The analysis of transport-related behaviours of drivers in highly occupied paid parking zones

Parking policy is treated as a tool in the implementation of sustainable development policies in modern cities. Parking pricing is one of the most important factors influencing the choice of the mode of transport in trips ending in the city centres. There is always a discussion what would happen if the parking fee increased, whether it would affect the traffic conditions or not. Low parking prices result in higher attractiveness of the central parts of the city and affect the mode choice by increasing car usage. This mechanism is the reason for additional traffic due to the fact that cheap parking spaces encourage the inhabitants to use cars more and more, and in the situation of fixed supply (the capacity of on-street parking areas), the higher number of entering vehicles is the reason for the so-called search traffic. The paper discusses the current state of search traffic phenomena, is prepared on the basis of available literature and presents own measurement procedure. The document also presents the results of the two-step self-study carried out in the downtown area of Cracow as well as the conclusions based on them: the estimated share of search traffic in the total traffic flow in the cases of specific saturation of the parking area and the specific parking turnover rate.