Downsview Toronto Transit Commission Parking Lot Study

Understanding evening parking demand was critical to informing redevelopment plans for the surrounding lands. Commissioned by WSP (for Northcrest Developments), the study aimed to establish a clear picture of private vehicle parking demand at key locations during the afternoon and evening hours. This was a challenging study, with data collected up until 11pm in poor lighting, that ultimately proved the feasibility of night time drone studies thanks to the highly adaptable software developed by the Parkalytics team.

The use of Parkalytics’ advanced machine learning models provided consistent measurements under difficult lighting conditions and extracted the requested metrics. The team measured utilization, turnover, and length of stay for all vehicles using the lots across two afternoons/evenings.

The customer was able to use the Parkalytics online tools to quickly extract parking statistics and plot trends with just a few clicks. The visual snapshot at the time/day of each sample was used to intuitively tell the parking story during stakeholder engagement. The findings of the study are being used to support future development and the creation of much needed affordable housing in the Toronto area.