Optimal Management of Shared Parking Spaces under Uncertain Supply and Demand: An Agent-Based Approach

Shared parking has the potential to alleviate urban parking headaches through improving utilization of the existing parking resources. Especially in residential zones where residents with vehicles have a high risk of not finding parking upon their return home. Based on the precondition that a11 residents have a parking space, the objective of this paper is to explore the potential of shared parking spaces. Firstly, a reservation and allocation mechanism for shared parking was proposed. Secondly, an agent simulation model was developed to track the NP-hard problem, regarding the shared procedure as a queuing system. Finally, the optimal number of shared parking spaces was obtained through numerical tests. The results prove that the proposed shared strategy offers significant improvements in utilization and turnover rate of parking spaces, compared to the non-shared circumstances. This paper provides a novel method which contributes to managing the high demand for parking spaces in urban areas.