parking, automated vehicles, transit and urban design assistant professor shannon sanders mcdonald,...
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Parking, Automated Vehicles, Transit and Urban DesignAssistant Professor Shannon Sanders McDonald, AIA
Southern Illinois UniversityTRB Paper#15-4916
ABSTRACTGoogle and many car companies continue moving forward with their commitment to public Level 5 automated vehicles (AV) as defined by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) International On-Road Automated Vehicle Standards (ORAVS). (1) Some public agencies have been contemplating the implications of Level 5 AV’s, but few have addressed their impact on the built environment. Examining the effect of automated vehicles on parking, the surrounding streets and transit is an important part of understanding the overall impact of automated vehicles. This paper specifically addresses parking within the built environment and the impact of automated vehicles (AV)/automated transit networks (ATN) on street parking and the parking garage as a building type. The transit and parking relationship as affected by automated vehicles and automated transit networks such as ultra or 2getthere is of particular interest as this linkage has the ability to greatly impact our urban environment, lifestyles and affect new urban designs. During the 2014 TRB/AUVSI Automated Vehicles Symposium in a two-day expert break-out session on “Roadway Management and Operations with Automated Vehicles” a presentation titled: Integrated Mobility: Automated Vehicles and their Impact on Parking was given by Shannon McDonald.. An all-day workshop also discussed parking. This paper summarizes the presentation and discussions from the 2014TRB/AUVSI Automated Vehicles Symposium and expands upon the potential new relationships of parking, automated vehicles, transit and urban design.
CONCLUSIONSAutomated vehicle technology offers the possibility of significant benefits to social welfare—saving lives, reducing crashes, increasing mobility for the disabled, increasing transit use, and ultimately improving land use. But it could also lead to greater congestion and fuel consumption, lost parking revenue, declining mass transit ridership, and fewer transportation jobs.After examining the advantages and disadvantages of automated vehicles, the RAND corporation researchers determined that the overall societal benefits of this new technology likely outweigh the disadvantages. (3) But many of the benefits won't go to the vehicle purchasers, which may hinder adoption, potentially at a cost of thousands of lives. So is pursuing this new technology worth the cost? And if so, how can policymakers best encourage appropriate use? (4) Research needs to be focused on the issues of automated vehicles, automated transit networks, parking, transit and urban design simultaneously. A paper titled: “Creating Fully Sustainable Walkable Communities with PRT” presented at the ASCE TDI (American Society of Civil Engineers Transportation and Development Institute) 2011 conference in Chicago was an early paper and presentation examining the relationships of walking, accessibility in hilly terrain and an ATN system. (2) Research topics identified are the “Promise of Auto-Valet Parking: a Panacea or Simply Shifting the Problem” and “Integration of Automation and Shared Mobility into the Urban Fabric”. These research areas need to involve the full spectrum of professionals working together as a team to examine the implication of automated vehicles on our built environment. Just using data from individual research areas such as health, safety and traffic and the viability of Level 5 vehicles does not allow us to understand the full impacts both positive and negative on our built environment.
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• Automation of vehicles, new vehicle ideas such as city car, designed by MIT city lab, expanding communication technologies and the change in the source of power for the automobile will create an entirely new relationship between man, machine, and the urban environment.
• Privately owned automated vehicles might not always be moving and they would still need that parking spot. Some imagine vast acres of parking lots outside of
an urban area where a privately owned automated vehicle could rest during the work day to be retrieved on demand, or perhaps the vehicles just drive back and forth from the home garage. These paradigms would of course increase traffic tremendously as now vehicles are not just making the office commute to adjacent parking. All of this constant movement by automated empty, personal or even shared vehicles could increase the number and extant of roads and VMT.
• Parking and land values are interconnected, so land values would dictate future use. Social equity would be a concern as parking could now shift to less desirable neighborhoods such as low income neighborhoods, rather than far flung industrial or open areas. As well, surrounding farm land potentially would now be occupied by parked vehicles.
• The need for the complete interconnectivity of an automobile is still required and will be required due to our current urban landscape. So, exploring solutions that can exist within our current urban structure where door to door efficient and flexible connectivity predominates is the urban design challenge of the 21 st century.
• Now we are discussing a societal shift that could also have the reverse affect and increase car ownership and use, further creating and expanding sprawl and of course traffic. So, the link with transit to create fully accessible timely multi-modal linkages with automated vehicles or automated transit networks would produce the most effective way to increase our mobility and create more healthy walkable urban environments, as transit assists with removing personal vehicles, reducing parking and provides for more people to travel collectively. (2)
• AV technologies may also disrupt existing institutions. By making proximate parking unnecessary, Level 5 AV technology may undermine the parking revenues that are an important and reliable source of funding to many cities. By providing a new level of mobility to some users, it may siphon riders (and support) from existing public transit systems. Currently, one of the key attractions of public transit to riders is the ability to undertake other tasks while in transit. Autonomous vehicle technology may erode this comparative advantage.
REFERENCES1. G. Meyer and S. Beiker (eds), Road Vehicle Automation, Lecture Notes in Mobility: Steven E. Shladover, Jane Lappin, Robert Denero and Bryant Walker Smith. “Introduction”, DOI: 10.1007/987-3-319-05990-7_1@Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. p11.2. McDonald, Shannon. “Creating Fully Sustainable Walkable Communities with PRT”. ASCE TD&I Conference 2011. http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/41167%28398%29101. Accessed on August 01, 2014.3. Anderson, James A., Nidhi Karlyn, Karlyn D. Stanley, Paul Sorensen, Constantine Samaras and Oluwatobi A. Oluwatola, Autonomous Vehicle Technology: A Guide for Policymakers. RAND Transportation, Space, and Technology Program, 2014, p 71.4. Furman, Buford, PhD.,Lawrence Fabian, Sam Ellis, Peter Muller and Ron Swenson, “Automated Transit Networks (ATN): A Review of the State of the Industry and Prospects for the Future”, Report 12-31,Mineta Transportation Institute, September, 2014.
Parking: Four current land use types that will be affected by level 5 automated vehicles; the residential garage, on-street parking, parking lots and parking garages.
Residential garage1. Could see the reduction or disappearance
providing extra space for the home owner and less on-street parking
2. Driveways and alleys could disappear and new land use patterns would emergeOR
3. More traffic and parking on residential streets as vehicles shuttle back and forth dropping off and picking up creating constant flow and increase in VMT
On-street parking4. In downtown areas on-street parking
disappears and is replaced by drop off lanes that will be challenged to handle the quantity of traffic and people
Parking Lots and Parking Garages:5. Could disappear as vehicles are now
constantly moving, returning to the home garage or to far remote parking lots and garages
6. Could also disrupt existing neighborhoods close to downtown areas as vehicles can now seek and find the closest free parking
7. Change parking facility design allowing for smaller more compact automated facilities that people never enter.
Multi-modal transportation: 1. The interrelationship of transit, automated
vehicles and automated transit networks could become the most interesting in its effect on urban design and planning creating more humane living environments.
2. Bus service, light rail, heavy rail and new high-speed rail lines would all benefitwith linkages to automated vehicles orautomated transit networks. This wouldprovide a seamless transportationexperience, including first and last mile.
3. If these connections are designed withinthe urban plan, then a reduction of parkingat transit stations could occur, however thedesign of drop off and pick up lanes wouldincrease.
4. The automated vehicle due to its similarity to a personal car with point to pointunrestrictive service could encouragemulti-modal transit use.
5. Short trips can now also be taken care of by a shared vehicle in essencealso becoming transit. As well the safetyfor younger, mobility challenged, and olderpassengers to travel, shared or not, tosafely and reliably reach their destinationcould provide mobility for all.
“Parking Spaces/Community Places: Finding the Balance through Smart Growth Solutions” EPA 231-K-06-001 January 2006, Development, Community, and Environmental Division (1807T) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, City of Olympia Public Works Department and the Washington State Department of Ecology, 1995, p.7.
Young, Miller, McDonald. Conceptual comparison of modes in the Accessibility – Throughput spectrum from Keys to Innovative Transport Development. Presented at the 87 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 2007.
G. Meyer and S. Beiker (eds), Road Vehicle Automation, Lecture Notes in Mobility: Steven E. Shladover, Jane Lappin, Robert Denero and Bryant Walker Smith. “Introduction”, DOI: 10.1007/987-3-319-05990-7_1@Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. p11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_City. Accessed on August 01, 2014. http://www.2daydubai.com/pages/masdar-city.php Accessed on November 12, 2014.
McDonald, Shannon S. The Parking Garage; Design and Evolution of a Modern Urban Form. The Urban Land Institute, Washington, D.C., 2007, p.110.
Bendixson, Terence and John Platt. Milton Keynes: Image and Reality. Granta Editions, Cambridge England, 1992, p.49.
http://www.ultraglobalprt.com/the-benefits/in-comparison/. Accessed on August 01, 2014.
http://www.ultraglobalprt.com/the-benefits/in-comparison/. Accessed on August 01, 2014.
http://www.ultraglobalprt.com/the-benefits/in-comparison/. Accessed on August 01, 2014.
Photo: Shannon Sanders McDonaldImage: William Alden
Wiegand, Cameron. The New Town and Transportation Planning: General Overview with a Case Study of Columbia, Maryland, Urban Transportation Center, Washington D.C., 1970, p. 36, 37.
Wiegand, Cameron. The New Town and Transportation Planning: General Overview with a Case Study of Columbia, Maryland, Urban Transportation Center, Washington D.C., 1970, p. 36, 37.
Bendixson, Terence and John Platt. Milton Keynes: Image and Reality. Granta Editions, Cambridge England, 1992, p.158.