Time

1:40 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Location

1605 Tilia, Room 1103, West Village

Speaker(s)

Wei-Shiuen Ng, Postdoctoral Scholar, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford University

Abstract

Understanding the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors regarding the utility, quality and price of commuting and parking alternatives can contribute to the development of successful transportation and parking policies.  Since different user groups often have different travel demand, needs and constraints, policies targeted at specific groups will be more effective in managing transportation demand.  This presentation will describe four types of commuters, all with varying levels of parking demand.  They include employees who drive and park at their workplace every day, commuters who drive regularly but may consider using other transportation modes, commuters who drive occasionally and prefer a flexible parking pricing option over a fixed pricing system, and commuters who rarely or never drive at all.  The type of commuter can also determine parking location choice, which is affected by cost and other factors, such as safety, convenience, walking time, land elevation, and time of day.

Biographical Sketch

Wei-Shiuen Ng is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center at Stanford University.  Her recent research focuses on the evaluation of parking pricing and its influence on travel behavior, as well as the development of transportation policies that will reduce energy use and emissions levels.  Wei-Shiuen holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, a Masters in Environmental Science from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management from the University of York.  Prior to starting her doctoral program, Wei-Shiuen was a transportation policy analyst at EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport in Washington DC.  She has previously studied the economic impact of climate change induced sea level rise and has experience in areas of transportation emissions and energy modeling, transportation policy scenarios building, environmental and social impact analysis of motorization, and sustainable urban transportation development in Asia.