offers employees access to a privately owned car-park from which a parking
space can be selected; residential and disability parking spaces are likely to
be publicly owned, with the exception of allocated disability parking
within private businesses (food-retail outlets, for example). Regulations
differ for each permit scheme, with some schemes subject to specific times of
operation or restricted durations; others being more flexible. For employees
possessing a parking permit for an employer-provided car-park, choice of
parking becomes unnecessary, as the permit offers a guaranteed parking
place; hence no further parking decisions need to be made unless an
employee chooses an alternative nonemployer-provided parking facility
for reasons of personal preference, or is unable to locate an available
space within the permit-users’ car-park (Gillen, 1977). Users of residential
or disability permits are typically given a choice of parking spaces within an
allocated area but have no guarantee of finding an available space at a
desired time and location, resulting in increased parking search.
Park and Ride (P&R) facilities are intermodal transfer facilities. ‘They
provide a staging location for travellers to transfer between the auto mode
and transit or between the single occupant vehicle (SOV) and other higher
occupancy vehicle (HOV or carpools)’ (Spillar, 1997). These are typically
located on the outskirts of urban areas, the aim being to discourage motorists
from travelling into city centres in order to reduce traffic congestion
and associated air and noise pollution (Meek, Ison, & Enoch, 2008).
Despite this aim, Parkhurst (2000) found that P&R generated more traffic
outside the urban area than was avoided within the central cores; the
conclusion being that P&R schemes redistribute, rather than reduce, traffic.
However, P&R offers an alternative parking choice to motorists; the benefits
and dis-benefits of which will be evaluated alongside other factors by
drivers considering a parking place (See chapter 9 by Parkhurst and Meek
for more detail on Park and Ride).