titlepage/contents pg 1-16 - British Parking Association

Chapter 1IntroductionChapter 1IntroductionWhat do we mean byparking?Parking is both a noun and averb. For example, we look for acar park or we park our car onthe street. It also qualifiesvarious nouns, as in parkingarea, parking lot, parking ticket,parking charge, parkingattendant, parking department,and so on. In ParkingPerspectives (1) Valleley statesthat there is a fundamentaldistinction between the use ofthe word “parking” to describethe infrastructure provided forthe storage of vehicles and“parking” as an activity formingpart of the overall process oftravel. He argues that moreweight should be attached to theview of parking as a processembracing all these meanings ofparking.The array of different kinds ofparking facilities, and the variouslaws, regulations, policies andcodes that apply to them, can bedaunting. Accordingly, withinthese guidelines will be foundreferences to car, lorry, cycle,motorcycle, coach, bus andother sorts of parking. We mayalso refer to parking as abusiness, as a policy instrument,as part of traffic managementand as an administrativeoperation.As a starting point, the differenttypes of parking are summarisedin Figure 1.1.How important isparking?Most private vehicles are drivenfor only a small proportion oftheir life; the rest of the time theyare parked. Parking takes up alot of land and costs money toprovide and maintain. Parkingaffects all of us, whether we arelooking for somewhere to park,or coping with the impact of otherpeople’s parked vehicles. Asurvey of British householdsfound that parking was the singlemost frequent cause of disputesbetween neighbours!Another recent survey concludedthat effective parkingmanagement was very importantto the economic, environmentaland social well being of the areain question (2).Why is there a need tolook at parking?Two important changes haveoccurred in the way transportand planning issues should beaddressed.1. There has been a policychange whereby roads andparking are no longerprovided in line withunquestioned increases indemand, the so-called“predict and provide”approach.2. All aspects of land use andtransport should now beplanned and managed in anintegrated fashion in orderto achieve a wide variety ofobjectives. Parking is now atopic and activity to be