Parking and deterrent parking is defined as car parking located on the outskirts of generally large cities, the purpose of which is to encourage drivers to park their private vehicle and access the city center using public transport. This type of parking is usually located near bus or railway stations to facilitate transfers, becoming interchanges that promote intermodality between private transport and public transport. They are generally free parking lots.

In some cases they have infrastructure that facilitates the storage of motorcycles and bicycles. In others, the user can also choose to leave their car in the park and ride at that point and take a minibus courtesy of the company they work for or ride in another person's car, thus sharing the vehicle (in English, carpool). In the latter case they are called in English Park and Pool.

The creation of this type of systems is highly encouraged in the main cities of the European Union within the policies linked to sustainable mobility. They provide a solution to the difficulties and costs involved in motorists' access to city centers since they save users from the stress of driving through areas densely congested by traffic and facing the cost, both monetary and time, of searching for parking in these spaces.

Some experts point out that these intermodal areas with large parking lots reduce car use in the center of cities at the expense of promoting use in the peripheries. They consider that it would be more feasible to use these spaces, which are already well connected to public transport, to provide services and businesses that do not force citizens to travel to the city center.