Investigating Parking Problems and Proposing Solutions in Saudi Arabia

This research proposal examines the significant parking and parking-related challenges faced in Saudi Arabia, a country experiencing rapid vehicle ownership growth and urban development. The study investigates the underlying reasons for parking issues, including increasing vehicle ownership, urban congestion, and inefficient land use. The research aims to identify the core problems, analyze the factors influencing parking demands and supply, and propose effective strategies to address the issues. The literature review explores the impact of parking policies, illegal parking behavior, and the need for smart parking solutions. The research questions focus on identifying solutions to mitigate parking problems. The research will rely on secondary resources to assess the current situation and suggest relevant policy recommendations. The study highlights the need for a balanced approach that considers parking demand, public transportation, and efficient land use to improve the urban environment and enhance the quality of life for residents.

Running Head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1
Research Proposal

Research Proposal 2
Research Background and Rationale
The parking and the parking related issue have become a huge concern for the
government, business organizations and the individual users. It is one of the most familiar and
common problem for the Saudi Arabian government. It is important that the Saudi Arabian
government provide organized parking services including on street and off street parking to the
customers, to make use of the established spaces and complement the street and land use so that
the citizens can park their vehicles efficiently. The real estate developers should provide efficient
parking facilities to the tenants to make their businesses profitable and to gain competitiveness
against other consumers (Shoup, 2014).
In Saudi Arabia, the automobile industry rapidly developed since the 1980s and the mass
utilization of cars and other four vehicles have impacted on the people’s life style. Using cars for
transportation has increased the efficiency of travel and flexibility for the people. However, high
usage of cars has resulted in various widespread problems such as limited land availability in
urban areas, space requirement for road traffic which are efficient for efficient transportation
system of a city.
The parking problem is magnificent in Central Business District (CBD), wherein in city traffic
and parking demand has increased drastically and more vehicles and time has been spent for
finding the parking for the vehicles. Similar to other parts of the world, Saudi Arabia is also
facing problems related to parking in its major business as well as residential areas. The parking
problem is especially prominent in Saudi Arabia as the vehicle ownership is increasing
exponentially in accordance to the economy of the country. The vehicle ownership variation is
different from other parts of the world as it enjoys an oil dependent economy. The Saudi Arabian
economy has enjoyed the benefit of oil and the oil is sold there at a very cheaper rate. The low

Research Proposal 3
oil prices have also contributed to the large number of vehicles in the industry. With time, the
problem of traffic congestion and parking issues will increase. As a result, the traffic problems
are putting pressure on transportation system and the managers of town planning (Riggd, 2014).
There are several aspects in parking related to demand and supply in the country. It is important
that parking and traffic should be managed in residential areas and business areas. It can be
achieved by striking a balance between parking demands and supply and establishing a policy to
relax the parking demands in the country. Three major factors have been identified which
influences on the growth of parking demands in the country. These factors are vehicle ownership
in the surrounding areas, level and form of public transportation and the efficiency in the land
use. These factors have a role in increasing the demand for the parking areas and space. On the
supply side, the provision of the parking and the efficient use of land have a critical role. The
supply of the land for the parking is difficult due to the population growth and increased car
ownership.
Population is a significant factor which has impacted on the demand of car parking in the
country. It is important to consider population while estimating the parking demands in the
country. In order to implement a successful parking management scheme, the government should
conduct investigation regarding the locations and the type of the parking demands. It can be
achieved with the help of parking generators for obtaining intelligence regarding the parking
demands (Aljoufie, 2016).
Another factor is the vehicle ownership in the populated areas of the country. The vehicle
ownership is associated with the need of travel and can be used to examine the parking demands
in the country. Due to the nature of the mixed land use, working trips and commercial trips, the

Research Proposal 4
parking demand in the country has increased drastically. In business areas, working trips along
with commercial trips increases the parking demand during daytime and the return trips along
with commercial trips increases the parking demands in the later evening.
Research Aims
The present report will analyze the issues related to parking areas in the Saudi Arabia. The
country is suffering from the issues of parking area and space due to large number of vehicles.
With the population growth, the ownership of vehicle has increased drastically. As a result,
several business and residential districts in the country are facing issues related to parking in the
country. The aim of the research is to identify the underlying issues in related to vehicle parking
issue in the country. Other than that, the research will also propose solutions to address the
problem of vehicle parking. The aims of the research can be defined as:
 To examine the reasons of parking issues in the country
 To identify the underlying reasons related to the parking issues in the country
 To explore the solutions and strategies which can be used to address the parking issue in
the country

Research Proposal 5
Literature Review
Parking space and land is a significant factor in the city planning. The parking policies also play
a vital role in efficient transportation system of a country. The parking policies ensure that the
transportation system of the country is managed appropriately and the traffic demand in the area
is addressed. However, the literature has highlighted the issue of illegal parking behavior which
can create issue in the transportation system of a country. In the Jeddah City, a significant
amount of illegal parking behavior can be observed. The government has also not managed the
public parking supply and the parking system. The illegal parking problem in the country has
increased the traffic congestion, air pollution, noise pollution and transportation in and around
the city. In the recent years, there has been rapid growth in the vehicle ownership across different
cities in Saudi Arabia which has created parking shortage and proliferate the issue of vehicle
parking. The parking location and system plays a crucial role in the transportation system of a
country. A large number of systems have been implemented to manage and control the parking
in different city areas; however, it research into the problem has highlighted that parking issue is
serious in central parts of the country rather than the outer parts of the country.
According to Liu, Yang & Yin (2014), in the recent year, the parking issues has become gigantic
and an average citizen spend significant amount of time in finding a parking lot at the peak
period of the day. As a result, illegal or irregular parking has created issues for the pedestrians in
the city. Irregular or illegal parking has created issues and discomfort for the pedestrians as they
felt discomfort while walking as the paths become discontinued. Due to the difference in time
and space, the availability and the demand of parking space also vary.
In the perspective of Riggs (2014), corporates and business enterprises often face the challenge
of providing parking supply while meeting the transportation demand for their communities. The

Research Proposal 6
parking availability can increase the fiscal and the environmental cost. All the major public
institutions need to balance the parking supply, sustainability goals and the budget issues. The
literature presents a potential model for parking price, incentives and information acquisition for
parking in dense public areas. The government should also make trade-offs for the land use. It
can be either for parking or more intensive land use. According to the literature, providing less
space for the parking can increase the accessibility for the vehicle drivers. The users will
commonly use transit and avoid solo transportation as they will not have to take daily decision
about their trips.
According to Anderson, Obayi & Oksfor (2017), today, in most of the metropolitan cities,
finding a parking space is a common problem. More importantly, this problem occurs quite
significantly in shopping malls, stadiums and popular social places. During peak time or peak
hours, this situation becomes more serious as the people are challenged to find a free spot at the
parking space. The overcrowding in the parking area occurs due to inefficiency of the public
transportation. In the view of Ruan, Liu, Wei, Qu, Zhu, & Zhou (2016), the public transportation
was developed during the town planning and is currently insufficient to meet the demands of the
commuters or has become obsolete. It is also associated with unfavorable consequences like
discomfort, overcrowding, time delay and lack of maintenance. As a result, vehicle ownership
has increased with the flourishing of the economy. However, there are several issues with the
current parking system. Firstly, most of the people depend on traditional means of parking which
is dependent upon human interaction with the environment. As a result, the government can
develop a smart car parking system for heterogeneous and clustered environment in urban space.
In the perception of Liao, Arentze & Timmermans (2013), there are several benefits of smart
parking provision such as optimum use of available space, proper parking management scheme,

Research Proposal 7
less time for searching vacant space, reduced emission ad traffic congestion in parking lot.
According to the literature, the smart parking service can be divided into five categories, namely,
parking guidance and information system, transit based information system, smart payment
system, e-parking and automated parking.
As per the views of Shoup (2014), establishing the parking space in a city is quite difficult as the
city planners must rely on guesswork to set the minimum requirements for parking zones. The
city planners cannot evaluate the parking demand at every space, the cost of parking space and
the cost of urban development in the country. The parking requirements have several diversified
effects such as it can increase traffic congestion, pollute air and water, degrade urban design,
reduce walkability and increase the housing cost in the country. According to the literature,
minimum parking requirements limit the urban development in the country. The developers are
forced to develop parking more than the requirement or to construct smaller buildings which are
less than the parking zone.
According to Mackowski, Bai & Ouyang (2015), it is proposed that the city planners should
consider minimal parking requirements for the location. The minimal parking requirements
refers to the process wherein adequate number of parking space have been developed after taking
all the costs into account.

Research Proposal 8
Research Questions and Scope of Project
The research question of the present research can be proposed as:
What are the solutions which can address the parking problems in Saudi Arabia?
The present research will shed light on what are the issues in the parking area of the
organization. Moreover, the research will also explore what are the potential reasons which are
creating issues in the parking facilities provided by the business unit. The research will also
explore the possible actions for the disease. The research has obtained the information from the
secondary resources. Therefore, the outcomes of research will be dependent on the reliability of
the secondary reseources.

Research Proposal 9
References
Aljoufie, M. (2016). Analysis of Illegal Parking Behavior in Jeddah. Current Urban Studies 4(4).
Riggd, W. (2014). Dealing with parking issues on an urban campus: The case of UC Berkeley.
Case Studies on Transport Policy, 2, pp. 168-176.
Shoup, D. (2014). The high cost of minimum parking requirements. In Parking Issues and
Policies (pp. 87-113). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Liu, W., Yang, H., & Yin, Y. (2014). Expirable parking reservations for managing morning
commute with parking space constraints. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging
Technologies, 44, 185-201.
Tasseron, G., & Martens, K. (2017). Urban parking space reservation through bottom-up
information provision: An agent-based analysis. Computers, Environment and Urban
Systems, 64, 30-41.
Liu, W., Yang, H., & Yin, Y. (2014). Expirable parking reservations for managing morning
commute with parking space constraints. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging
Technologies, 44, 185-201.
Ruan, J. M., Liu, B., Wei, H., Qu, Y., Zhu, N., & Zhou, X. (2016). How many and where to
locate parking lots? A space–time accessibility-maximization modeling framework for special
event traffic management. Urban Rail Transit, 2(2), 59-70.
Liao, F., Arentze, T., & Timmermans, H. (2013). Incorporating space–time constraints and
activity-travel time profiles in a multi-state supernetwork approach to individual activity-travel
scheduling. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 55, 41-58.
Mackowski, D., Bai, Y., & Ouyang, Y. (2015). Parking space management via dynamic
performance-based pricing. Transportation Research Procedia, 7, 170-191.