Access Downtown Charlottesville, Virginia Bringing People Downtown in an efficient and coordinated manner Prepared by CPC Inc.
3 Ways to Get Downtown • Human Power – Walking or Biking • Public Vehicle – CAT, Free Trolley or Taxi Cab • Private Vehicle – Parking on street or off street
Human Power • City Council actively promotes walkability and cycling • The community has the highest benefits when you walk or bike downtown • Walking and Biking are free
Public and For-Hire Vehicles • City Council actively promotes mass transit options and Charlottesville has efficient taxicab service. • Use of public and for-hire vehicles has the second highest community benefit through the reduction of congestion, environmental impact, parking impact, reduction of drunk driving • The Trolley is Free, the Bus is $20 per month, Taxi Service is $2.40 per mile
Private Vehicles • City Council actively promotes private vehicles through the free parking system on street • CPC actively promotes private vehicles through parking validation in the garages • Use of private vehicles provides the least benefit for the community due to issues including congestion, pollution, parking congestion and drunk driving. • Parking On Street is Free, Parking Off Street is $2.50 Per hour without a validation
Lack of Coordination • The promotion of Free Parking On Street is at odds with the promotion of Walking, Cycling, Mass Transit. • The most convenient individual option is to drive and park on street, it also has the cheapest cost to the individual in terms of time and money. • Parking on the street has the highest cost for the community
Consequences of Present System • The perceived lack of parking is a major deterrent to visitors coming downtown • The perception of a lack of parking is created by employees utilizing nearly all the street spots on a daily basis • Employers cannot afford to pay for employee parking off street because their potential customers often go elsewhere due to lack of parking • Downtown growth will be restricted unless a balanced parking and transit system is developed that changes the perception of a lack of parking while providing affordable employee parking and transit options
The Access Downtown Solution • CPC has prepared detailed plans to develop an integrated management solution that incorporates on street parking, off street parking, mass transit and taxicab options into a single platform for visitors and employees. • CPC has prepared plans with Willow Tree Apps for the development of a smart phone app to provide the public with real time on/off street parking information, CAT information, Taxi cab information and merchant validation options.
The Access Downtown Solution (Cont) • Merchant Validation for visitors would be extended to include on and off street parking, CAT and Taxicab service. • Employees/Employers that need free parking will be provided with Transit or Park and Ride options at subsidized rates.
Off Street Parking Solution • CPC has developed plans for a new custom parking package with Flow Thru Technologies Inc. • The new system would be paperless. • Upon entering the garage every vehicle would have its license plate automatically scanned. • Monthly parkers or registered transient parkers would have the gate open at entrance or exit automatically upon license plate recognition.
Off Street Parking Solution (Cont) • Non registered users would enter any 10 digit number at the gate to gain entry • That 10 digit number would associate with that license plate for that visit only • Upon leaving a visitor would pay on foot at a kiosk in the garage utilizing their 10 digit number • After paying on foot, they drive to the exit where their license plate is automatically recognized along with payment and the gate automatically opens
Advantages for Off Street Parking • A transient parker can register a form of payment with a license plate and enter/exit automatically • Reduce congestion in the Water St Garage. • Eliminate Paper tickets while providing receipts of payment.
On Street Parking Solution • 800 free spaces identified in 2008 parking study would become paid parking from 8am to 9pm Monday through Saturday • Inner core of 400 spaces would be limited to 4 hours per vehicle. Hour 1-2 would be $1 per hour. Hours 3-4 would be prohibitive vs. cost of garage. • Outer 400 spaces would be $1 per hour with a time limit of 8 hours • Prices would be adjusted periodically to maintain 85% occupancy
On Street Parking Solution (Cont) • CPC has partnered with Digital Payment Technologies to integrate their Luke II Kiosk into our Access Downtown Management System. • 800 spaces will need 60 kiosks. • Enforcement will be by license plate • The System is paperless and vehicles can relocate within a zone as enforcement is tied to the license plate and not an individual spot
Public Vehicles • CPC and CAT are preparing plans to provide merchant validation options for CAT buses. • The free trolley line will have service extended until 2am. At present the trolley stops service at 11:30pm. • Yellow Cab has the technology to connect to the Access Downtown validation system
Merchant Validation • Every Merchant or employer downtown will have a company portal into the Access Downtown Management System. • A customer will give their 10 digit number to the validation participant. • The Merchant will enter the 10 digit customer number into their portal along with how much and what type of validation they are providing.
Merchant Validation (Cont) • Merchants will have the option to provide validation for on street, off street, CAT or taxicabs. • Upon returning to the garage or on street kiosk, entering a bus or at the end of taxicab ride the customer will re-enter their 10 digit number and the system will discount their cost by the validation amount and bill the merchant.
Employee Parking Solution • Access Downtown will provide alternative subsidized employee parking and transit options to replace the loss of on street free parking • A portion of the on street parking kiosk revenues will be utilized to provide the employee subsidies.
Park and Ride • CPC has confirmed that capacity for employee parking exists at the Ix building, West Main St private lots, additional lots along the trolley line. Rides would be provided by the free trolley. • Ix has the capacity for 100 vehicles. The initial park and ride cost would be $25 per month. • CAT is capable of rerouting the free trolley line to provide service to the Ix building.
Park and Ride (Cont) • If Ix became full, the price at Ix would rise and the $25 location would shift to two private lots near the bridge on West Main St. • The West Main lots are on the free trolley line and have approximately 150 spaces available. • If the West Main lots became full, the price would rise at Ix and at the West Main Lots. • The $25 lot would shift to additional lots along the free trolley line which include more than 500 spaces.
Park and Ride (Cont) • Additional capacity is potentially available at Fashion Square or a similar location on 29N. • Rides from 29N would be provided by CAT and would cost $25 per month. • The Park and Ride System would be part of the integrated Access Downtown management system, enabling participants to receive one emergency pickup for free from Yellow Cab on an annual basis to retrieve their cars.
Mass Transit Options • A portion of the meter revenues would be utilized to provide a CAT pass for downtown employees at the subsidized rate of $10 per month. • This would be a discount from the present rate of $20 per month
Access Downtown App • CPC is working with Willow Tree Apps located on the Downtown Mall to provide an Access Downtown smart phone app. • The App would provide an exact real time number of parking spaces in both garages. • The App would provide an estimate in real time of on street parking availability and location
Access Downtown App (Cont) • App would utilize smart phone GPS data to highlight the closest and next available mass transit options or order a taxicab. • App would provide validation options in real time for all modes of transportation and parking • App would enable customers to register their license plates, extend their parking, pay their bill, redeem validations
Management Structure • CPC and the City would form a Parking Board to manage policy including pricing for on and off street parking • Parking Board would also oversee alternative employee parking and transit options • CPC would be the managing agent for on and off street parking including enforcement. • Parking Board would commit to finding long term solutions to insure affordable parking is always available downtown.
On-Street Parking Revenues • A portion of the meter revenues would go to the Parking Board to pay for the expansion of the free trolley, park and ride options, along with subsidizing CAT passes for downtown employees. • The remainder of the meter revenues would go to the proposed Business Improvement District.
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