Parking demand management in a relatively uncongested university setting

Although travel demand management (TDM) has featured more prominently in transportation planning and programs, its role in a university context is still emerging. University TDM efforts hold much potential, but there are also unique challenges. Given the sustainability-oriented values prevalent in post-secondary institutions, universities appear to be ripe markets for shifting towards more sustainable travel behavior. Improving alternatives to driving remains more politically palatable but it is unclear whether improving pedestrian, bicycling, and transit services meaningfully shift driving mode share or whether measures may be needed to raise the price of parking and reducing transit fares while making parking scarcer. This study describes and estimates the extent to which available TDM tools can meaningfully lead to auto travel reductions by analyzing data from a 2015 online travel survey of student, faculty, and staff from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). McMaster University is a large public research university approximately 70 km west of Toronto. Hamilton is a medium-sized city and the university is in a relatively uncongested setting. This study collects primary survey data and uses discrete choice models to explore alternative future parking demand scenarios. Results from scenarios developed using mode choice models suggest that improving non-auto travel services can be important. However, the largest shifts in mode shares appear to be unattainable in this relatively uncongested context without also constraining parking supply, increasing the cost of parking, and reducing the monthly price of transit for faculty and staff. Each of these actions is potentially controversial and would require a significant shift from a policy approach of mechanically providing predicted parking demand.