October 2019

As a rule, new developments come with new parking spaces.

Most people in Pittsburgh travel by car, and developers assume that most people visiting their new retail and housing structures will need parking spaces. As a result, developers tend to build a lot of parking. However, there are pockets in Pittsburgh where this logic does not work. According to a 2018 report by a University of Pittsburgh graduate student, one of these areas appears to be near the East Liberty bus station.

The report is titled “Measuring the Parking Characteristics of Transit Oriented Development” and it examines the use of large parking structures near the MLK East Busway station in East Liberty. It was written by a then graduate student at Pitt.

Three parking structures near the bus station were analyzed: the Target garages, the Eastside Bond apartment complex, and the Walnut on Highland apartment building. These garages, according to the study, are all considered a Transit Focused Development (TOD) because they are so close to a busy transit station, the East Liberty Bus Station, not to mention several other popular bus stops.

Data was collected from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. over three days in 2018: Tue 9 October, Thu 11 October and Sat 20 October.

The article’s findings indicate that all three stations oversized their parking structures by 30 percent.

“When you compare the actual usage to the built capacity of each TOD and the total study area, the usage rate is between 52% and 70% during the weekend rush hour and during the week, ”reads the report. This means that these TODs were at least 30% oversized at the time of construction.

This study adds context to a battle over parking spaces currently taking place during the redevelopment of Shakespeare Giant Eagle in Shadyside. The developers want to build 492 parking spaces in the planned grocery / housing complex located just meters from the East Liberty bus station.

Advocates want the developer to build fewer parking lots and have caused them to reduce the number of spaces to 550, but they believe that number could be reduced even further. Housing and transit advocates believe the money saved could be used to build more affordable housing or to pay for transit passes for residents of the new complex.

The developers disagree. John Clarkson of Greystar Real Estate Partners, who is working on the apartments for Shakespeare’s proposal, said CP in September that he recognizes that developers should build projects with less parking, but that in this case the demand is there.

“We don’t want to build more parking,” Clarkson said. “But for now, I would say we need a parking lot for this project. ”

The report also shows that there are already too many off-street parking spaces in this area.

Eastside Bond Garage has a total of 554 parking spaces. The garage is open to the public during the day and there are also a number of rented parking spaces for residents of the 360 ​​housing units. Peak daytime use occurs between 6-9 a.m. and 6-11 p.m. During those times, usage was between 55 and 65 percent. On weekends, the peak usage was about the same.

This means that even at peak times there were still around 200 empty spaces in the garage which sits almost directly above the East Liberty Busway station.

According to figures from the Port Authority, this station has 4,200 combined departures and stops (total number of passengers getting on and off the bus at the station) per weekday. This actually exceeds the number of weekday activations and deactivations at the First Avenue Downtown light rail station. Including all bus stops within a four-minute walk of Shakespeare’s development, including the bus station, more than 6,700 people get on and off the bus.

Laura Wiens of the local Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) organization wants developers to build less parking. She presents the study as proof of what her group advocates.

“In light of this, it becomes very clear that we are building too many parking lots,” says Wiens. “Especially right next to East Liberty Transit Station, the best transit area in town.”

Port Authority spokesperson Adam Brandolph said the authority was aware of the study because of its potential impacts on transit decisions and pressure from the authority to advocate for the TOD.

He says the Port Authority did not verify the numbers in the report to verify their accuracy, but the “finding supports our anecdotal evidence.”

According to the report, the East Liberty Target parking lot has 446 parking spaces used by public customers. Its peak usage occurs between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. and is between 49 and 52% on an average weekday. On weekends, peak usage jumped to 57-60 percent, and also occurred in the early afternoon. Even at its peak, there were well over 100 spaces available for parking.

The Walnut on Highland garage, which is reserved for tenants of the two adjoining apartment buildings with a total of 194 units, contains 182 private spaces. Buildings are occupied at a rate of 97 percent, but only about 70 percent of parking spaces are used.

The report also examines on-street parking in the area near the East Liberty bus stop and notes that peak usage is around 77% on weekdays and 83% on weekends.

Wiens says future developments in the area should focus on housing density and try to limit the number of parking spaces built.

“It’s a great opportunity,” says Wiens. “We need more density. It will encourage more people to use [transit]. When you build more parking, you [give] incentive for more cars to come to the neighborhood.

Wiens also notes that there is a lot of money the developers are setting aside for parking spaces. A PPT article argues that Shakespeare’s developers could save $ 4.6 million if they reduced the number of parking spaces to align with the minimum zoning requirements at East Liberty, which is one parking space for two. housing units. (Shakespeare’s proposal is technically in Shadyside, where the minimums are higher, but the developers have convinced city officials to accept a gap to lower them earlier.)

A UCLA 2014 study shows that surface parking garages required by parking minimums increase the average U.S. project cost by 31 percent.

Wiens says it makes financial sense and would be a boost to economic equity in the region if less parking was built at Shakespeare’s site, especially if the money saved was used to build more affordable units and / or provide residents with transit passes.

“When we talk about overbuilding hundreds of spaces, like in Eastside Bond and Target, it adds up to millions of dollars,” says Wiens. “There is so much wasted space. ”

She says this makes housing unaffordable for residents, which is only exacerbated by the fact that these units are close to frequent and good public transport, which is more frequently used by low-income people.

“This money should be used for free bus passes,” Wiens says. “If you have 30 people getting free bus passes, that reduces parking requests.”

Read the full report below.