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On-street Parking Management Toward Effective Transport System in Central

Area of Megacity, Case Study in Ho Chi Minh City

Conference Paper · August 2019

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On-street Parking Management Toward Effective Transport System
in Central Area of Megacity, Case Study in Ho Chi Minh City
Vo Minh Phuc1, *Vo Trong Cang2
Sustainable Urban Development, Vietnamese – German University
1
2
Faculty of Transportation Engineering, University of Technology, VNU-HCM, Vietnam
E-mail: 1 [email protected] , 2 [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) population reached 8.6millions in 2017, and about 80% total population has own
motorized vehicles with 7.6millions vehicles. The high motorization ratio causes huge load on existing traffic
infrastructure, negatively affects the quality of life of residents and prevents City authority to reach the sustainable
urban development goals. One of the problems of the urban transport is the parking planning. Ben Nghe ward of
District 1 is located in the CBD of HCMC, has become one of the piloted area for new on-street car parking scheme
implementation since 2018. After a year of piloted implementation, the effectiveness of the pilot program has not yet
achieved the expected effect. Therefore, this research is proposed to evaluate the new capabilities in order to maximize
the effectiveness of on-street parking management in the future.
Keywords: On-street Parking, Transport planning, Infrastructure planning, Ho Chi Minh City

1. Introduction and problem statements In the other hands, the City government has keen on
1.1. Introduction improving, developing their traffic management tools
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is referred as the megacity and efforts toward the effective transportation, through
and the most populous city in Vietnam by media. Since the establishments of specialized centers: Ho Chi Minh
2017, there are more than 13Millions living in the City Intelligent Traffic Control Center, Road Traffic
metropolitan area of HCMC[1]. Management Center (Figure 2).
Since the beginning of 21st century, the number of Therefore, the assessment research on efficiency of on-
vehicles in HCMC, Vietnam has growth rapidly, street parking management is needed to conducted, in
reaching a total of 7.5Millions in 2016. As a result, traffic order to clarify the problems existing and propose
congestion has become one of the city’s biggest solutions to maximize the on-street parking utilities.
problems (Figure 1). * This scientific paper is conducted followed the first
overview of the research. The paper includes the research
goal, objectives and its research questions; scope of
study; finally, the research methodology and applied the
data collection methods.

1.2. Problem statements

The parking, as an important part of transportation
system, has great impact on urban development. In
contrast, the parking development is suffered from many
problems: inefficient used, illegal space occupation, lack
of investment – management – control – enforcement,
etc. In management term, the weaknesses in pricing
mechanism and provision of on-street parking have
Figure 1. Traffic congestion in Ho Chi Minh city cause over-used parking occupations, traffic jam, low
(Sources: VietNamNet) quality traffic flow, encourage individual traffic as same
as discourage public transport demand, etc. In widen
In order to improve the traffic condition in the Central scale, the adequate management strategic plan for on-
area, the City authority is finding many solutions as bike- street parking development would greatly contribute to
sharing [2] or river bus systems [3], especially in parking the success of urban development plan toward
management. Recently, Ho Chi Minh City Department sustainable development goal through encourage public
of Transportation, Department of Architecture and transport use as well as balance the individual vehicles
Planning have proposed the on-street parking used, increase the land use effectiveness, encourage
management schemes. The new parking management lively economic activities and harmonized the traffic
scheme has been pilot implemented in Central Area of flow pressure, etc. Therefore, parking management has
Ho Chi Minh City [4] [5]. become an attractive research topic through decades.
The effort from City government has not gained its In 2011, Asia Development Bank (ADB) has conducted
expectation. In fact, a year after the first pilot in August a research on parking policies system in 11 Asian cities
of 2018, on-street car parking management scheme has of different countries, especially Hanoi the Capital City
been facing many problems [6]. of Vietnam [7]. The research includes not only parking
supply, parking pricing and others related policies but

*Corresponding Author
153
 Figure 2. Intelligent traffic map of HCMC Department of transportation
(Sources: http://giaothong.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/)

also their implementation and affects to different urban difficulties in private funding to establish more
areas and specific context. Moreover, the research also parking projects. Moreover, the free charged on-
includes the on-street parking policies, their management street parking would also cause the inefficient use of
mechanism and enforcement which contain many related off-street parking in the same area;
data and knowledge on management of on-street parking. 5. Ad hoc price setting for informal parking: would cause
Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) has published the increase in establishment of informal parking
the Practical Guidebook on Parking and Travel Demand which would contribute to obstacles system of TDM
Management (TDM) Policies in Latin America in 2013 policies implementation in particular and urban
that lists out and summaries some typical problems and planning in general, such as: inefficiency information
challenges in parking management and TDM system, capacity supply-demand control, and land
implementing methods [8]. After each case of example, use, etc.;
IDB has also proposed the recommendations for each 6. Minimum parking requirement: the parking supply
case. The challenges in parking policies are listed as responsibility is transferred to construction building
follow: investors; therefore, price for building parking is
1. Parking excess supply: The cities usually made distributed to customers. This mistake policy would
mistakes in providing more parking lots than the increase the privacy ownership that leads to several
actual demand of people which create the waste in problems to TDM policies (waste in resources for
land fund and other resources. This situation proves development of buildings, and integrated facilities,
that there is a need for TDM policies in parking encourage privacy use of space, encounter sharing
management; policy, etc.)
2. Subsidies for parking operations: the common In 2017, Truong Thi My Thanh had conducted a research
problem in many parking development project in [9] on parking management strategies for Asian
particular and transportation projects in general is the Countries, including Ha Noi the capital city of Vietnam.
establishing a “demand guarantee” for operators that Due to the similarities, this research would provide lots
the government would have to pay the operator the of useful knowledge on management strategies for on-
value of revenue that not reach the “guarantee” level; street parking in Central Area of Ho Chi Minh City. In
3. Transition from On-street to Off-street: The parking detail, this literature had pointed out the comment
development policies that try to eliminate the on- challenges of developing cities in Asia on parking
street parking and creating more off-street parking development. After studying on difficulties and
facilities without serious control on total parking conditions of cities, the management schemes had been
supply and actual demand would cause saturate road proposed, based on combinations of concepts: spatial
way and negative effects on efficiency of public concept, time concept and fee concept. The study had
transportation systems; proposed the zone-based parking management strategy
4. Fixed parking price: For easier to regulated, many and para-parking for future development in Ha Noi.
cities have applied the fixed parking price policies. The researchers on transportation system are interested
The wrong awareness on parking price, ignoring the in not only legal parking but also illegal parking,
market rules of land, services supply and demand, especially in Vietnam where has extremely high volume
causes limitation in potential interest rate that of private vehicles, immature driver’s behaviors,
investors can rise from parking investment and inefficiency parking supply and inadequate public

154
transport system. The illegal parking has served 2. Research Goal and Objectives
numerous parking demands in City area since the 2.1. Research goal
incapacity of legal parking facilities. In contrast, the Find out solutions to improve the efficiency of on-street
appearance of illegal parking has caused heavy negative parking management in central districts of a mega city.
effects on traffic conditions, especially traffic
congestions and deteriorated walking environment. 2.2. Research Objectives
Therefore, in 2017, a research on “illegal parking The goal is divided into objectives as presented below:
behavior” [10] has been conducted in Ha Noi city in 1. Analyzing on-street parking characteristic and the
order to suggest solutions for address illegal parking and current situation of on-street parking supply and
improve parking system in general. demand of parking space in the research area. From
The problems in implementing parking policies in Ho analyzed results, pointing out the role of on-street
Chi Minh City, Vietnam in general occur with some parking in parking supply capability of District 1 of
similarities with the general problems happened to other Ho Chi Minh City case;
cities around the globe, which would be discussed in 2. Capturing the gap between the supply of and the
detail in my research. These problems are briefly showed demand for on-street parking in the study area:
as below: Now and in the next 10 years;
1. Heterogeneity in definitions and perceptions of 3. Reviewing the parking management regulations
parking behavior from state institutions; which are applied Ho Chi Minh City in particular
2. Asynchronous in parking development planning and and pointing out the current issues by using
urban transport planning; literature review and interviewing authorities. In
3. Inefficiency of pricing regulations; the next step, searching for potential solutions to
4. Loose parking management facility and its services; address the identified issues;
5. Lack of control and enforcement from authorized 4. Anticipating behavioral responses from the users to
institutions a number of new regulations and policies;
In order to improve the problems, Ho Chi Minh City has 5. Studying on potential agendas and solutions that are
implemented many related policies and scheme such as: already experienced in others cities. The proposed
minimum parking requirement policies to increase the solutions need to be able to implement in Ho Chi
parking supply capacity, the pilot implement duration- Minh City context, forwarding the comprehensive
based parking charging scheme to increase the efficiency solutions.
of car parking business, etc. In contrast, most of new
parking management policies have not met the 2.3. Research questions
expectation recently which cause waste of resources and Based on research goal and its objectives, the main
adverse reactions which would worse the current research question and sub-questions are proposed to
situation. Therefore, as important as upgrading parking clarify them more exactly. The main research question is
policies system, conducting research on new parking “Which factors contribute to improving on-street parking
policies affects and forecasting future development is management in central area of a megacity?”
also very important to successfully develop parking In order to clarify the main research question, the sub
system in dynamic urban areas like Ho Chi Minh City. questions are asked and would be answered in order to
identify problems and solve restrictions that reduce the
efficiency of on-street parking management in central
districts of a mega city (table 1).

Table 1. Sub research questions and gained information

Research questions Working tasks
1. How do different cities’ government manage 1. Review on parking management policies, mechanisms and solutions in
their parking, especially on-street parking? different development contexts;
2. What do Ho Chi Minh City’s authorities do to 2a. Understand the current management mechanisms and regulations
manage and develop the parking system? systems on on-street parking management in Vietnam regulation system;
2b. Understand the plan for parking development in the future of Vietnam;
3. How big is the gap between on-street parking 3. Based on development plan and motorization increase, assessment on
supply and their demand in central area of parking supply-and-demand gap in current state and future content;
HCMC?
4. How do HCMC’s parking users react to new 4. Assess the efficiency of new policies implementation through evaluating
parking management policies (charging fee users behaviors to new parking policies system;
and supply)?
5. What are the challenges of new policies 5. Identify the challenges in current and future contexts;
implementing process?
6. What could authorities do to solve the problems 6. Propose the supportive agendas and solutions for future implantation plan
and improve the effectiveness of parking more effective.
management?

155
3. Scope of Study qualitative analysis process. Moreover, due to the
3.1. Study area definition research nature as a descriptive type, the research should
- Study area: Ben Nghe ward of District 1 of HCMC also be conducted based on empirical research methods
(Figure 3) [11] which could bring out the most practical data and results
According to District 1 People’s Committee: for research objectives, e.g. parking management status,
- Area: About 2.48 km2 users behaviors, stakeholders’ reactions to the change in
- Population: 15.630 people (2013). policy system, etc.
The database of the study is made up of a combination of
3.2. Research Subjects different empirical data collection and research methods:
Research Subject: Parking facilities and their activities Literature Review, Scientific observation, Sociological
located in the research area. Investigation and In-depth Experts Interviewing.
Among the stages (planning, design, construction,
operational management), this research is limited to the 4.2. Data collection methods
management stage, but its results might be relevant to the 4.2.1. Reviewing related documents and case studies
other stages. (Literature review): Research required relevant policy
The research considers the following aspects which are documents of Vietnam on parking management
relevant to parking managements: including law, policies and regulations. There are some
1. Stakeholders and their perspectives; available sources for looking up on legal documents; in
2. Parking supply and pricing regulations; this research, the main source is Law Library (link:
3. User behaviors or responses to new parking policies. thuvienphapluat.vn), currently the strongest website for
searching Vietnamese legal documents [7] [8].
4. Research Methodology The importance of parking behavior in urban
4.1. Research type classification and methodology infrastructure is undeniable since parking planning and
The research is studied as a descriptive type that aims to operation have large affections to overall transportation
identify the on-street parking management facts. planning and further affecting to sustainable
Moreover, this research is conducted mostly based on development. Due to its importance role, the parking
qualitative research methods with a little mix with catches many scientific attentions in the effort to
quantitative research methods. In details, the featured successfully manage the parking. There have been many
statements and conclusions come at first from analyzed studies, on parking management in general and on-street
results of the human parking behaviors and stakeholders’ parking management in particular, conducted around the
reactions to the change of parking policies, which are globe. Therefore, reading and summarizing previous
hard to fully clarify by quantitative measurements. In studies are needed to understand what have been studied
contrary, the quantitative methods are still used as in the past and use obtained conclusions and results to
additional measures, in order to provide the supportive develop my own research, in the case of Ben Nghe ward
confirmations to those results and statements came from of District 1 of HCMC, Vietnam.

Figure 3. Definition of study area, Ben Nghe ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

156
Since managing on-street parking or curb parking is still 4.2.4. In-depth interview experts: Finally, the In-depth
a new concept in Vietnam content, the experience from Interviewing Experts method is applied to collect
developed countries and urban areas which have already scientific knowledge related to research objectives and
experienced in managing curb parking is very important contribution comments on current situations of parking
to have wider range of understanding on research management and related subjects which were not
subject. The research on case studies also provides clarified through other data collection methods.
experience to help avoiding the same mistakes again The targets for in-depth interviewing are chosen
which could save time and resources for the same carefully, considering experts’ fields of research
development. majorities, research background and their roles in Ho Chi
Minh City urban development, especially in
4.2.2. Scientific observation: This research is conducted transportation planning aspects. In fact, HCMC
as empirical research. Therefore, the research results Department of Planning and Architecture, HCMC
would be based on practical situation of current research Department of Transportation and HCMC Department of
objectives. Different type scientific observation methods Construction are the highest three responsibility
are used mixed up during site survey trips in the research authorities in parking planning, management and
area, including participated and non-participated development in Ho Chi Minh City area 1.
observation method.
Firstly, the non-participated method (indirect 4.3. Research implementation process
observation) is applied in order to get the view and data Step 1: Mostly applying literature review to understand
as overall scale (such as: facilities organization, security possible knowledge, information and data of previous
observation, etc.) and summarizing data about parking studies, regulation and case studies on parking
users and staff behavior as the same time. management. In detailed, reviewing regulation system
The participated observation (direct observation) method applied in Ho Chi Minh City would show the authorities’
is applied in order to consolidate the data collected by opinions on on-street parking management and relative
non-participated method. The participated observation subjects;
method brings the detailed and direct point of view on Step 2: Identifying the current situation of on-street
on-street parking activities and others research parking management by using combinations between
objectives. Moreover, this practical method brings out observation and site survey methods;
the most direct experience on using on-street parking Step 3: Studying on measures and evaluating those
services. possibility after finalizing existing problems of research
objectives are the next step.
4.2.3. Sociological investigation: The sociological The main chapters of project are listed as follow:
investigation method is applied through distribution of 1. On-street parking management strate-gies for city
questionnaires and performance of site surveys central areas:
interviewing toward different parking management Parking manage-ment strategies for cities’ central
stakeholders. area, literature review from different countries
Firstly, the questionnaires are distributed to different contexts;
locations inside the research area in order to collect data 2. Assessment of on-street parking supply-demand gap
on user’s behaviors and reactions to parking regulation in central districts of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC):
changes and other management aspects such as service Assessing the on-street parking supply-demand gap
quality and satisfaction level on comfort, security, in central districts of HCMC;
friendliness, pricing and accessibility, etc. The expected 3. Assessment of parking regulations and policies in
numbers of interviewees are 150 to 200 to ensure the HCMC: Reviewing the parking regulations and
confidence of 95% and confidence interval of 7-8% policies in HCMC;
based on confidence level and interval concepts [12]. assessing the efficiency of regulations and policies
Secondly, the site interviewing will be applied during the implementation;
site survey process, mixed with questionnaire 4. In-depth analysis of user behaviors in central
distribution process. The depth of interview questions, districts of HCMC:
using for different interviewee targets, are different Based on assessment results, in-depth analysis of user
based on their knowledge and experience on parking behaviors in central districts of Ho Chi Minh City.
management topic and their roles between many
stakeholder groups. For example, the interview questions 5. Conclusions and Recommendations
for parking users are different to parking owners, staff The transportation management is the complicated
and would be different from interview questions of operation; including the on-street parking system. The
authority’s staff and public servants. The interview effective management requires the comprehensive
results are used to test the accuracy of questions which assessment on several aspects: the technical
are answer in their questionnaire and add more availabilities, regulation system, user behaviors and
information that were not discussed in questionnaire. development planning of City (urban planning,
transportation systems, etc.).

1
According to regulated structure of management of
each individual authority
157
 Aiming to accurate assess, several data collection
methods are applied: Literature review (Secondary data),
scientific observation, sociological investigation and in-
depth interview experts (Primary data). The collected
data would be analysis and evaluated to clarify the good
and not-good-yet aspects of current on-street parking
management in HCMC.
In scope of this research paper, the research topic and
problems are stated as well as clarified the scope of
study. Moreover, the research objectives and questions
are conducted in order to start the study correctly. In
additional, the necessary research methodology and data
collections methods are also identified to conduct the
research successfully.

6. Acknowledgements
Authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Hans Joachim
Linke at the Technische Universität Darmstadt and Dr.
Vu Anh Tuan, Director of the Vietnamese – German
Transport Research Center at the Vietnamese - German
University as thesis advisors of this research, and we are
gratefully indebted to them for their very valuable
comments on this researh.
First author is also grateful to the funding received
through the DAAD Scholarship and the support from
VGU to undertake his Master thesis.

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[8] Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), “Practical
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[12] Jerzy Neyman, "Outline of a Theory of Statistical
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