Modelling demand under parking and cordon pricing policy

The purpose of this study was to explore travellers' responsiveness to congestion pricing (cordon pricing) and parking attributes (especially parking pricing) in deciding whether to drive and park in the central business district (CBD). Employing the stated-preference method, data were collected by personal interviews in Mashhad City CBD. The respondents were requested to report their current trip to the CBD by answering a set of questions and scenarios to consider five alternatives, including two parking locations in the CBD: park inside the cordon-pricing zone or outside and access the cordon area by walking or public transport, shift to public transport (taxi and bus), or cancelling of their trip to the CBD. The two parking locations were categorised by cordon and parking tariff schedule, search and queue time for a parking space, and access time from the parking space to the final destination. The preferences regarding mode of transportation and parking choices were determined using a multinomial logit model, which was used to estimate elasticity values and the willingness-to-pay among attributes. The results indicate that drivers are highly sensitive to cordon charge (-1.145), significantly more than to parking cost, search and egress times in switching mode and parking choice. Furthermore, respondents' reactions suggest that drivers' willingness to pay for parking fees is higher than their tendency to pay for cordon tolls. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.