Does Bundled Parking Influence Travel Behavior?

Abstract

Parking requirements hide the cost of storing a vehicle in housing costs, making driving a more attractive option for vehicle owners than using alternative modes of transportation. While researchers have already identified the link between vehicle ownership and use with bundled parking, no study that I am aware of has used detailed national-level data to study the link between bundled parking and the use of other transportation modes. In this study I use data from the 2013 American Housing Survey to determine if the presence of bundled parking is associated with a household’s transportation mode choice. After controlling for differences in socioeconomic and built environment characteristics, I find that the presence of bundled parking is associated with a 27 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled. Bundled households drive approximately 3,800 miles more, spend nearly $580 more on gasoline, and emit 14.47 more metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Bundled parking is also negatively correlated to transit use, and households with unbundled parking are significantly more likely to be frequent transit users. This provides further evidence for the already strong case against parking requirements.

About the Project

California has dual policy goals to reduce vehicle dependency and make housing more affordable. Parking requirements can hide the cost of storing a vehicle in housing costs, making driving seem to be a more attractive option for vehicle owners than using alternative modes of transportation.While researchers have already identified the link between driving behavior and bundled parking, no study has studied this link using a national-level data set that includes detailed data on a household’s travel behavior and whether that household’s housing cost includes parking. In this study I will use data from the 2013 American Housing Survey to determine whether the presence of bundled parking influences a household’s transportation mode choice. I hypothesize that the presence of bundled parking will reduce vehicle use. This provides further evidence for the already strong case against parking requirements.