Appendix J The Future of Car Parking

The Issue

The growth of car ownership has exceeded what many traditional urban centres can easily accommodate. This dynamic has resulted in congestion on roads and the loss of development land in favour of car parking spaces.

Research indicates that more than 1 million barrels of oil is consumed every day in the search for parking spaces,25 and more than 44% of drivers find parking a stressful experience. Furthermore, the average driver spends 4 days every year looking for spaces to park.26

However, town centres today are exposed to intense competition by rival centres, out-of-town destinations, and online shopping and so must do what they can to ensure they remain accessible, and therefore, rather than moving away from car parking, centres must look to creative means of accommodating car parking.

Chester

As set out in the Chester One City Plan, Chester’s car parks are ‘scattered’ across the city centre.27 Traffic is generated from drivers trying to find car parking spaces, despite electronic car park capacity signs assisting in the choice of destination. Overall, the quality of parking is poor and is not well located at the main entrance ‘gateways’ to enable efficient access for users into the city centre on foot. Most car parks are surface level which is an inefficient use of land, or multi storey that are dated in design and functionality. The limited non-retail offer of the city centre and the modest night-time economy means that car parks are often quiet outside of shopping hours.

However, notwithstanding the challenge Chester faces with respect to car parking, its Park and Ride system is well used which reduces car-borne traffic flows into the city centre. The success of the Park and Ride system is a testament to how convenient, low-cost, and accessible parking provision is a popular choice among drivers.

Of the 4,968 publicly available parking spaces in Chester, around 40% are publicly owned and the remaining 60% are privately owned. This indicates that there is a large amount of parking space in Chester but a relatively small amount under the control of the Council against other comparator Local Authorities. This increases the importance of parking controls.

A week long desktop survey monitoring the hourly occupancy level of key car parks in the city centre undertaken as part of the Transport Strategy 2013 concluded that, at its busiest period on Saturday afternoon, car parks were only 75% occupied and that there is consequently significant spare capacity in available parking stock around the city. This indicates that levels of supply are adequate in Chester and there may be scope for a rationalisation of space to reduce the overall number of facilities.

Pedestrian routes between the city centre and the car parks vary hugely in distance and quality. The need to cross the IRR often necessitates the use of inconvenient crossing points or unpleasant subways. Frodsham Street is also a key route but suffers from conflict between pedestrians and heavy trafficking, particularly buses.

On-street parking in Chester City Centre is limited and, in comparison with cities such as York, does not include any chargeable component.

Local Plan (Part One) policy STRAT 10 sets out the key priorities and opportunities in relation to transport and highlights the importance of balancing the transport system in favour of sustainable modes. It supports the overall strategy of the Local Plan of reducing the need to travel by locating development in the most sustainable locations. However, it is recognised that the private car will remain the dominant form of transport for the foreseeable future, and as such, improvements to the highway network and parking provision will be needed.

Smart Parking Solutions

The implementation of parking solutions is not new with many centres having long been challenged by the need to provide car parking provision. However, existing and emerging smart parking solutions using advanced technology is radically changing the way parking solutions are being formulated. Set out below are a range of smart parking solutions which provide an indication of what parking solutions could be open to Chester and how these could be brought about with the use of technology.

Automated valet parking robots

Installed at the Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport in 2018, passengers book a parking space on the airport website and then drop their vehicles off in a dedicated cabin. The valet robot then picks up the vehicle and parks it in a secure parking location. By eliminating the need for spaces between cars that is necessary with human parking, the robot can more efficiently manage parking spaces.28

Car parking lifts

Mechanical lifts stack vehicles in the available overhead space, enabling use of volume instead of space as is done with traditional parking systems. This ensures that more vehicles can occupy the exact same parking space and these can be stacked two, or even up to three, at a time.29

Smart parking sensors

Sensors communicate in real time with a ParkingRouting-Information-System (PRIS) to guide drivers to available parking spaces. For example, Parkeagle’s sensors are able to count the vehicles at a large parking facility and determining which parking spaces are available. It then communicates this information to the ParkSmart app in real-time.

Pollution based parking fees

In London, RingGo’s Emissions Based Parking product targets high polluting transport with higher charges while rewarding drivers of low emission vehicles with lower tariffs. The initiative aims to incentivise motorists to make more environmentally friendly choices and improve air quality across the Square Mile by reducing nitrogen oxides and harmful particulates.30

Length based parking fees

The system introduces a democratic measure to make drivers pay for how much space they are using, and not just how long they are using it. This way, people have incentives to invest in smaller cars, just as pollution based parking incentivizes cleaner vehicles.

Wireless charging the wireless charging solution usually referred to as wireless level 2 charging utilizes 240-volt outlets that can be placed anywhere. The outlet is connected to a charging pad that sits beneath the vehicle and once in place, the vehicle charges itself.31 The benefit of this solution is that it removes the need for electric cables.

25 www.csmonitor.com/Environment/EnergyVoices/2013/1030/How-smart-parking-couldsave-a-million-barrels-of-oil-every-day

26 www.parking-mobility.org/2018/09/25/ smart-parking-transforming-the-experience-ofparking/

27 Chester One City Plan 2012-2027

28 store.lyonaeroports.com/offres-parkings/ parking-automatique

29 www.parkingeagle.com

30 news.cityoflondon.gov.uk/city-of-londoncorporation-tackles-air-pollution-with-londonsfirst-environmentally-friendly-parking-tariff/

31 www.pluglesspower.com/learn/ev-charginglogistical-pains-go-wireless