Regional Parking Study: Technical Report (2019)

This study investigates how to right-size the amount of on-site and off-street parking allocated to new apartment building developments.

Key insights:

This technical report brought forward a number of new insights about street parking supply and utilization, for example:

• Apartment parking supply remains excessive relative to observed utilization. Apartment buildings close to frequent transit, whether or bus or SkyTrain, have lower parking supply and utilization
• The lower rates of parking utilization are associated with higher transit use as measured by the number of bus boardings near the buildings, and this relationship is stronger for rental apartment sites
• Street parking is inherently complex in mixed-use neighbourhoods. Some of the factors contributing to street parking use include visitors to non-residential land uses, such as restaurants, shops, and parks; apartment visitors on weekends, holidays, and special occasions; and some apartment residents parking on the street. Even with these factors, only a handful of surveyed street networks experienced persistently high street parking utilization.
• Finally, the 2018 Regional Parking Study highlights a challenge that remains unchanged from the 2012 Study. The design and capacity of current bicycle parking facilities in apartment buildings are discouraging their use by many residents.

The findings indicate that the parking supply in Metro Vancouver outpaces observed utilization, and apartments close to frequent bus and train transit networks display lower parking utilization rates. Parking in mixed-use neighbourhoods was observed to have unique trends that varied by time of day and weekday versus weekend and holiday travel.

This technical report was prepared by TransLink and Metro Vancouver.