Parking guidance - modelling, simulation and impact assessment

Intelligent parking services that help drivers with reservation of a parking spot, navigation and automated payment have reached the deployment phase. These services may provide significant benefits to drivers and municipalities. Drivers may experience an increase in comfort and lower and more reliable travel times, while cities may expect a reduction in search traffic, congestion and emissions. But how large are these benefits, and how do they compare to the benefits of more traditional parking guidance and information systems, such as panels that indicate the number of available places in car parks? This paper addresses these questions by conducting a simulation study for a large city in the Netherlands and comparing the effects of the new and the traditional approach. © 2011 IEEE