Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Final Report & An End to the Experiment

 

Background

A year and a month ago, I started this project as a way to get a sense of what parking was actually like in Seattle. Parking in Seattle is often a contentious topic. On the one hand, we have people believe that parking in Seattle is too expensive and too difficult. Routinely . On the other hand, there are people like me who acknowledge that parking in the heart of a busy city is going to cost more than in areas where demand is lower and parking is subsidized.

In the middle of this argument, I realized that I had access to original data on the issue and that measuring it could actually give both sides something to talk about. Both sides make assumptions about the nature of parking in the city, but what is it really like to in Seattle? What would happened if you started keeping track of it? This blog was an attempt to do just that, in a completely unscientific but honest way. Using a combination of Google Docs and Blogger, I would create a log of where I park, how long it took to find parking and how far off it was from my destination. Now, after a year and 127 entries, this will be last post and the summary of the findings.


How did this website work?

Data collection for this website was done with my smartphone by using a Google form, which can be viewed here. In the background, there is a Google action script that that takes the final row of the table and then posts it to blogger when a a report is submitted. The statistics are generated based on what is in the table at the time of posting. The only manual work that I have is tagging the posts with the neighborhoods when it is done. The code for pushing the form data to the blogger can be found here, in case you would like to do something similar.


Is this a scientific study?

No. It is a series of observations, but it was not collected under strict scientific standards. However, the information is also not useless: We have nearly 130 reports over the course of about a year and my methodology errs on the conservative side: I only collected data in places where it is "difficult" to park, excluded instances where I used my RPZ sticker to park for longer periods of time, I stopped data collection in areas that I felt were too easy, and tended to be more diligent about reporting difficult parking experiences than easy ones. The final results more accurately reflect my parking experience at the worst. There was no cherry picking data here.


Results

Distribution of Results

The five most frequently visited neighborhoods where parking was recorded were: Capitol Hill/Broadway, West Seattle, Georgetown, Fremont, and Downtown. I stopped collection data in Georgetown and Fremont at 10 visits because I did not face any difficulty finding parking in either neighborhood.


In much of the city, I didn't record my parking at all. There is simply no need in most areas because there isn't high enough demand to make parking challenging. As a result, I limited my data collection only to destinations in the areas below. I focused on neighborhood businesses and anywhere that people might consider "hard" to park.


View Areas where I log Parking in a larger map

 

Difficulty of Finding Parking

Difficulty was measured in two ways: The first was how long it took to find parking and the second was how far from the destination the parking spot was. The ideal is to be located close to your destination and not spend an inordinate amount of time finding parking. On average, I found parking well within 2 blocks of my destination and well within 2 minutes of first starting to look for parking, even in the busiest areas of the city. Parking downtown, which was most often to visit the Pike Place Market, yielded a parking spot within 2 blocks of my destination and took on average 3.3 minutes. First Hill was the most difficult (3 minutes on average and 2.5 blocks away on average), followed by Downtown (3.3 minutes on average and 1.9 blocks away on average), followed by Pioneer Square and then Capitol Hill (both under 2 minutes on average and within 2 blocks from the destination on average).

The longest time spent looking for parking was 15 minutes on Capitol Hill. However, this was unwittingly during the evening on pride weekend. The second longest amount of time spent was 9 minutes near Melrose Market. The furthest for my destination was 7 blocks, but that was the outlier. Generally, parking was found no more than 4 blocks from my destination.

Interested in seeing what a parking looks like in practice? Here's me finding parking at the Pike Place Market. For the purposes of this site, I would have started the clock for "looking for parking" at about 2nd Ave. Before that, I would consider myself "in transit" and would likely pass a spot for a closer one. However, once I get to 2nd Ave, if anything popped up, I would have grabbed it. The timer would have stopped when I turned the engine off at the end. This is fairly representative of my experience parking in Seattle.


 

Cost of Parking

On average, it cost $0.31 per hour to park, or $0.47 per park on average. That amount includes a $25 ticket for overstaying my time in a private parking lot in West Seattle. If that ticket is removed, then the total cost per hour was $0.18. You could add a $125 of parking costs and still not break $1 per hour on average. Reviewing the data, I do seem to be missing a Sounders game last month that was $20 and would take the average cost to $0.41 per hour.

The reason why this is so low is mainly due to my parking habits: I tend to take transit more than I drive, tend to visit downtown on Sundays, tend to visit to frequent neighborhood businesses outside of downtown, and I don't mind walking a little ways to park for free. The cost of parking in my experience is effectively negligible.

Here's the breakdown by neighborhood (Sorted by total time):
Neighborhood Total Time Parked in Area (Hours) Total Amount Paid Overall cost per hour (Cost/Time)
West Seattle 44.3 $25.00 $0.56
Capitol Hill/Broadway 40.3 $9.57 $0.24
Downtown 25.5 $12.59 $0.49
The University District 23.55 $4.90 $0.21
Fremont 12.25 $1.75 $0.14
Ballard 11.5 $1.56 $0.14
Madrona 8.5 $0.00 $0.00
Lower Queen Anne 5.25 $0.00 $0.00
Wallingford 4.25 $0.00 $0.00
SLU/Cascade 3.8 $0.00 $0.00
International District 2.75 $4.97 $1.81
Pioneer Square 2 $0.00 $0.00
Belltown 1.5 $0.00 $0.00
First Hill 1.5 $0.00 $0.00
Montlake 1.5 $0.00 $0.00
Ravenna 1.25 $0.00 $0.00
Georgetown 1.15 $0.00 $0.00
Alki 1 $0.00 $0.00
Green Lake 1 $0.00 $0.00
Leschi 0.5 $0.00 $0.00
Magnolia 0.5 $0.00 $0.00
The Central District 0.25 $0.00 $0.00
Little Saigon 0.1 $0.00 $0.00
Grand Total 194.2 $60.34 $0.31

 

Conclusion & Thoughts

This is by no means a definitive study that will end the debate of parking or the scarcity of it in Seattle, but in these observations parking in Seattle is not especially expensive or difficult. Parking was usually readily available, even in the downtown core, and occasional one-time high prices for parking, such as when issued a ticket by a private parking lot or the occasional on street parking charge, averages over time to a very low per hour cost to park.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Parking found in Ballard in 3 minute(s).

Destination: Pestle Rock
Time: 3/16/2013 17:14:25
Day of Week: Saturday
Neighborhood: Ballard

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 3 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 1 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $1.56

Average Cost per Hour: $1.04
Type of Parking: On Street (2hr Paid)
Amount of time parked there: 1.5 hours

Details:

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.31
Total Cost for Parking: $60.34
Average Distance from Destination: 1.26 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.14 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 194.2 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 129

Friday, March 8, 2013

Parking found in Capitol Hill/Broadway in 9 minute(s).

Destination: Melrose Market
Time: 3/8/2013 18:37:05
Day of Week: Friday
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Broadway

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 9 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 4 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (2hr Paid)
Amount of time parked there: 2 hours

Details:

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.31
Total Cost for Parking: $58.78
Average Distance from Destination: 1.26 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.12 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 192.7 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 128

Monday, February 18, 2013

Parking found in Alki in 0.25 minute(s).

Destination: Alki Beach
Time: 2/18/2013 15:55:14
Day of Week: Monday
Neighborhood: Alki

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0.25 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 0.2 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: Off Street (Free Business Parking)
Amount of time parked there: 1 hours

Details:

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.31
Total Cost for Parking: $58.14
Average Distance from Destination: 1.24 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.06 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 188.7 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 126

Parking found in International District in 4 minute(s).

Destination: Waji's
Time: 2/18/2013 14:43:26
Day of Week: Monday
Neighborhood: International District

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 4 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: .75 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (Sunday)
Amount of time parked there: .75 hours

Details: Busy day down here.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.31
Total Cost for Parking: $58.14
Average Distance from Destination: 1.25 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.06 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 187.7 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 125

Parking found in Capitol Hill/Broadway in 4 minute(s).

Destination: Wandering Goose
Time: 2/18/2013 12:05:06
Day of Week: Monday
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Broadway

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 4 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 3 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (Sunday)
Amount of time parked there: 1 hours

Details: Busy today. Holiday.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.31
Total Cost for Parking: $58.14
Average Distance from Destination: 1.25 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.04 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 186.95 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 124

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Parking found in International District in 0 minute(s).

Destination: Kau Kau
Time: 2/12/2013 18:00:56
Day of Week: Tuesday
Neighborhood: International District

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 0.75 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $4.97

Average Cost per Hour: $2.49
Type of Parking: On Street (2hr Paid)
Amount of time parked there: 2 hours

Details: Plenty of parking right now. Drove right into it.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.31
Total Cost for Parking: $58.14
Average Distance from Destination: 1.24 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.01 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 185.95 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 123

Suburban Parking: TCC

I am at Tacoma Community College, which actually has a nice famous. There are a lot of new buildings and even more parking, all of which is full. Parking here in the suburbs with dedicated parking ended up taking about 5 minutes and the only available non-staff spot was about 4-5 blocks away from my destination

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Parking found in Capitol Hill/Broadway in 0.5 minute(s).

Destination: Liberty
Time: 2/10/2013 18:39:30
Day of Week: Sunday
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Broadway

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0.5 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 2.5 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (Sunday)
Amount of time parked there: 2 hours

Details:

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.29
Total Cost for Parking: $53.17
Average Distance from Destination: 1.24 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.02 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 183.95 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 122

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Parking found in Capitol Hill/Broadway in 4 minute(s).

Destination: Rudy's
Time: 2/7/2013 9:23:14
Day of Week: Thursday
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Broadway

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 4 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 3 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (RPZ 2hr)
Amount of time parked there: 1.5 hours

Details: If I had a smaller car, there was a spot about a block away but I couldnt quite fit. Lots of x Cars here for SCCC.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.29
Total Cost for Parking: $53.17
Average Distance from Destination: 1.23 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.03 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 181.95 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 121

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Parking found in Capitol Hill/Broadway in 0.5 minute(s).

Destination: Value Village
Time: 2/3/2013 14:39:28
Day of Week: Sunday
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Broadway

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0.5 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 0.5 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (Sunday)
Amount of time parked there: 0.75 hours

Details: I am a hunt'n looking for a come up.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.29
Total Cost for Parking: $53.17
Average Distance from Destination: 1.21 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 180.45 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 120

Friday, January 25, 2013

Parking found in Downtown in 4 minute(s).

Destination: Japonessa
Time: 1/25/2013 17:47:21
Day of Week: Friday
Neighborhood: Downtown

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 4 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 2 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $8.95

Average Cost per Hour: $2.24
Type of Parking: On Street (2hr Paid)
Amount of time parked there: 4 hours

Details: That was easy.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.3
Total Cost for Parking: $53.17
Average Distance from Destination: 1.22 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 1.01 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 179.7 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 119

Friday, January 18, 2013

Parking found in The University District in 0 minute(s).

Destination: UDon
Time: 1/18/2013 18:55:46
Day of Week: Friday
Neighborhood: The University District

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 1 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $2.00

Average Cost per Hour: $2
Type of Parking: On Street (2hr Paid)
Amount of time parked there: 1 hours

Details:

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.25
Total Cost for Parking: $44.22
Average Distance from Destination: 1.21 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 0.98 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 175.7 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 118

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Parking found in Capitol Hill/Broadway in 0.3 minute(s).

Destination: Value Village
Time: 1/6/2013 18:33:36
Day of Week: Sunday
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Broadway

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0.3 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 0.2 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (Sunday)
Amount of time parked there: 0.3 hours

Details: Open angled parking spot right in front

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.24
Total Cost for Parking: $42.22
Average Distance from Destination: 1.22 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 0.99 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 174.7 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 117

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Parking found in Downtown in 6 minute(s).

Destination: Pike Place Market
Time: 12/23/2012 13:29:23
Day of Week: Sunday
Neighborhood: Downtown

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 6 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 3 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (Sunday)
Amount of time parked there: 2 hours

Details: Lots of traffic, but there is plenty of parking on this block face.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.24
Total Cost for Parking: $42.22
Average Distance from Destination: 1.22 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 0.99 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 174.4 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 116

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Parking found in Fremont in 2 minute(s).

Destination: Le Bon Ton Roulette
Time: 12/8/2012 18:53:38
Day of Week: Saturday
Neighborhood: Fremont

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 2 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 2 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (RPZ 2hr)
Amount of time parked there: 1 hours

Details:

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.24
Total Cost for Parking: $42.22
Average Distance from Destination: 1.21 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 0.95 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 172.4 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 115

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Parking found in Downtown in 0.5 minute(s).

Destination: The Spanish Tablr
Time: 12/2/2012 14:40:58
Day of Week: Sunday
Neighborhood: Downtown

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0.5 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 1 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (Sunday)
Amount of time parked there: 1 hours

Details: Someone was pulling away right as I rounded the corner

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.25
Total Cost for Parking: $42.22
Average Distance from Destination: 1.2 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 0.94 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 171.4 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 114

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Parking found in SLU/Cascade in 0.75 minute(s).

Destination: Buca di Beppo
Time: 11/10/2012 19:52:31
Day of Week: Saturday
Neighborhood: SLU/Cascade

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0.75 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 3 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: On Street (2hr Paid)
Amount of time parked there: 1.5 hours

Details: Parking was available after we pulled off the main arterial. There is another spot that I am passing on the way to the restaurant that was closer.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.25
Total Cost for Parking: $42.22
Average Distance from Destination: 1.2 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 0.95 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 170.4 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 113

Thursday, November 8, 2012

And we're back!

Sorry for the intermission. I was out of the country awhile back and simply forgot to get back in the habit of logging my parking around town. It's not that I've been driving less (although I should) or that I've suddenly run into bad luck parking (I haven't), I simply got out of the habit of whipping out my phone and taking the minute or two that it takes to complete my own survey.

But, now I am back and let the logging roll on!


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Parking found in Downtown in 0.5 minute(s).

Destination: Pike Place Market
Time: 8/30/2012 13:55:57
Day of Week: Thursday
Neighborhood: Downtown

Time Spent Looking for Parking: 0.5 minute(s)
Distance from Destination: 1 block(s)
Amount Paid for Parking: $0

Average Cost per Hour: $0
Type of Parking: Off Street (Validated Parking Lot)
Amount of time parked there: 1 hours

Details: $20 gets you an hour of validated parking and you can return what you buy if you Dont like it.

Current Global Averages:
Average Cost per Hour: $0.25
Total Cost for Parking: $42.22
Average Distance from Destination: 1.19 block(s)
Average Time spent Searching for Parking: 0.95 minute(s)
Total number of hours parked: 168.9 hours
Total number of recorded parkings: 112