Perceptions of Parking Facilities: Factors to Consider in Design and Maintenance

Abstract

There are a number of factors to consider when developing new parking lots and modifying existing structures. The present research reports the results of two studies designed to assess perceived problems of parking facilities. In the first study, 319 participants were asked to generate a set of parking facility-related problems from their life experience. These were categorized into different problem categories. The second had participants rate the 30 problem categories. Five main factors were identified: (a) Compliance and Visibility, (b) Layout and Design, (c) Safety and Crowding, (d) Difficulties at Access Points and Environment, and (e) Aesthetics. Aspects of each of these factors have implications for improving parking facilities.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Concrete Institute (1987). Guide for design and construction of concrete parking lots. (Title no. 84-M48, ACI 330R-87). Farmington Hills, MI: ACI.

Bryant

F. B.

Yarnold

P. R.

(1995). Principal- components analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Grimm, L. G. & Yarnold. P. R. (1995) Reading and Understanding Multivariate Statistics (pp. 99–136). Washington, D. C: American Psychological Association.

Chen

C. S.

Schonfeld

(1988). Optimum stall angle for large parking lots. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 114, 574–583.

Hester

A. E.

Fisher

D. L.

Collura

(2002). Driver's parking decisions: Advanced parking managementsystems. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 128, 49–57.

Shaffer

G. A.

Anderson

L. M.

(1985). Perceptions of the security and attractiveness of urban parking lots. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 5, 311–323.

Sobbi

(1995). Human factors in advanced parking management systems. Public Roads, 35–38.