CS07. Exploring parking pricing strategies for UPC campus

UPC constitutes a community of around 35,000 people. Being a major mobility attractor, the modal shift of university community (students and personnel) towards sustainable mobility  would result in a positive contribution to reduce GHG emissions. One tool to foster this modal transition is applying pricing strategies to motorized private vehicle parking, included in the concept of Transportation Demand Management (TDM). This system is commonly applied in the public space, but becomes uncommon in scenarios like University.

This thesis aims to research and evaluate multiple parking pricing strategies present both in academia and real cases, i.e. universities. The study should provide recommendations for implementing a pricing scheme for private vehicle parking at UPC, taking into account the endogenous characteristics of a public university institution and distinguishing the context of the campus. Similarly, recommendations should consider user segmentation regarding their profile, place of departure, type of vehicle, occupancy or other factors. Other questions may be raised along the way, such as the electric vehicle charging infrastructure or the effects of pricing on demand. This project contributes to the CampusLab initiative, which applies the concept of the campus as a test bed to evaluate ambitious actions in a real-life environment.