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City Parking Strategy

Middle East

º£½ÇÊÓƵ enabled the transformation of on-street car parking in a major city in the Middle East. The city had historically had the kind of laissez-faire attitude towards parking that is unheard of in any of the world’s other major cities.

The place has been heavily dependent on cars – given its size and limited access to strategic public transport provision. But parking restrictions and paid parking are simply unheard of across the city.

Historically the city had limited parking restrictions or regulations, with residents allowed to park their vehicles without payment and limited control or management.

The city has a distorted transport use modal share compared to most cities, with around 95% of residents driving private vehicles.

Our scope was to create a masterplan and pathway to enable the introduction of parking restrictions, including parking charges, initially in the busiest parts of the city.

The project recognises that an investment in parking on the scale planned offers a significant opportunity to use this as a vehicle for the wider improvement of public realm in the city.

Challenge

As the city is expected to grow significantly in the coming decade, the approach to transport that allowed people to park anywhere without paying, needed to be readdressed, particularly as the nation works towards a greener and more sustainable future.

º£½ÇÊÓƵ advisory was initially appointed by a government ministry to develop a masterplan for on-street car parking in this major global city, as well as four other cities across the nation. The main aim of the project was to increase the performance of high attraction commercial areas, improve traffic management, transform the public realm and raise revenues for municipalities.

As well as planning such a major adjustment in the daily life of the city, one of the biggest challenges would be managing the behavioural change expected of residents. Our strategy and operating model design experts would need to liaise with a broad range of stakeholders to ensure that the reasoning for these significant interventions into the day-to-day life of the nation was not only well reasoned and planned, but also well communicated to its people.

Solution

The initial project focused on the identification of high potential development areas before undertaking a business modelling exercise looking at the revenue generation potential of these areas.

A benchmarking exercise compared solutions used in other global cities, examining a range of delivery models and procurement routes for implementation, as well as detailing the associated operating model. We then conducted a broad city assessment, to identify the hotspots for parking demand across the city. This would enable the prioritisation of parking restrictions to help tackle traffic congestion in the busiest areas.

Once the vision had been developed, in liaison with a range of local stakeholders, our team developed a business model for the roll-out in terms of capital expenditure and projected returns. Tender documents were prepared to support the municipalities with the selection and appointment of delivery partners, which included a full scope of the best practice parking technologies that could be adopted in the city.

The transformation of the parking experience for drivers in the city from a chaotic and haphazard process to an organised and managed one, will take time to implement and to be fully accepted.

We advised on the initial adoption of parking restrictions in phases, with the first wave focused on the busiest commercial areas, where demand for parking is at its highest. But this will need to be followed by the steady roll-out of resident parking zones to prevent drivers from simply parking in the roads around the restricted zones and walking to their destination.

º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s experts worked closely with the local municipality’s investment arm to ensure they were supported in their takeover of the project from the ministry. Following completion of the masterplan, we continued to work with the investment arm team, recognising that, whilst a vital part of the city’s mobility strategy, a standalone plan for on-street parking was not sufficient to address the challenges associated with the unprecedent scale of development in a city with limited alternatives to the private vehicle.

As part of this ongoing engagement, we are working to create complementary strategies for off-street parking and for micro-mobility, working where possible to align these with wider plans for the development of the city, including its public transportation network. This includes the development of an integrated delivery approach and operating model.

Value

The project recognises that an investment in parking on the scale planned offers a significant opportunity to use this as a vehicle for the wider improvement of public realm in the city.

Our experts played a critical role in helping to put in place a pathway towards a more sustainable transport system across the city. We also put in place design guidelines for the planned upgrades, ensuring these enhance other aspects of accessibility as well as improving the overall quality of the streetscape.