Designation of Paid Parking Zones in Łódź

This article has two aims: the cognitive one and the methodological one. The first one focuses on delineating city areas (of Łódź in this case), in relation to which a conscious parking policy should be implemented, including differentiation of the base parking fee and dynamics of parking cost increment in time. The methodological aim, in turn, consists in elaborating a research algorithm based exclusively on the geographical information system, which is based on generally available vector data, together with data obtained from intelligent transport systems. For their realization of the authors of this article elaborated their own methodology. It consists of five stages. The basic research unit is the surveying district. The area on the basis of which the research was made is the Łódź urban zone defined in the Strategy of Spatial Development for Łódź (2012). Each research stage corresponds to defining the power of impact of the variable which, as an research overview shows, affects the parking policy. Since the research is conducted on the basis different variables at individual stages and finally the coefficient assumes the form of five elements, it is necessary to standardize partial results. The article uses a procedure based on the quotient of the difference between the calculated value and the average for the whole group, divided by standard deviation. The results of the conducted research in the cognitive scope show that problems connected with parking organization do not concern only the very city centre (mostly the district of Śródmieście). Particular attention should be drawn to areas next to the city’s main transport arteries which go latitudinally (for instance, Piłsudski avenue) or meridionally (e.g. Kościuszki street, Zachodnia street).