Research Question The Model The Results Possible Extensions
In a society that depends heavily on cars, parking lots are the gateway between businesses and their customers. Businesses invest in building parking lots because they know that customers will go elsewhere if parking is cumbersome. However, large lots are not necessarily the answer; the number of spaces available may multiply confusion and congestion if the lot is poorly designed.
In the eyes of a business owner, a good parking lot is one that both accomodates all incoming cars and minimizes the time spent looking for parking. This problem is sensitive to the type of business and the customer it attracts. This project illustrates how the loss of potential shoppers due to parking problems depends on the interaction of shopper behavior and parking lot design.
The behavior we are particularly interested in is "squatting" or stopping to wait for a car to come out of a spot. This is behavior is particularly pervasive in cities where parking is difficult such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc. which aggravates the problem further. In our model, cars look for the closest parking space and would wait for a car to back out of its stall if it sees the owner approaching. The results suggest that optimal design of lots need to take into account the tendency of their customer to wait as well as the rate of customer arrival and the average length of time a customer spends shopping.