Paid Parking Scenario Modeler | Studio Davis Analytics Atlas

Step 1

Study area

Start with an example or import over the active scenario, set the study-wide assumptions, then define every curb, lot, garage, or aggregate parking asset you want to model.

Active scenarioDraft — not calculated

Start with an example

Scenario name Analysis horizon (years) Operating days per year Target occupancy minimum % Target occupancy maximum %

Parking assets

Each asset gets its own demand curve, turnover pattern, pricing structure, payment-compliance assumption, and optional cost items.

Use Duplicate when two assets start with similar assumptions. Asset IDs stay stable when scenarios are copied or imported so Step 6 can match the same resource across cases.

Step 2

Existing demand

Enter the demand profile for each asset. Use the tabs to move between curb, lot, garage, or other resources without leaving this step.

Demand treatment Manual occupied-demand change % Expected payment compliance %

Manual demand adjustment is asset-specific and is intended for an externally calibrated adjustment. Cross-scenario pricing response is configured separately in Step 6.

Occupancy profile — one time,occupancy row per line

Use time as HH:MM or minute of day and occupancy as a decimal (for example, 0.75). Hourly entries expand to the 15-minute model interval. Import occupancy CSV

Step 3

Turnover patterns

Describe how long vehicles stay in each asset. Shares must total 100%; open-ended bins need a representative duration.

Import stay CSV

Step 4

Pricing structure

Choose a fixed hourly rate, a rate that changes with stay length, or a rate that changes by time of day. PPSM 0.8 uses one pricing basis per asset so the calculation remains transparent.

Pricing basis

min

Managed window begins Managed window ends

Billing increment (minutes) Billing rule Daily cap ($; optional)

Fixed hourly rate: the same posted hourly price applies throughout the managed window regardless of clock time or elapsed stay. Billing increment, rounding, maximum stay, and an optional daily cap still apply.

Fixed hourly rate ($/hour)

By stay length: the marginal hourly price changes as a vehicle's stay gets longer. A $0 tier can represent free parking or a free initial period. PPSM calculates the cumulative charge from the full elapsed-stay schedule.

By time of day: the posted hourly price changes by clock time. PPSM applies each rate directly to occupied 15-minute space-hours in that band. Use an explicit $0 band for a free period. Daily caps, free-first-stay rules, and round-up billing are not combined with clock-time pricing in v0.8.

Charge table

Step 5

Program costs

Enter systemwide costs or assign a cost to a specific asset. The modeler does not apply a current equipment or enforcement cost default.

Cost assumptions are user inputs. One-time implementation, annual fixed, per-space, per-transaction, percentage-of-revenue, and year-specific costs are supported.

Other revenues

Add documented parking-fund revenue that is not calculated from paid parking, such as permit sales or citation revenue. These line items affect financial results but do not change parking demand or diversion.

Other revenue is separate from modeled paid-parking revenue. Enter an annual amount or a year-specific line item; do not duplicate meter, curb, lot, or garage revenue already calculated by PPSM.

Step 6

Behavioral response

Compare the active scenario with another case, test a transparent low-to-high response range, and route displaced sessions into receiving parking without changing the observed baseline demand.

Add a second scenario to enable behavioral response.PPSM needs a comparison case before it can estimate how a pricing change may affect parking use.

Price response range

Select the comparison case and origin asset. PPSM detects whether the change is paid-to-paid, free-to-paid, or paid-to-free and uses the appropriate transparent sensitivity method.

Compare active scenario against Response origin asset Extension interval (minutes)Paid-to-paid only

Price transition: Choose a comparison scenario and origin asset.

Paid-to-paid elasticity range

These three planning profiles are editable. The defaults are the PPSM 2026.1 low, central, and high literature-informed sensitivity profiles; they are not confidence intervals.

Sensitivity case	Session-volume elasticity (EPV)	Stay-duration elasticity (EPD)	Combined occupied-space-hours elasticity
Low			—
Central			—
High			—

Zero-price transition response range

Ordinary percentage price elasticity is undefined when either expected session price is $0. PPSM therefore uses explicit percentage changes in sessions and stay duration. The default values are planning sensitivities, not empirical estimates.

Sensitivity case	Session change	Stay-duration change	Approx. occupied-space-hours change
Low	%	%	—
Central	%	%	—
High	%	%	—

The low, central, and high sensitivity cases are calculated together when you run the scenario set.

System diversion

For cases that reduce origin sessions, PPSM can route a selected share to other modeled parking. Receiving capacity, proposed parking charge, and destination preference weights control where those sessions can go.

System diversion Allocation method Other / unmodeled parking share % True behavior change share % Price influence on destination choice

Modeled-parking diversion range

Enter the share of displaced origin sessions that should be tested as moving into the modeled receiving assets. The true trip/mode/destination/time-change share is the remainder after modeled and other/unmodeled parking.

Sensitivity case	Modeled receiving parking	Other / unmodeled parking	True change (calculated remainder)
Low	%	—	—
Central	%	—	—
High	%	—	—

Automatic allocation uses the low/central/high modeled-parking shares above. Manual mode applies one set of destination shares to all three response cases. Neither method is a calibrated cross-price destination-choice model.

Diversion is evaluated for all three response cases in the same model run.

Step 7

Results and comparison

Calculate the scenario set, review the active case, and compare every calculated alternative. Where behavioral response is enabled, the central sensitivity case is used for the headline scenario comparison and the low-to-high range remains visible in Step 6 and the report.

Active scenario—

StatusDraft — not calculated

Explain these results

Whole-system totals sum the active modeled assets. Asset results remain separate so a high-demand curb zone does not disappear inside a low-demand garage average.

Behavioral response is a planning sensitivity, not a guarantee. PPSM keeps the comparison scenario's observed demand as the baseline, applies response only to the active scenario, and uses the central sensitivity case for headline comparison.