01126691

Component

As cities in developing countries struggle to cope with astronomical population growth that threatens to eclipse infrastructure capacities and cripple economic and environmental sustainability, many cities are turning to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to provide high capacity at a low cost and attract drivers to buses. Also important to mode choice is parking. This paper examines parking supply, price, and policies in Curitiba, Brazil, the original model city for BRT. The goal of this exploratory paper is to expand the current body of literature on Curitiba’s transportation and land use connections and to bring attention to how policy impacts parking, and how parking influences mode choice. This paper provides a review of parking literature, concluding that restricting parking reduces vehicle mode share, and gives examples of policies other cities have implemented such as maximum parking allowances. Then, from interviews, this paper explains the history of parking policy in Curitiba and examines five case studies to determine how this has affected supply, demand, and price. The paper also compares this data with socio-economic statistics and data on urban form. The result is that Curitiba adopted minimum parking requirements similar to most U.S. cities, even along the BRT lines. There is high supply and in all five cases, and high demand where income and density are highest. The lessons from this paper are especially relevant to poor countries battling congestion and pollution and seeking low-cost solutions and can help define what a model city for parking management would look like.

01120148

09-3841

English

16p

2009

Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting

DVD

Maps (1) ; References (9) ; Tables (3)

Bus rapid transit; Highway capacity; Mode choice; Operations; Parking; Parking demand; Parking facilities; Population growth; Public transit; Transit operating agencies

Curitiba (Brazil)

Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-3841

TRIS, TRB

Jan 30 2009 8:15PM