A simple reservation and allocation model of shared parking lots

With increasing auto demands, efficient parking management is by no means less important than road traffic congestion control. This is due to shortages of parking spaces within the limited land areas of the city centers in many metropolises. The parking problem becomes an integrated part of traffic planning and management. On the other hand, it is a fact that many private parking spots are available during daytime in nearby residential compound because those residents drive their cars out to work. These temporarily vacant parking lots can be efficiently utilized to meet the parking demand of other drivers who are working at nearby locations or drivers who come for shopping or other activities. This paper proposes a framework and a simple model for embracing shared use of residential parking spaces between residents and public users. The proposed shared use is a winning strategy because it maximizes the use of private resources to benefit the community as a whole. It also creates a new business model enabled by the fast-growing mobile apps in our daily lives.