A New Method for the Direct Measurement of Parking Incentive Response Curve

Knowing parking price response curve allows one to set the price right. This response curve is often estimated by observing changes in occupancy concomitant with small changes of price. In the authors' Value Pricing Pilot (VPP) Program study, called FlexPassPlus, the authors have used a new method to measure this quantity. By setting up repeated 2nd price auctions via an app the authors were able to get a lot more information about elasticity than through a traditional change-the-price-and-see-what-happens experiment. This leads to a better understanding of the parking incentive response curve. The parking incentive elasticity is estimated as 0.514 while intensity as -3.066. The authors find that the elasticity stays invariant but the intensity varies with weekday and weather.