IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transb/v128y2019icp408-434.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Flexible parking reservation system and pricing: A continuum approximation approach

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Xiaotian
  • Wang, Xin

Abstract

Reservation-based parking systems have the merit of eliminating vehicle cruising for parking. While many long-period (e.g., daily) parking reservation services are already in use, short-period (e.g., hourly) parking reservation remains a huge challenge due to the high uncertainty of customer arrivals and departures. To mitigate the service failure caused by random late departures of customers, we propose a new flexible reservation mechanism in which the reservation is no longer restricted to a specific location at a specific time, but tolerates predetermined spatiotemporal flexibility instead. With a pricing instrument designed for such parking flexibility, customers can coordinate to significantly reduce the reservation failure rate, resulting in an optimal system equilibrium benefiting the entire society. Due to the complex nature of this system, a continuum approximation framework is used to provide tractable analysis for a large-scale urban parking system. We can successfully provide accurate system management decision support with a bounded optimality gap and analytical insights.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Xiaotian & Wang, Xin, 2019. "Flexible parking reservation system and pricing: A continuum approximation approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 408-434.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:128:y:2019:i:c:p:408-434
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2019.07.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261518312323
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.trb.2019.07.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yun Bai & Xiaopeng Li & Fan Peng & Xin Wang & Yanfeng Ouyang, 2015. "Effects of Disruption Risks on Biorefinery Location Design," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-19, February.
    2. G. F. Newell, 1971. "Dispatching Policies for a Transportation Route," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 91-105, February.
    3. Anderson, Simon P. & de Palma, Andre, 2004. "The economics of pricing parking," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-20, January.
    4. Bai, Yun & Ouyang, Yanfeng & Pang, Jong-Shi, 2016. "Enhanced models and improved solution for competitive biofuel supply chain design under land use constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(1), pages 281-297.
    5. Marshall L. Fisher, 1981. "The Lagrangian Relaxation Method for Solving Integer Programming Problems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 1-18, January.
    6. Arnott, Richard & Inci, Eren & Rowse, John, 2015. "Downtown curbside parking capacity," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 83-97.
    7. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1991. "A temporal and spatial equilibrium analysis of commuter parking," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 301-335, August.
    8. repec:cdl:uctcwp:qt55s7079f is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Qian, Zhen (Sean) & Rajagopal, Ram, 2014. "Optimal occupancy-driven parking pricing under demand uncertainties and traveler heterogeneity: A stochastic control approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 144-165.
    10. Wang, Xin & Ouyang, Yanfeng, 2013. "A continuum approximation approach to competitive facility location design under facility disruption risks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 90-103.
    11. Olaf Jahn & Rolf H. Möhring & Andreas S. Schulz & Nicolás E. Stier-Moses, 2005. "System-Optimal Routing of Traffic Flows with User Constraints in Networks with Congestion," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(4), pages 600-616, August.
    12. David B. Brown & James E. Smith & Peng Sun, 2010. "Information Relaxations and Duality in Stochastic Dynamic Programs," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(4-part-1), pages 785-801, August.
    13. Ouyang, Yanfeng & Nourbakhsh, Seyed Mohammad & Cassidy, Michael J., 2014. "Continuum approximation approach to bus network design under spatially heterogeneous demand," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 333-344.
    14. Hoogendoorn, S. P. & Bovy, P. H. L., 2004. "Pedestrian route-choice and activity scheduling theory and models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 169-190, February.
    15. Arnott, Richard, 2014. "On the optimal target curbside parking occupancy rate," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 133-144.
    16. Zheng, Nan & Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2016. "Modeling and optimization of multimodal urban networks with limited parking and dynamic pricing," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 36-58.
    17. repec:ucp:bkecon:9781884829987 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Shoup, Donald C., 2006. "Cruising for parking," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 479-486, November.
    19. Yanfeng Ouyang & Carlos F. Daganzo, 2006. "Discretization and Validation of the Continuum Approximation Scheme for Terminal System Design," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 89-98, February.
    20. R. T. Rockafellar & Roger J.-B. Wets, 1991. "Scenarios and Policy Aggregation in Optimization Under Uncertainty," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 119-147, February.
    21. Yang, Hai & Liu, Wei & Wang, Xiaolei & Zhang, Xiaoning, 2013. "On the morning commute problem with bottleneck congestion and parking space constraints," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 106-118.
    22. Xiao, Haohan & Xu, Meng & Gao, Ziyou, 2018. "Shared parking problem: A novel truthful double auction mechanism approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 40-69.
    23. Wang, Xin & Lim, Michael K. & Ouyang, Yanfeng, 2017. "Food-energy-environment trilemma: Policy impacts on farmland use and biofuel industry development," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 35-48.
    24. Zhang, Xiaoning & Yang, Hai & Huang, Hai-Jun, 2011. "Improving travel efficiency by parking permits distribution and trading," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1018-1034, August.
    25. James H. Bookbinder & Alain Désilets, 1992. "Transfer Optimization in a Transit Network," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(2), pages 106-118, May.
    26. Xu, Su Xiu & Cheng, Meng & Kong, Xiang T.R. & Yang, Hai & Huang, George Q., 2016. "Private parking slot sharing," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 596-617.
    27. Chiou, Suh-Wen, 2005. "Bilevel programming for the continuous transport network design problem," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 361-383, May.
    28. Yang, Hai & Bell, Michael G. H., 1997. "Traffic restraint, road pricing and network equilibrium," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 303-314, August.
    29. Yang, Hai & Wang, Xiaolei, 2011. "Managing network mobility with tradable credits," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 580-594, March.
    30. X. Zheng & X. Sun & D. Li, 2011. "Nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic programming: best D.C. decompositions and their SDP representations," Journal of Global Optimization, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 695-712, August.
    31. He, Fang & Yin, Yafeng & Chen, Zhibin & Zhou, Jing, 2015. "Pricing of parking games with atomic players," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-12.
    32. Langevin, André & Mbaraga, Pontien & Campbell, James F., 1996. "Continuous approximation models in freight distribution: An overview," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 163-188, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xie, Minghui & Lin, Siyu & Wei, Sen & Zhang, Xinying & Wang, Yao & Wang, Yuanqing, 2025. "Online configuration of reservable parking spaces: An agent-based deep reinforcement learning approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    2. Ye, Jiao & Cao, Ruide & He, Biao & Kuai, Xi & Guo, Renzhong, 2024. "Disaggregated spatiotemporal traffic assignment for road reservation service and supply-demand statistical analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 645(C).
    3. Xie, Minghui & Zhang, Xinying & Wu, Zhouhao & Wei, Sen & Gao, Yanan & Wang, Yuanqing, 2023. "A shared parking optimization framework based on dynamic resource allocation and path planning," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 616(C).
    4. Zipeng Zhang & Ning Zhang, 2021. "Early Bird Scheme for Parking Management: How Does Parking Play a Role in the Morning Commute Problem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Nazmus Sakib & A. S. M. Bakibillah & Susilawati Susilawati & Md Abdus Samad Kamal & Kou Yamada, 2024. "Eco-Friendly Smart Car Parking Management System with Enhanced Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-14, May.
    6. Zhou, Xizhen & Lv, Mengqi & Ji, Yanjie & Zhang, Shuichao & Liu, Yong, 2023. "Pricing curb parking: Differentiated parking fees or cash rewards?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 46-58.
    7. Chen, Rong & Gao, Ge & Kang, Liu-Jiang & Zhang, Li-Ye, 2024. "Efficiency and equity analysis on parking reservation," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    8. Luetian Sun & Rui Song, 2022. "Improving Efficiency in Congested Traffic Networks: Pareto-Improving Reservations through Agent-Based Timetabling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, February.
    9. Macea, Luis F. & Serrano, Iván & Carcache-Guas, Camila, 2023. "A reservation-based parking behavioral model for parking demand management in urban areas," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Yu, Hao & Huang, Min & Song, Yang & Wang, Xingwei & Yue, Xiaohang, 2025. "Making the most of your private parking slot: Strategy-proof double auctions-enabled staggered sharing schemes," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    11. Ahmadian, Mohammad Mahdi & Khatami, Mostafa & Baker, Douglas & Paz, Alexander, 2025. "Understanding urban parking satisfaction: Implications for curb space management using multicriteria analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    12. Tan, Bing Qing & Xu, Su Xiu & Thürer, Matthias & Kang, Kai & Zhao, Zhiheng & Li, Ming, 2024. "Booking versus search-based parking strategy: A game-theoretic methodology," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yu, Shanchuan & Gao, Kun & Song, Lang & Du, Yuchuan, 2025. "Equitable tradable parking permit scheme for shared nonpublic parking management," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Wei Wu & Wei Liu & Fangni Zhang & Vinayak Dixit, 2021. "A New Flexible Parking Reservation Scheme for the Morning Commute under Limited Parking Supplies," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 513-545, September.
    3. Inci, Eren, 2015. "A review of the economics of parking," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 50-63.
    4. Wang, Pengfei & Guan, Hongzhi & Liu, Peng, 2020. "Modeling and solving the optimal allocation-pricing of public parking resources problem in urban-scale network," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 74-98.
    5. Gu, Ziyuan & Li, Yifan & Saberi, Meead & Rashidi, Taha H. & Liu, Zhiyuan, 2023. "Macroscopic parking dynamics and equitable pricing: Integrating trip-based modeling with simulation-based robust optimization," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 354-381.
    6. Ansari, Sina & Başdere, Mehmet & Li, Xiaopeng & Ouyang, Yanfeng & Smilowitz, Karen, 2018. "Advancements in continuous approximation models for logistics and transportation systems: 1996–2016," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 229-252.
    7. Gu, Ziyuan & Safarighouzhdi, Farshid & Saberi, Meead & Rashidi, Taha H., 2021. "A macro-micro approach to modeling parking," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 220-244.
    8. Arnott, Richard, 2014. "On the optimal target curbside parking occupancy rate," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 133-144.
    9. Ling-Ling Xiao & Tian-Liang Liu & Hai-Jun Huang, 2021. "Tradable permit schemes for managing morning commute with carpool under parking space constraint," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1563-1586, August.
    10. Nourinejad, Mehdi & Roorda, Matthew J., 2017. "Impact of hourly parking pricing on travel demand," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 28-45.
    11. Wang, Yineng & Li, Meng & Lin, Xi & He, Fang, 2021. "Online operations strategies for automated multistory parking facilities," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    12. Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2015. "Cruising-for-parking in congested cities with an MFD representation," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 156-165.
    13. Zhang, Fangni & Lindsey, Robin & Yang, Hai & Shao, Chaoyi & Liu, Wei, 2022. "Two-sided pricing strategies for a parking sharing platform: Reselling or commissioning?," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 40-63.
    14. Ouyang, Yanfeng & Wang, Zhaodong & Yang, Hai, 2015. "Facility location design under continuous traffic equilibrium," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 18-33.
    15. Lu, Xiao-Shan & Guo, Ren-Yong & Huang, Hai-Jun & Xu, Xiaoming & Chen, Jiajia, 2021. "Equilibrium analysis of parking for integrated daily commuting," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    16. Tian, Qiong & Yang, Li & Wang, Chenlan & Huang, Hai-Jun, 2018. "Dynamic pricing for reservation-based parking system: A revenue management method," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 36-44.
    17. Liu, Wei & Geroliminis, Nikolas, 2016. "Modeling the morning commute for urban networks with cruising-for-parking: An MFD approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 470-494.
    18. Lu, Xiao-Shan & Huang, Hai-Jun & Guo, Ren-Yong & Xiong, Fen, 2021. "Linear location-dependent parking fees and integrated daily commuting patterns with late arrival and early departure in a linear city," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 293-322.
    19. Jin Cao & Monica Menendez & Rashid Waraich, 2019. "Impacts of the urban parking system on cruising traffic and policy development: the case of Zurich downtown area, Switzerland," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 883-908, June.
    20. Xiao, Jun & Lou, Yingyan & Frisby, Joshua, 2018. "How likely am I to find parking? – A practical model-based framework for predicting parking availability," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 19-39.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:128:y:2019:i:c:p:408-434. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/548/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.