Curbside Parking Use, Turnover, and Regulatory Compliance in an Intermediate Latin American City: Field Evidence from Loja, Ecuador

Direct evidence on curbside parking use in intermediate Latin American cities remains limited. This study characterized parking duration, purpose, turnover, accumulation, and regulatory compliance across six segment–date sessions in central Loja, Ecuador. Of 1426 observed curbside events, 1397 were retained after quality control. Analyses included descriptive and non-parametric tests, multivariable models with CR2 standard errors clustered by segment–date, and sensitivity analyses. Duration was strongly right-skewed (median 4 min; interquartile range 1–13 min; mean 36.3 min; P95 332.6 min), while passenger pick-up/drop-off accounted for 54.5% of events. Non-permitted maneuvers represented 64.0%. The four segment-sessions containing SIMERT coverage comprised 862 valid events, of which 776 occurred within marked SIMERT locations. Among the 644 marked-location events observed during payment-required hours, visible SIMERT use was recorded in 70 events (10.9%). After restricting the SIMERT component to marked locations during payment-required hours, composite non-compliance was identified in 1167 events (83.5%). During the common 06:30–18:30 comparison window, hourly turnover ranged from 0.54 to 1.96 events per legal space per hour, while cumulative space–time demand ranged from 11.6% to 154.8% of nominal legal space–time capacity. The value above 100% represents summed parking duration relative to nominal legal capacity and does not indicate simultaneous occupancy above 100%. Excluding session-boundary proxies left the median and interquartile range unchanged, although upper-tail estimates remained sensitive. Because each segment was observed on a single date, between-session differences cannot be interpreted as independent corridor effects. Natural-spline specifications provided better temporal fit than linear-hour specifications for both non-permitted maneuvers and revised composite non-compliance. These findings provide a reproducible local baseline for testing conventional and smart curb-management measures through repeated pilot studies.