The study collected about 300 surveys from Uber and Lyft passengers in the Denver, Colorado region to analyze ridesourcing impacts on parking demand and mode choice.
Denver, Colorado, United States
The impact of ride hailing on parking (and vice versa)
Summary Information
Methodology
The data was collected in the Denver metropolitan area. The main apps in the smartphone used for this research were "Lyft," "Uber-driver Partner," "GoogleMaps," and "My Tracks." GoogleMaps and MyTracks GPS apps helped tracking and recording ridesourcing travel data. For the origin and destination locations, researchers collected the closest cross streets, rather than the actual address, to maintain confidentiality. Researchers varied the starting location where they turned on the app to begin a shift from urban to suburban areas across the metropolitan region. All seven days of the week and most times of day were covered during the study period, but a higher number of rides came during high demand times such as Friday and Saturday nights, representing typical ridesourcing services.
The study collected two datasets. The first is the "driver dataset" containing information with GPS tracking of date, time of day, travel times, and travel distance (e.g., origin-destination rides). Researchers also collected additional data relevant to parking, including the cost, time, and distance it would take to find a parking space after passenger dropoff. The parking location was based off a combination of different passenger rationalities (e.g., free parking, on-street metered parking, and garage parking in special destinations such as stadiums or airports). Researchers recorded the cruising to park time and distance using the same GPS-based methodology. For the walking time and distance to final destination, the driver input the coordinate locations for parking and final destination (i.e., ridesourcing passenger drop-off) in Google Maps and recorded the estimated walking time and distance and described the destination type as high urban, general urban, suburban, or special event (e.g., airport, university campus, or stadium). The "passenger dataset" contained information gathered by surveying passengers during the actual rides. Once a passenger was on board during the ride, they were invited to participate in a short survey about ridesourcing. The survey included specific trip, general use, and demographic questions.
- Parking demand (specific trip): 26.4 percent of all respondents would otherwise have driven and needed a parking location.
- Parking demand (general use): About a third of participants stated that they drive less—13.5 percent said a lot less and 19.0 percent said a bit less. 2.3 percent of respondents said, "a bit more" or a "lot more," possibly explained by respondents who are ridesourcing drivers themselves.
- Parking difficulty (specific trip): Parking difficulties (20.7 percent) was the second top reason in choosing ridesourcing over driving, behind only riders going out/drinking (36.6 percent).
- Parking difficulty (general use): In general, 33.1 percent of riders listed parking is difficult/expensive as a main reason for ridesourcing over other modes.
- Parking time: For most rides, the study found less than thirty seconds of additional times for parking and walking to the final destination would have been necessary if it was a driving trip, but the additional total time can be up to 29 minutes with a mean time of 3.4 minutes.
