UP Grad Wins Parker Award from Council of University Transportation Centers

Urban Planning graduate Andrea Osgood (MA UP ’07), has been
awarded the 2007 Council of University Transportation Center Neville A.
Parker Award for her project titled, “Curb Dreams: Allocating On-Street
Parking for Carsharing. An Analysis of Local Government Agencies’
Options for Encouraging Carsharing Use Through On-Street Parking
Programs.”

The Parker Award, given by the Council of University Transportation
Centers (CUTC), is presented annually for the two best non-thesis
papers/projects in transportation submitted for the M.S. degree in lieu
of a M.S. thesis. Osgood’s project won the policy and planning
category.

Previous winners of the award from the UCLA School of Public Affairs
include Steve Crosley (MA UP ’06), Camille Fink (MA UP ’04), and
Heather Burton (MA UP ’03). Osgood’s award, including a cash award of
$1,500, will be presented this month at the annual CUTC Awards Banquet
in Washington, D.C.

The following is an abstract of Osgood’s winning project: (read report)

Due to the ability of carsharing to address a variety of tough urban
problems — from traffic congestion and pollution to global warming and
mobility hurdles in low-income populations — policy makers have been
eager to find ways support and encourage its growth, such as provide
parking spaces on public streets for the exclusive use of carsharing
vehicles.

However, dedicating sections of streets for specific users limits the
public’s access to this formerly non-restricted resource and is
susceptible to accusations of unjust privatization.

Is on-street carsharing parking an effective use of use of local
resources? And, if so, how can policy makers deal with the
privatization concerns?

This report draws on an analysis of the literature and modelling of
individual travel costs to argue that on-street parking is more
effective than other forms of support, such as direct financial grants
or off-street spaces, due to the extra time savings, visibility and
convenience benefits associated with on-street spaces.

Given these findings, this report presents a series of policy
recommendations to help governments create their own on-street
programs. Drawing from case studies of similar programs in six North
American cities, detailed recommendations are provided on a wide range
of components, such as legislative structure, fees, signage and
demarcation of spaces. In addition to these practical details, the
report also concludes that any on-street policy must include a
mechanism to both verify and ensure the social benefits of carsharing —
particularly if the jurisdiction does do not want to charge a
market-based fee for these spaces.

Even if governments strike the right balance between social benefits
and opportunity costs, some citizens will still oppose losing access to
these parking spaces. However, carsharing’s benefits to society are
proven and supportive policies such as an on-street program will help
create more sustainable communities.

(Read full report)