Parking generation by facilities in the CBD of Dar es Salaam City

Abstract

Parking has become a very serious problem particularly in cities of developing economies including Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. Because of the rapid socio-economic changes and increase in population, Dar es Salaam city has rapidly expanded with little planning. Such rapid and uncontrolled developments have created an unacceptable level of disparity in the parking demand and supply scenario, which apart from affecting the Level of Service (LoS) provided by the highway mode further compromises the economy and reduce the value of the facilities. To respond to the increasing parking needs and associated problems, this paper examines the parking generation and therefore demand for parking facilities through a parking survey among office and commercial buildings within the CBD of Dar es Salaam. It has been observed from results that there is good correlation between the peak parking spaces occupied and the gross floor area for all categories of buildings. Average parking generation rates have also been determined for different categories of buildings and can be used in planning for parking in CBD facilities and as a basis for the formulation of sustainable solutions to urban transport problems.

Keywords: parking generation, parking demand, CBD planning, land-use planning