With changes in commuting patterns and how people live, work, and get around, there's an opportunity to assess the way park and ride facilities are planned and utilized.
A partnership between Utah Transit Authority (UTA), Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), the Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG), and the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) lead to the creation of a guidebook and rightsizing parking tool to right-size existing park and ride facilities, and to assist in planning for future facilities. The tool analyzed various factors that directly impact parking demand to create a range of recommended parking supply stalls.
A study was previously done with the above partners, looking at a parking modernization initiative, which was a factor that led to the creation of the Transit Parking Strategy Guidebook study.
The Transit Parking Strategy Guidebook was created through the framework of four major goals:
- Rightsize parking: Develop strategies that optimize land use at and around park and rides
- Incentivizing active transportation connections: Encourage multi-modal connections to station areas
- Climate and sustainability: Improve air quality by encouraging alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) travel
- Equity and affordability: Providing equitable access to transit via multiple modes
The purpose of the guidebook and tool are to provide guidance about the development of park and ride facilities to agencies and municipalities across UTA's service region. The guidebook and tool divide up the facilities into different typologies, creating a framework for the usage based on land use, demographics, and accessibility factors.