Ride Park-and-Ride Typologies Once a location has been identified for a park-and-ride facility, an important aspect to con- sider in the site-selection process is how the facility will interact with adjacent land uses and the surrounding community. This interaction, in turn, will depend on the facility’s typology, which describes how the facility is owned, managed, and used. This guidebook defines the following typologies: • Facilities owned by the transit agency. • Shared-use facilities owned by another public agency. • Shared-use facilities owned by a private or nonprofit entity. The Decision to Lease or Build Leasing a facility or parking lot is a quick and effective way to expand a park-and-ride system. Usually no significant capital cost is involved with leasing spaces. Transit agencies may have to provide operational assistance and signage to designate park-and-ride spaces. Spaces may be leased from public agencies, private entities, or nonprofit organizations such as churches. One potential drawback of leasing spaces, particularly in a shared-use agreement, is that the lessor can terminate the lease at any time. Building a new park-and-ride facility has many factors and considerations, such as the avail- ability of land, capital costs, and maintenance and operations. From a design standpoint, the transit agency has full control, subject to local zoning considerations, over what can be built at the park-and-ride facility. Beyond leasing or building park-and-ride facilities, transit agen- cies also have the option to execute memoranda of understanding with local public agencies or enter into less formalized agreements, such as handshake agreements, to secure the use of a parking facility. Design Considerations Transit agencies must evaluate many design considerations when constructing a new park- and-ride facility, expanding or renovating existing facilities, or evaluating the design of leased facilities. Transit agencies such as Denver RTD and Sound Transit (Seattle), among others, have developed design guidelines specifically addressing park-and-ride facilities. Chapter 5: Design and Implementation outlines the most common design considerations during the planning of a park-and-ride facility. These include: • Types of parking required. • Characteristics of parking facilities. • Urban and landscape design elements. • Passenger amenities. • Electrical systems and utilities. • Safety and security systems. • Wayfinding signage and markers. • Vehicle and access variables. Chapter 5 also discusses the need to design for possible future facility expansion or conversion in response to a rapidly changing industry. Transit agencies have adapted by arranging for ameni- ties such as carsharing and bikesharing to assist transit customers with completing the first-mile/ last-mile portion of their trips. Transit agencies should plan to integrate possible future land use plans into park-and-ride design.

Summary 5 Managing and Operating Park-and-Ride Facilities Operations Operating a park-and-ride facility is an ongoing and dynamic process. Transit agencies must carefully consider how best to approach park-and-ride management and decide on the appropri- ate balance between in-house and contracted operations given the local context. In-house opera- tions will require additional internal staff and resources but will provide more direct control. Contracted operations may require fewer internal staff but reduce the transit agency’s direct con- trol over park-and-ride services. Even when parking management is contracted, transit agencies must still be proactive to ensure a high-quality customer experience. Park-and-rides have a long list of ongoing operating and maintenance needs that involve more than just maintaining the parking surface. In addition, park-and-ride facilities require active enforcement of parking rules and proactive efforts to maintain and improve security. Transit agencies should also regularly perform inspections to detect security, operations, and maintenance issues before they result in significant problems. Managing demand for parking requires measurement of demand (typically calculated as a utilization rate) as well as strategic efforts to accomplish transit agency goals to increase, shift, or reduce parking demand. Many demand management options are available to transit agencies. In addition to these topics, Chapter 6: Operating Park-and-Ride discusses the following aspects of operating a park-and-ride facility: • Management and oversight. • Insurance. • Legal issues and regulations. • Potential facility use for special events. • Utilities and routine maintenance. • Fee collection (if parking fees are charged). • Security and parking regulation enforcement. • Operations and maintenance inspections. • Customer service and complaint handling. Charging for Parking Some transit agencies with park-and-ride facilities provide parking as a service that is part of the transit fare, and others choose to charge for parking separately from fares. Charging for parking can offset capital and ongoing operating and maintenance costs associated with the park-and-ride facility. Additionally, charging for parking can assist with managing demand for parking. Despite these benefits, charging for parking can be challenging. For example, a tran sit agency must enforce payment of parking fees to see a benefit. Other challenges include ridership impacts, the logistics of collecting parking fees, and customer relations. Chapter 7: Charging for Parking highlights key aspects of a transit agency’s decision to offer park-and-ride parking as part of a transit fare or to charge for parking separately from fares. Each paid parking program is unique, functioning under different parameters established to achieve place-specific goals and objectives, and contributing to transit agency operational efficiency and revenue generation in different ways. However, despite the individually tailored nature of parking fee programs, the considerations required to establish such programs are the same. These considerations include: • Legislative and regional context. • Analysis of parking markets. • Establishment of the amount to charge for parking.

6 Decision-making Toolbox to Plan and manage Park-and-ride Facilities • Equity concerns. • Fee collection methods. • Fee enforcement. Integrating Park-and-Ride into the Community Park-and-ride facilities become part of the surrounding community and typically remain in place for decades. Because of the facilities’ ongoing presence in the community, transit agencies need to engage customers and generate buy-in for planning and managing park-and-ride facilities. Chapter 8: Park-and-Ride and the Community discusses the following considerations: • Community impacts. Successful park-and-ride facilities may sometimes have secondary community impacts such as spillover parking and additional traffic congestion. Communi- cation with community leaders, business owners, and neighborhoods can help identify these potential impacts early and develop strategies to avoid or mitigate these impacts. • Community engagement. Community engagement is an increasingly important part of the park-and-ride design and implementation process. Effectively communicating with the com- munity and properly incorporating input can result in a successful implementation process and have a positive impact within the community. State of Good Repair and Asset Management A park-and-ride facility is a transit agency asset and therefore needs to be maintained in a state of good repair (SGR). Park-and-rides are collections of many components (e.g., pavement, signage, electrical systems, plumbing, structures, fee collection equipment), and all of these com- ponents need to be well maintained. Chapter 9: State of Good Repair and Asset Management discusses how to determine the SGR for a park-and-ride and how to manage park-and-ride transit assets. Transit-Oriented Development Transit-oriented development is a method of developing or redeveloping park-and-ride facil- ities to enhance the transit facility with other uses, such as residential, retail, and office space. These enhancements contribute to the property’s value and can increase ridership by increas- ing the number of trip generators in one location. TODs can also benefit the community by increasing property values, generating business opportunities, increasing spending (by including businesses and introducing new residents within a community), and bolstering tax revenues by converting tax-exempt transit agency property into taxable private property. Transit agencies typically partner with developers and investors to implement TODs. Chapter 10: Transit-Oriented Development discusses: • How transit agencies may see a return on investment in park-and-ride with TOD. • How TOD integrates transit parking and non-transit uses. • How a transit agency might participate in TOD/joint development. • How the TOD proposal process typically works. Summary TCRP Research Report 192 provides transit agencies with guidance to develop park-and-ride facilities from concept through operation. The guidebook presents information about best prac- tices and lessons learned gathered via a literature review, an industry scan, and detailed case study research with transit agencies in the United States and Canada.