managing travel for planned special events - FHWA Operations ...

Any planned special event parking area thatrequires a fee or permit for access has a servicefacility in-place to process vehicles enteringthe lot. Therefore, a first-in-first-outqueuing system exists. Figure 6-12 providesa schematic of this system. The queuingsystem is bounded by the service facility(e.g., parking area gate) and the queue storagearea. Figure 6-13 illustrates a queuingsystem at the entrance of a venue parkingarea. From a parking area operations perspective,queuing system characteristics include:ArrivalatSystem( λ = Arrival Rate )Queue( µ = Service Rate )ServersService FacilityBoundaries of Queuing SystemFigure 6-12Queuing System SchematicDeparturefromSystemFigure 6-13Permanent Venue Gate and Queue StorageLanes• The arrival rate, λ, denotes the numberof vehicles traversing a single parkingarea access point over some period oftime.• The maximum arrival rate represents thelesser of: (1) access point capacity or (2)adjacent access road capacity.• The service rate, µ, is the number of vehiclesthe service facility can processover some period of time. The magnitudeof this rate depends on the numberof servers (e.g., staff or automated gates)that comprise the service facility andserver efficiency.• Queuing happens when the arrival rateexceeds the service rate. For example, ifthe maximum arrival rate is 600 vehiclesper hour and four parking area gates areopen, then each server or staff personmust process 150 vehicles per hour, or 1vehicle in 24 seconds (e.g., the servicetime), in order to prevent vehicle queuesfrom forming. Motorists will locateopen servers, but the event planningteam should utilize the queuing systemconcept, and consider predicted arrivalrates, when staffing parking area accesspoints.• A parking area queuing system operatesstochastically. Traffic arrival rates willvary, and individual transaction timesthat collectively determine the servicerate will also vary.• In designing a service facility for aplanned special event parking area, selecta conservative server service time(e.g., the time to serve one vehicle) anddetermine the required number of serversthat can process the maximum anticipatedarrival rate with one server onbreak.• Service time may increase if law enforcementconducts random checks ofvehicles entering a parking area.• To avoid the occurrence of long servicetimes, designate a turnout area adjacentto the gates for vehicles subject to a detailedsecurity check.Table 6-10 indicates three vehicle processingtactics.6EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW6-21