What’s a Stupid loading zone?
Lets take a step back and see what a loading zone does before we start calling it names. In the context of Philadelphia’s public right-of-way (in simple terms space between two property lines including sidewalks, parking lanes and travel lanes) loading zones are spaces along the curb usually within parking lanes, that allow for different types of loading activities. In Philadelphia there are at least three types of loading activities formally assigned to such zones:
- Passenger Pickup/Drop-off
- Package Delivery
- Heavy Commercial Vehicle
There are special zones with one of these specific uses listed and there are general loading zones which can be used of any of these. Each loading zone is marked using traditional parking signage along the curb and white line-stripped markings on the street. Another interesting thing to note here is that each loading zone has a specific time-limit within which a user must complete a single loading activity.
There are several reasons why these zones are ‘Stupid’. And by stupid I mean unfair to users, inefficient in matching demand/supply and financial unsustainable mismatch of lost revenues and resources needed for enforcement. Lets start with unfair. To have a loading zone show up in front of your place of work, you as a business or property owner would need to ask for one from Parking Authority. You will fill out a form, state reasons for why you need one and also pay a fee. Yes, you pay up to get a loading zone out in front of your business, but anyone on the street gets to use it, without paying for it. So someone pays for it, and everyone uses it.
One of the things Uber/Lyft do well is matching demand and supply, thanks for their mobile apps and real-time communication between riders and drivers. But for loading zones in the City, there is no way for agencies to figure out what is the demand on a given street and therefore supply is only based on request for loading zones by people living or working on a given street. If you walk down Chestnut Street between 20th and 12th on a busy normal (not sure what that means in COVID/post COVID times) weekday, it is common to find UPS trucks parked up on sidewalks on the south side of the street. That reflects how poorly demand and supply get matched. Given the steep rise in e-commerce and delivery services, this mismatch results in chaos along busy corridor, not just in Philadelphia but across all metropolitan areas in US.
These stupid loading zones are not only loosing revenue due to improper allocation of spaces (due to demand/supply mismatch) but also due to missing out on additional revenue that could come from time-based user fee. Currently, PPA manually enforces use of these zones. This means a truck standing in a loading, once identified by an enforcement officer passing by, is marked on the tyre using a chalk and time of vehicle noted. If that truck is still there when the officer returns after 30 mins (assuming a 30 min time limit on zone), the truck gets a ticket. It usually costs less than 50 cents per package (Will soon post a link to my calculations here) for companies to work with a risk of parking illegally and getting a ticket. Lyft and Uber pay nothing when they drop off or pickup in these zones. So it barely costs fleet operators anything to use the curb and agencies end up spending a lot of resources just to make sure some of them get ticketed. That is financially unsustainable in the long run. Given that schools get funded with Parking revenue in Philadelphia, the City will have to rethink its curb-use strategy to ensure sustainable growth in collections.
So how do we make it Smarter?
In these three ways.
First, do the easiest smart things with help from best knowledge available at present. Install new loading zones along selected corridors that have identifiable high need and charge actual users of the loading zone rather than a few individual business owners. This need may be defined through interactions with the community and/or data from fleet operators.
Second, these loading zones will be equipped with sensor-based kiosks, allowing the enforcenement agency to collect and distribute data about real-time physical availability of each zone. This will allow Users to track open locations and route their journey efficiently while reducing violations, reducing congestion and improving traffic safety.
Third, the Users under the proposed system, will need to purchase a smartcard-based annual subscription to use these zones before the vehicles start using the zones. The smartcards issued as part of the subscription will be assigned to the User, not to any particular vehicle. These will get distributed among vehicles/drivers at discretion of the User, allowing for anonymity in data and protections for data privacy. The subscription pricing will be based on User’s need for dwell-times. Longer dwell-times will be charged higher than shorter dwell-times.
Tech to do the magic
These three technologies will provide the minimum but necessary stack to make a ‘Smart’ Loading Zone a reality while improving demand supply matching as well as reducing resource consumption in enforcing proper use:
VEHICLE PRESENCE TRACKING: Object-detection technology will be deployed along the right-of-way to detect presence of vehicle in real-time. Knowing the length and type of vehicle is critical for such a deployment, to ensure enforcement of vehicle size limits for each zone. This means, if a large truck pulls into a loading zone that it is not permitted for, the technology will be able to flag it automatically.
PERMIT AUTHENTICATION: A User must purchase a subscription to use the loading zones. A smartcard-based permit for each of their vehicle will be issued to the subscribing User. Once a vehicle pulls into a loading zone, it is critical to have the driver be able to authenticate itself as a permitted user with minimal effort. This can be achieved using the issued smartcard that can be swiped at a kiosk along the right-of-way. Once authenticated, the zone will be assigned to that vehicle for their permitted dwell time. This information will be shared out to the public through API, released by PPA. Once the vehicle leaves, vehicle presence technology will allow the system to detect its availability and share it publicly through the same API.
DATA MANAGEMENT: A critical piece of this implementation is a robust data management technology that allows real-time data collection, management and distribution. This technology must fit into the overall architecture of the existing systems in use by the PPA and partnering agencies.
Why do you need Smart?
… coming soon.