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Vehicle Parking Demand of Different Land Uses In Jordan

Article  in  Ite Journal · May 1999

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Vehicle Parking Demand for Different Land
Uses in Jordan
IN JORDAN IN THE LAST PARKING IS AN IMPORTANT
urban transportation element. Providing
TWO DECADES, MODERN a large number of parking bays along
curbs may reduce the capacity of streets
HOTELS, HOSPITALS, and affect their level of service, which
may cause accidents and air-pollution
LARGE SHOPPING problems, particularly in the downtown
areas. Furthermore, the lack of providing
CENTERS, HOUSING
a sufficient number of off-street parking
BUILDINGS AND OFFICE spaces in commercial and business cen-
ters may create some economic impacts.
BUILDINGS WERE Therefore, the traffic engineer must be
able to estimate parking demand for dif-
CONSTRUCTED. THESE ferent land uses and manage such
demand by providing sufficient on- and
LAND USES MUST off-street parking facilities.
Jordan has gone through a dynamic
PROVIDE SUFFICIENT development process during the last two
decades; modern hotels, hospitals, large
OFF-STREET PARKING
shopping centers, housing buildings and
FACILITIES; OTHERWISE, office buildings were constructed. These
land uses must provide sufficient off-
PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED street parking facilities; otherwise, prob-
lems associated with on-street parking
WITH ON-STREET will get worse, particularly in central
business areas and along congested arteri-
PARKING WILL GET als. As the development process contin-
ues, traffic engineers must find a way to
WORSE, PARTICULARLY IN estimate vehicle parking demands for
such land uses. Guidelines for parking
CENTRAL BUSINESS AREAS
needs of various land uses are readily
AND ALONG CONGESTED available in the literature; however, differ-
ences in economic situation, car owner-
ARTERIALS. ship, transportation system as well as
users’ behavior might influence the park-
ing-demand estimates.
The objective of this study was to
develop statistical
BY HASHEM R. AL-MASAEID, BASHAR AL-OMARI AND models for estimating
AHMAD AL-HARAHSHEH vehicle parking
demands of different
land uses in Jordan. These land uses
include hospitals, hotels, office buildings,
apartment buildings, restaurants and shop-
ping centers. To accomplish this objective,
a total of 208 sites that have well-defined
parking lots were selected. The sites were
ITE JOURNAL ON THE WEB / MAY 1999
located in different cities in Jordan, includ-
ing Amman, Zarqa and Irbid.1
BACKGROUND
General guidelines for estimating
parking needs of various land uses are pre-
sented in Parking Generation.2 This man-
ual considers two types of hospitals:
general hospitals and medical centers.
The main difference between the two
types as related to parking is the ratio of
daily employees and visitors to the num-
ber of beds. Compared with the general
hospitals, the medical centers have a
greater population/bed. The recom-
mended parking demands for general
hospitals varied from 1.6 to 3.4
spaces/bed, while for medical centers the
range varied from 2.5 to 3.4 spaces/bed.
Moreover, Sosslau et al.3 conducted a
study to estimate parking demand for
hospitals located outside the central busi-
ness districts (CBD) of cities. The study
estimated parking demand for all hospital
types in the 1.3 to 3.4 spaces/bed range.
However, the Institute of Transportation
Engineers4 (ITE) indicates that the aver-
age parking need is about 1.8 spaces/bed.
Parking Generation also indicates that
the peak parking demand for general pur-
pose office buildings increases exponen-
tially with the gross floor area (GFA).
Parking Generation reveals that the average
peak parking rate/1,000 square feet (sq.
ft.) varied from 0.7 to 4.6 with an average
of 2.0 at the peak-hour period. For office
buildings in suburban areas, Kadesh and
Petrson5 reported that the average parking
demand is about 2.5 spaces/1,000 sq. ft.
of the GFA. Similarly, Mackenzie and
Eastman6 concluded that the parking
demand of offices located outside the
CBD is about 2.6 spaces/1,000 sq. ft.
For shopping centers, the Urban Land
Institute7 estimates the peak parking
demand based upon the gross leasable
area (gla). The required parking demands
79
varied from 3.5 to 5.0 spaces/1,000 sq. ft. land uses only. Second, the sites of each 1997. Table 1 shows the time period dur-
of the gla. Similar values were generally land use should be located in different ing which the peak demand occurred for
concluded by Mackenzie and Eastman. cities. Clearly, this criterion was each land use.
However, other studies8 investigated the adopted to increase the domain of Data on the characteristics of the
parking demand for shopping centers inferences. Third, the parking lot for selected land uses were acquired
having a GFA of 50,000 to 1.25 million each site should have an adequate park- through field investigations and other
sq. ft.; the results indicated that the peak ing supply. The availability of a suffi- related sources such as ministries of
parking demand/1,000 sq. ft. increases cient parking supply was judged health and tourism, municipalities and
from 2.4 to 4.5 spaces linearly as a func- through field survey. Based on these owners. These characteristics included
tion of the GFA. criterion, a total of 208 sites were the number of beds available for
According to Parking Generation, selected, of which there were 53 hospi- patient care in hospitals, the number of
parking demand for residential areas is a tals, 42 office buildings, 40 hotels, 35 beds and rooms available for overnight
function of car ownership and income apartment buildings, 21 restaurants guests in hotels, the number of offices
levels. In newer communities the trend is and 17 shopping centers. All selected and the GFA for office buildings and
toward additional cars/household. In sites were located outside the CBDs. the number of dwelling units in each
general, two parking spaces/dwelling unit A parking accumulation study was apartment building. For restaurants,
may be accepted. However, apartments conducted for each selected site. Total
in or adjacent to the CBD of large cities accumulation was obtained by counting Table 1. Peak-hour period for the
represent a special condition. In such the number of vehicles entering and exit-
areas, the parking demand may be one ing the parking lot, and the data were selected land uses.
space or less/dwelling unit because the summarized by 15-minute intervals. In Land use Peak hour
availability of good public transit service Jordan, the peak days for parking occur Hospitals 8 to 9 a.m.
and location attract some residents who during the summer months. During the Office buildings 7:45 to 8:45 a.m.
do not own cars. For apartments located summer vacation, most Jordanian Hotels 7 to 8 p.m.
outside the CBDs, Sosslau et al. con- employees in the Gulf area come back Apartment buildings 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
cluded that the parking demand/ home. For each selected site, the vehicle Restaurants 2 to 3 p.m.
dwelling unit is about 1.5 spaces. Also, counts were carried out in different days, Shopping centers 2 to 3 p.m.
they indicated that the auto occupancy weeks and months during the summer of
for hotels is 1.5 spaces/1,000 sq. ft. of the
floor area, while for resort hotels the Table 2. Statistical characteristics of the collected data,
parking demand may reach up to 1.9 where N = number of sites.
spaces/each 1,000 sq. ft. of the floor area.
However, Ruggero and Gorys9 reported Standard Range
that the demand ratio for parking spaces Land use N Variable Mean deviation Minimum Maximum
at hotels was 1.93 spaces/100 square
meters (m2) or 1.54 spaces/room. Hospitals 53 Parking demand 32 21.83 8 97
Finally, ITE classified the restaurants Number of beds 99 118.93 15 702
into three types: quality restaurants, family Office buildings 42 Parking demand 55 23.0 13 94
restaurants and fast-food restaurants. Number of offices 189 156.28 45 840
Their parking rates were 14.1, 12.4 and Area (m2) 4,058 3,353.6 900 18,000
14.3/1,000 sq. ft. of the GFA, respectively. Hotels 40 Parking demand 47 28.82 11 97
Number of beds 214 153.27 14 586
DATA COLLECTION Number of rooms 122 95.2 10 354
A total of 208 sites in Jordan having Apartment buildings 35 Parking demand 31 19.96 1 76
distinct land uses, including hospitals, Dwelling units 50 34.16 4 168
office buildings, hotels, apartment
Restaurants 21 Parking demand 22 7.83 7 43
buildings, restaurants and shopping
Internal area 500 221.92 250 1,000
centers, were selected. Three criteria
were adopted in the selection process. External area 986 1,038.89 0.0 3,000
First, each selected site must have a Seats inside 202 88.68 98.0 338
well-defined parking lot, and the park- Seats outside 213 194.69 0.0 594
ing is not permitted to be used by adja- Total seats 415 194.06 126 924
cent land uses. This criterion is Shopping centers 17 Parking demand 46 16.96 19 77
important to determine the peak park- Area (m2) 2,317 1,944.27 398.0 6,000
ing need accurately for the selected

80 ITE JOURNAL ON THE WEB / MAY 1999

the number of seats either inside the Table 3. Correlation coefficients between parking demand and the included
restaurant building or in its garden variables, where r = correlation coefficient and α = level of significance.
were counted as well as the GFA; the
garden area was obtained through field Type of Land Use
measurements. Finally, the GFA for Office Apartment Shopping
each type of shopping center was Variable Hospitals buildings Hotels buildings Restaurants centers
obtained. Although most shopping
centers in Jordan are owned by the pri- Inner area (m2) r = 0.639 r = 0.095 r = 0.70
vate sector, this study considered both α = 0.0001 α = 0.682 α = 0.0018
private and military shopping centers. Outer area (m2) r = 0.723
Table 2 presents the statistical charac- α = 0.0002
teristics of the collected variables for all Dwelling unit r = 0.951
investigated land uses. α = 0.0001
Beds r = 0.828 r = 0.8112
ANALYSIS AND MODELING RESULTS α = 0.0001 α = 0.0001
Table 3 illustrates the coefficient of Rooms r = 0.845
linear correlation between the peak park- α = 0.0001
ing demand for each land use and the Inside seats r = 0.278
included variables. The peak parking α = 0.222
demands of hospitals varied from eight to Outside seats r = 0.735
97 for hospitals having 15 to 702 beds, α = 0.0001
respectively, as shown in Table 2. The Total seats r = 0.863
coefficient of linear correlation between α = 0.0001
the parking demand and the number of Offices r = 0.644
beds is about 0.83, as shown in Table 3. α = 0.0001
The relationship between the parking
demand and number of beds, as shown
in Figure 1, has an exponential form.
Based on regression analysis, the follow- 100
ing equation was found to best fit the
empirical data:
ln (VPDH) = 0.369 + 0.69 ln (NB) (1)
80
where VPDH = vehicle parking demand
of hospitals and NB = number of
beds/hospital.
The model and the estimated parame- 60
Parking demand

ters were statistically significant at a 90 per-

cent confidence level. As shown in Table 4,
the coefficient of determination is 0.80.
Equation (1) can be rewritten in the
40
following form:

VPDH = 1.45 × NB0.69 (2)

The peak parking demand of office 20

buildings varied from 13 to 94 for
buildings having 45 to 840 offices and
an area of 900 to 18,000 m2. As shown
in Table 3, the coefficient of linear cor- 0
relation between the parking demand 0 200 400 600 800
and the GFA and between the parking
demand and the number of offices are Number of beds
approximately equal. This result may
indicate that offices are on average Figure 1. Scatter plot of vehicle parking demand vs. number of beds in a hotel.

ITE JOURNAL ON THE WEB / MAY 1999 81

having the same area. The cited litera- the number of offices/building was VPDO = 3.6 × NO0.53 (3)
ture indicates that parking demand of found to be the best predictor of the
office buildings is normally estimated peak parking demand at least from a VPDO = 0.77 × A0.52 (4)
based on the GFA, but this study sug- statistical point of view. For planning
gests that either the GFA or the num- purposes, the use of GFA is more where VPDO = vehicle parking demand
ber of offices can be used to estimate transparent. The developed regression of office building, NO = number of
the peak parking demand. However, equations were as follows: offices/building and A = GFA in m2.
Both models were statistically signifi-
cant at the 95 percent confidence level.
Table 4. Statistical characteristics of Equation 1. The coefficients of determination values
were 0.60 and 0.57 for Equations 3 and
Dependent variable: Vehicle parking demand (VPD) 4, respectively. The form of Equation 4 is
A. Analysis of variance similar to the one presented in Parking
Degrees of Sum of Mean Generation.
Source freedom squares squares F-value α-level For hotels, Table 2 indicates that the
peak demand varied from 11 to 97 for
Model 1 17.249 17.249 207.804 0.0001 hotels having 14 to 586 beds and 10 to
Error 51 4.233 0.083 354 rooms. However, Table 3 shows that
C-total 52 21.483 the parking demand of hotels is strongly
R 2 = 0.802
correlated with the number of rooms in
each hotel. Clearly, the relationship
B. Regression parameter estimates between parking demand and the num-
Degrees of Parameter Standard ber of rooms has nearly an exponential
Variable freedom estimate error t-value α-level form, as shown in Figure 2. In general
the parking space requirement based
Intercept 1 0.369 0.204 1.803 0.077 upon the collected data, as shown in
NB 1 0.690 0.047 14.415 0.0001 Table 2, is about 0.4 space/room. This
value is very low compared with the
value cited in literature,9 which is about
100 1.5 spaces/room.
Using the empirical data of this study,
a relationship between vehicle parking
demand and number of rooms was
80 developed. The developed equation was
as follows:

VPDHT = 3.26 × NR0.56 (5)

Vehicle parking demand

60
where VPDHT = vehicle parking demand
of hotels and NR = number of rooms/hotel.
The model and all parameters were
40 found to be significant at a 95 percent
confidence level. Also, the coefficient of
determination was 0.78.
In apartment buildings, the number
20 of dwelling units/building was found to
strongly influence the peak parking
demand. As shown in Table 3, the coeffi-
cient of linear correlation between park-
0 ing demand and the number of dwelling
0 100 200 300 400 units/building is 0.95. Clearly, Table 2
indicates that the peak parking
Number of rooms demand/dwelling unit is about 0.6.
Based on regression analysis, the follow-
Figure 2. Scatter plot of vehicle parking demand vs. number of rooms in a hotel. ing equation was developed to estimate

82 ITE JOURNAL ON THE WEB / MAY 1999

the peak parking demand for residential
apartment buildings:
VPDA = 0.47 × NDU1.10 (6)
where VPDA = vehicle parking demand of
residential apartment buildings and NDU
= number of dwelling units/building.
The above regression equation and
its parameters were found to be statis-
tically significant at a 95 percent confi-
dence level. Moreover, the coefficient
of determination was 0.91. Contrary
to conventional wisdom, Equation 6
suggests a disproportional increase in
parking for large buildings. In reality,
small buildings have a limited number
of apartments with relatively large
areas that are normally rented by
wealthy people, who have relatively
high car ownership.
For restaurants, the number of seats,
either inside the restaurant building or in
its garden and the garden area, was found
to be highly correlated with peak vehicle
parking demand. However, it seems that
the total number of seats, all seats in the
restaurant building and in its garden, is
the best vehicle parking predictor, as
shown in Table 3. Furthermore, the rela-
tionship between the peak parking
demand and the total number of seats is
linear, as shown in Figure 3. Similar to
other land uses, the following equations
were developed to estimate peak parking
demand of restaurants:
VPDR = 7.21 + 0.034 × TNS (7)
VPDR = 12.40 + 0.006 × TA (8)
where VPDR = vehicle parking demand
of restaurants, TNS = total number of
seats and TA = total area of restaurant
(inside area and garden area if it is used to
accommodate customers), in m2.
Both models and their parameters
were statistically significant with coeffi-
cients of determination values of 0.75
and 0.60 for Equations 7 and 8, respec-
tively. Although Equation 7 is much
more predictable, Equation 8 is pre-
ferred, especially for planning purposes.
Finally, the peak parking demand for
shopping centers was found to be signif-
ITE JOURNAL ON THE WEB / MAY 1999
icantly influenced by the area of shop-
ping centers. As mentioned previously,
the parking demands for two types of
shopping centers were investigated,
including private and military shopping
centers. Field observations and empiri-
cal results of this study1 indicated that
the peak parking demand of military
shopping centers is much greater than
that of the private centers. In fact, mili-
tary shopping centers provide services
for military members or their families
only, and they normally have distinct
characteristics. Another reason is attrib-
uted to the diversity of goods presented
by the military shopping centers. Con-
sequently, a dummy variable was
included in the modeling analysis to
account for the type of shopping center.
The dummy variable was included
because both types of shopping centers
had approximately the same slope and
variance when separate regressions were
developed. Thus, it was more precise to
work with one regression model con-
taining a dummy variable since more
degrees of freedom will be associated
50
40
30
Parking demand
20
10
5
0 200
Total number of seats
Figure 3. Scatter plot of vehicle parking demand vs. total number of seats in a restaurant.
with the mean square of errors. Based
on the analysis, the following linear
equation was developed:
VPDSH = 18.19 + 0.008 × GFA +
16.76 × TSH (9)
where VPDSH = vehicle parking
demand of shopping centers, GFA =
GFA of shopping center and TSH = type
of shopping center (1 for military shop-
ping center, 0 otherwise).
The above regression equation and all
parameters were statistically significant at
a 95 percent confidence level. Also, the
coefficient of multiple determination was
0.70. The dependence of the peak park-
ing demand on the GFA is consistent
with the results of previous studies, which
indicates that the peak parking demand
linearly increases as the GFA increases.
DISCUSSION
This study provides a guideline to
estimate peak parking demand of various
land uses in Jordan. The developed mod-
els would help traffic engineers and
400 600 800 1000
83
developers figure out parking space
requirements based on local conditions
rather than using figures developed for
other countries. This issue is very crucial
to minimize the economic consequences
of providing more or less than the opti-
mal level of parking demand, particularly
in cities where the cost of land or con-
struction is relatively expensive.
Compared with results of parking-
demand studies carried out in devel-
oped countries, this study highlights
two major issues. The first one is related
to the parking-demand predictor vari-
ables. For example, previous studies
estimated the parking demand for
office buildings and hotels based on the
GFA, while this study revealed that the
number of offices and rooms are the
best parking-demand determinate vari-
ables for office buildings and hotels,
respectively. Although the use of GFA is
more transparent for planning pur-
poses, the use of the number of offices
or rooms is not unreasonable.
The second major issue is related to
the parking-demand requirement of var-
ious investigated land uses. Unlike the
parking-demand rate in developed
countries, the parking-demand rate/base
unit for Jordan is relatively low. For
example, the parking demand for hospi-
tals in Jordan varied from 0.2 to 0.6
space/bed, with an average value of 0.4
space/bed. In contrast, the average park-
ing demand for general hospitals in the
United States is about 1.8 parking
spaces/bed. The difference is probably
attributed to car ownership, income
level, social status and lifestyle, as well as
the prevailing mode of transportation.
Car ownership in Jordan is about one
vehicle to every 15 persons, while the
corresponding figure for developed
countries is about one vehicle to every
two persons.10 In fact, public trans-
portation is the prevailing mode in Jor-
dan, but the private car is the major
mode of transportation in the United
States. Also, compliance with hospital
visiting regulations might affect the
peak parking demand. In Jordan, some
visitors do not observe visiting regula-
tions. This problem would reduce the
level of peak parking demand.
84
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CONCLUSIONS
A statistical model for estimating HASHEM R.
vehicle parking demand of various land AL-MASAEID,
uses in Jordan was developed. Peak P.E., is Associate Profes-
parking demand of hospitals, office sor of civil engineering
buildings, hotels, apartment buildings, and Vice Dean of scien-
restaurants and shopping centers was tific research at JUST
investigated. The developed models in Irbid, Jordan. He
have an exponential form, except for the received a B.Sc. in civil
models for restaurants and shopping engineering from JUST and an M.Sc. in civil engi-
centers, which have a linear form. Com- neering from Yarmouk University, Jordan. He also
pared with the standard values for devel- has a Ph.D. in transportation engineering from
oped countries, the parking demands Purdue University. His research interests are in the
for the investigated land uses in Jordan areas of traffic safety, traffic engineering and high-
have lower rates. ■ way engineering. Al-Masaeid is a Member of ITE.
References BASHAR
1. Al-Harahsheh, A. “Estimation of Vehicle AL-OMARI
Parking Demand for Different Land Uses in Jor- is an Assistant Professor
dan.” M.Sc. Thesis, Civil Engineering Depart- at JUST, where he
ment, Jordan University of Science and earned his B.S. and
Technology (JUST), December 1997. M.S. in civil engineer-
2. ITE Technical Committee 5-BB. Parking ing. He earned his
Generation, 2nd ed. Washington, D.C., USA: Ph.D. in traffic engi-
ITE, 1987. neering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-
3. Sosslau, A.B., A. Hassan, M. Carter and Champaign in Urbana, Ill., USA.
G. Wickstrom. “Quick-Response Urban Travel
Estimation Techniques and Transferable Parame- AHMAD
ters.” National Cooperative Highway Research AL-HARAHSHEH
Program, Report No. 187. Washington, D.C., is a Research Assistant
USA: Transportation Research Board, 1978. in the Civil Engineering
4. ITE Technical Council Committee 5D-8. Department at JUST.
Guidelines for Parking Facility Location and He also works in the
Design, A Recommended Practice. Washington, Ministry of Municipal-
D.C., USA: ITE, 1992. ity, Town and Environ-
5. Kadesh, E., and J. Petrson. “Parking Uti- mental Affairs in Jordan. He has an M.Sc. in
lization at Work Site in King and South Sno- transportation from JUST.
homish Countries, Washington.” Transportation
Research Record. Washington, D.C., USA:
National Research Council, 1994.
6. Meckenzie, G., and C. Eastman. “Assess-
ment of Parking Demand.” Traffic Engineering
and Control (March 1992): 150–154.
7. Urban Land Institute. Parking Require-
ments for Shopping Centers. Washington, D.C.,
USA, 1982.
8. Young, W. “Parking Route Guidance.”
Australian Road Research. Vol. 17, No. 1, 1987:
40–42.
9. Ruggero, F., and J. Gorys. “Hotel Parking
Demand Analysis: City of North York, Ontario,
Canada.” ITE Journal (September 1989): 31–36.
10. International Road Safety. Annual Acci-
dent Report. Vol. 2, Luxembourg, 1995.
ITE JOURNAL ON THE WEB / MAY 1999