At the March 17, 2022 BPAC meeting, Michael Ford (Manager of OakDOT’s Parking & Mobility Division), Quinn Wallace (Transportation Planner), Kerby Olsen (New Mobility Supervisor), and Ira Christian (Parking Enforcement Supervisor) provided an update on parking enforcement activities and policies at OakDOT in relation to bicycling and walking in the city. OakDOT New Mobility Supervisor Kerby Olsen sought support from the commission to add parking meters to commercial loading zones with the goal of reducing instances of commercial delivery drivers parking illegally in bike lanes and bus stops by making yellow loading zones more available to delivery drivers.

An excerpt from the presentation is below, followed by the full presentation.

Parking & Mobility Services: Toward a One-Stop Shop

Community-centered priorities include:

• Defining and systematically addressing community needs
• Informing and educating community, sharing OakDOT expertise
• Creating and enhancing ways for community to partner with us
• Delivering on the promise of civilianizing Abandoned Auto
• Building capacity to provide comprehensive assistance for parking & mobility

Commercial Loading

Loading zones in core areas are illegally occupied almost 50% of the time.

• Delivery drivers can’t access loading zones because they are occupied by regular parkers or don’t exist where needed 
• Delivery vehicles double park, block bike lanes and obstruct bus stops and bus lanes, causing safety issues
• Yellow loading zones are difficult to enforce, installed by request and provide no revenue to the City

Proposed solution 

• Meter the yellow curbs in all meter zones to deter non-delivery drivers
• Create a permit to pay digitally for actual meter use (using GPS data)
• Use permittee data to determine where more yellow zones are needed
• Meters aid enforcement. Parking Control Technicians can check meter rather than waiting 5-30 mins

Presentation