The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was under significant financial duress due to mounting operating costs and seeking ways to boost annual revenues to meet these costs. DESMAN was retained to evaluate the feasibility of raising parking rates to generate new revenues. At the time of the study, the MBTA controlled more than 100 facilities encompassing 50,000 parking spaces projected to generate $25.1M in FY2017.

DESMAN conducted utilization surveys across all MBTA parking facilities to verify peak utilization conditions and identify competing for parking facilities competing to capture parking revenues. DESMAN also performed a market assessment of the area around each station, collecting data on rates, emerging developments, transit fares, and other factors influencing parking revenues at each station.  Finally, DESMAN developed revenue models that incorporated elasticity factors associated with change transit fare and parking prices, as well as the impact of gas pricing, congestion and new development on parking demand at each station.

DESMAN’s recommendations focused on ‘balancing’ supply and demand across MBTA parking facilities by presented two pricing scenarios: a Primary and an Alternative. Adoption of the most conservative options (Alternate) would net the MBTA an additional $2.5M over Status Quo projections in the first full year after the strategy was implemented and $23.5M over a five‐year term. For the most aggressive (Primary) option, projections were for new revenues exceeding $4.1M in the first year and $38M over five years.

DESMAN’s recommendations have received positive feedback from the MBTA Parking Department and were implemented by the MBTA Board of Directors in 2019.