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Baltimore
Regional Partnership
1000 Friends of Maryland
* Baltimore Urban League * Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Citizens’ Planning and Housing Association * Environmental Defense
Downtown Parking/Transportation
Management Strategies
List of Ideas for Discussion
2/15/2000
Immediate Ideas for Structuring Employer
Incentives
 | Offer money rather than specific parking
spaces to employers. Estimate the per-space cost of building a new parking
garage (including land acquisition, etc.). Offer up to that amount to each
employer as an incentive for not using parking spaces (incentives for
transit, carpooling, biking, etc.) |
| Cash bonuses to CareFirst for each of their
400 parking spaces that they don’t use. |
| Use the Commuter Choice Tax Credit and
additional cash incentives to urge employers to offer free transit passes to
their employees, or even passes + bonus. |
| Explore the cost of additional beat-cop
presence downtown vs cost of new garages in order to enhance safety of
walking to transit and more distant garages at night. Expense would fit with
public safety goals and would benefit all employers, not just one. |
| Similarly explore comparative cost of call-up
van/taxi service to transit stops or outlying garages, similar to campus
escort services. |
| Explore cost of guaranteed ride home as
additional incentive for downtown employers to use transit. Subsidy could be
capped per employee per month. |
Mid-term Parking Management Ideas
| City should explore storage for city vehicles
in outlying lots rather than downtown garages. |
| (Also transit idea) Work with MDOT to develop
multifunctional card which is a transit pass, but also can be used to pay
for a specific number of parking days at downtown garages. If employees do
not use all their parking days, they get to carry them over to the next
month or get cash back. |
| Ban "early bird" parking offers
that reward long-term parking. Require a rate structure that does not unduly
penalize short-term parkers. |
| Change city parking tax from per person parking
to per parking space to remove incentive for garage operators to have as few
parkers as possible coming in & out. |
| Require that Baltimore City and institutions
receiving public funding offer cash-in-lieu of parking/Commuter Choice tax
credit to all employees. |
| Consider street capacity when calculating
parking capacity. Push TSC to upgrade traffic model, which underestimates
central city traffic by nearly 20 percent, and use model and traffic counts
as reality check on prospective garage capacity. |
| Prioritize pedestrian mobility downtown.
Require each downtown building to have active first floor use for pedestrian
safety and vitality. |
| Budget funds for marketing and promotion of
Commuter Choice and other parking demand management strategies. |
Mid-term Transit Improvement Ideas
| City should offer cash-in-lieu of
parking/Commuter Choice tax credit & guaranteed ride home to employees. |
| Publicize federal tax deduction for employees
for transit expenses. |
| Multifunctional card idea listed above. |
| Upgrade city’s traffic signal control
system to allow for light rail signal priority in Howard Street corridor. |
| Work with MTA and MDOT to implement signal
priority for bus, attractive transit stop shelters, and improved signage and
transit information (bus schedules on each bus, at shelters, etc.). |
| Promote or require bike storage facilities at
most appropriate place (garages or office buildings). |
| Create incentives for employers/developers to
include/maintain shower facilities in office buildings. |
Longer Term Regional Planning
(Regional Transportation Steering Committee
voted in January to launch a 2-year regional strategic planning, or
"visioning" process.)
| Explore additional rail routes, including
downtown loop, and corresponding land use (transit-oriented development) to
support routes. |
| Re-evaluate and revamp bus service to include
feeder service for rail. |
| Consider designating bike/bus lanes on major
arterials leading to and through downtown (i.e. Eastern Ave., Harford Rd.,
York Rd., Edmondson Ave., Pratt St., Lombard St., etc.) |
| Explore regional parking tax or required
parking charge to lessen disparity with suburbs. |
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