Microscopic Simulating the Impact of Cruising for Parking on Traffic Efficiency and Emission with Parking-and-Visit Test Data

Cruising for parking creates a moving queue of cars that are waiting for vacated parking spaces, but no one can see how many cruisers are in the queue because they are mixed with normal cars. In order to mitigate the influence of cruising for parking on normal cars, the simulation framework based on VISSIM was proposed for reproducing the cruising vehicles and normal traffic flows. The car-following model of cruising vehicles was calibrated by the GPS and video data. The scenarios under different cruising ratios were analyzed to evaluate the influence of cruising for parking on traffic efficiency and emissions. Finally, the layout optimization changing the parking locations and positions of entrance-exit gates were discussed to mitigate the negative effect. The results indicated that cruising for parking deteriorates the traffic congestion and emissions on the road sections, intersections and network. The closer distances the intersections and sections are to the parking lot, the greater the negative impact is. But the negative effect after the 30% proportion on traffic performance only illustrates the slight deterioration, because the carrying capacity of the network is reached. The research results provide a quantitative method for the hidden contribution of cruising for parking on traffic congestion and emissions.