Establishing Parking Generation Rates for Selected Land Uses in the West Bank

Estimating parking demand in Palestine needs more oriented studies towards parking generation to enrich transportation planning, design and management by valuable information. The available local studies are partial studies and not based on comprehensive specialized studies. Furthermore, using regional or international models and rates of parking demand may not be appropriate for Palestine. This research is conducted to establish reliable reference for provision of parking supply for three major types of land uses, which are residential, office, and retail land uses. Seventy three sites of different land uses were selected through field investigations, interviews, and availability of information for each site. These sites cover all the targeted land use types and their classes (three classes for each type).The study covered all main cities in the West Bank. Data collection was conducted manually, which contains site characteristics and average of two days of parking counts during three periods (AM, PM, and Peak of the Development). The analysis of the attained data produced several parking models and rates that might be used as local specifications for parking demand and supply of the three selected land uses. Following the American Institute of Transportation Engineers procedure, simple linear or logarithmic/power model forms were investigated. The produced models have various levels of statistical significance for identifying the required parking spaces for a current and proposed development. The developed models are applicable in the peripheral areas of the cities. Fifty six models and rates were produced with variable accuracy. Good statistical models and rates were summarized and highlighted for each type of land use in tables. Parking generation models with good statistical significance (R2, etc.) were recommended, otherwise, parking generation rates are recommended. Simple linear regression, natural logarithmic linear regression and power were the forms of the recommended models for the studied land uses. Therefore, the parking demand of residential, office, retail land uses with the same characteristics can be identified based on the produced models and rates. This thesis forms the first step of a future Palestinian “Parking Generation Manual” that will contain various local land use types, as well as guidance for the Ministry of Local Government requirements of parking spaces for various developments.