Abstract
This study investigated the effect of smart parking systems (SPS) on parking search times (PST) in large parking lots. SPSs are systems that disseminate parking spot availability to drivers. The parking lot selected for data collection was a university parking lot with 234 spaces. The data collected included arrival rates, departure rates, the geometric properties of the parking lot, preferred parking search strategies, and driving speeds. Arena 13.9, by Rockwell Automation, Inc, was utilized as the modeling software. The base model was built from observed parking search strategies (PSS) of drivers. The model was validated using a t-test for independent samples to compare the PSTs of the base model and actual parking lot. Once the base model was verified and validated, the logic was altered to reflect (PSS) (IV) with real-time parking availability (i.e. simulating the presence of an SPS). The PSTs (DV) for the base and experimental models were compared using a t-test for independent samples. It was found that SPSs reduce PSTs by an average of only 11 seconds over a 2 week period for a single-lot SPS. However, this shows potential for a multi-lot SPS that might save more time and harmful vehicle emissions.
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