Tag Archives: COVID-19

Dear COVID-19: I Have a Grievance

July 17, 2020 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By Justin Grunert, MSM

Dear COVID-19:

How dare you try to ruin my summer! Your infection may be forcing places to close and you may think you have ruined fun–well, think again.

I will not be visiting the beaches but I will be enjoying other outdoor activities. I found quite a few outdoor hiking trails and nature preserves where I can social distance properly or wear a mask if I need to. If I want to swim, I jump in–if I didn’t have a pool, I wouldn’t be too proud to order a beautiful inflatable model.

I have already set calendar reminders to call and order takeout from my favorite local restaurants for fine dining on my patio. When it is too hot outside, I will make myself a tall glass of sun tea or freshly squeezed key limeade, sit in my AC, and feel refreshed. I have a long list of shows to catch up on both Hulu and Netflix and have just purchased the new Hunger Games book.

Think about all the money I am saving not driving around and purchasing overpriced food and drinks from vendors in a theme park! Instead, I am banking that money for next summer. Then I really will treat myself to a much better vacation. (I am thinking somewhere early spring in the Mediterranean.)

COVID-19, you don’t have the power to ruin my summer! I have a long list of things I can enjoy. This summer will be the best staycation(s) ever!

Sincerely,

Justin

Justin Grunert, MSM, is IPMI’s LMS and training coordinator.

IPMI & Member News, Resources

IPMI News: Industry Effort to Support $30B in Additional Municipal Funding during Pandemic. Sign the Open Letter before Wednesday, July 22.

July 14, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

Over the next few weeks, Congress is working on a potential third stimulus package to assist various sectors of the U.S. economy. The International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI), with a coalition of municipalities, is requesting an additional $30B to support cities providing essential services in response to COVID-19.

Read the Open Letter to Congress below.

IPMI is asking for your support before Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Municipality representatives, click the link to support the effort and sign the letter.

July 14, 2020

To: U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Leadership, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation and House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Members

From: International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI) on behalf of municipal parking and mobility organizations

The International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI) commends your commitment to protecting Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic and your leadership in passing the CARES Act to mitigate the direct impact to businesses. However, significant additional funding is needed for municipalities and cities facing ongoing and protracted challenges and disruption.

The restaurant, airline, and events industries have suffered a direct and immediate impact from pandemic-related shutdowns; it’s important to recognize that the parking and transportation industry underlies each of these industries. Parking is one of the most important urban mobility infrastructures, facilitating the daily needs of more than 100 million commuters and businesses across the country – every single day.

Parking is the foundation of municipal economic activity and a critical resource for businesses, their employees, first responders, tourists, and many others. The parking industry contributes to the U.S. economy by directly employing 580,000+ individuals and generating over $130 billion in annual revenue.

As the largest collective operators of parking facilities in the country, municipalities rely heavily on parking and transportation revenue to fund local budgets, transportation systems, and city programs.

The importance of parking-related revenue may be even more significant for smaller municipalities. Per Henry Servin, Parking Manager at the City of Santa Monica, Calif., “Parking contributes 30%+ revenue to Santa Monica’s General Fund every year.”

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on municipalities cannot be understated. With a 50-70%+ drop in commuter activity and a 95%+ decrease in visitor revenue observed from real-time data in cities across the U.S., municipalities will likely incur a $30B loss of revenue in the next 12 months, resulting in significant employee layoffs.

Parking authorities and offices of our respective cities are avidly working to curb operational expenses in an effort to mitigate impact, but this alone cannot resolve the crisis they face.

We respectfully seek $30B in the upcoming stimulus bill be earmarked specifically for municipal governments. This funding will support services to businesses and residential communities throughout the country.

Municipalities provide essential services to 200 million residents and are in need of federal government relief. With your assistance, we can ensure that critical services are maintained, while helping to materially contribute to the economic recovery of our cities.

Municipalities, sign the open letter here.

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IPMI News: IPMI Releases Roadmap to Recovery, Special Edition: July 2020

July 10, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

Download IPMI”s Roadmap to Recovery, a special edition capturing the latest on the parking, transportation, and mobility industry’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Share your experience and your expertise. Complete the 2020 IPMI COVID-19 Industry Response and Impact Benchmark Survey before July 30, 2020. One lucky participant will win a free membership for the entire year!

Download the pdf here, or click the image to read the online version with live links.

IPMI Blog, Resources

Lyft’s Self-driving Cars Returning to the Road

July 9, 2020 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

self-driving car on city highway It’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything about autonomous cars getting out there–they shut down along with everyone else this spring–but Lyft’s AVs have started testing again on tracks in Palo Alto, Calif.

The company said it used the three-month, COVID-mandated, off-road pause to employ machine learning and keep its technology rolling, so to speak. Other AV developers have also reported upping their artificial intelligence learning this year for the same reason. Now, Lyft hopes to compare its simulated test results with real-world driving and see how closely the two match. Either way, AVs are starting to take more steps toward reality.

Read the whole story here.

IPMI Blog, Resources

Leveraging Analytics as Part of a Data-Driven Operation

July 8, 2020 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By Kevin White, AICP

As businesses and cities reopen from various restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is uncertainty in how various sectors will fare and how customers and visitors will react. If your operation hasn’t already adopted a philosophy of data-driven management, the time is now to embrace analytics and key performance indicators as a core part of your operation.

A data-driven approach to parking and mobility management involves collecting, summarizing, and analyzing data on infrastructure and user behavior to guide and inform the management of parking and mobility systems and assets. The benefits of a data-driven approach are numerous:

Provides clear metrics (key performance indicators) that serve as markers for making modifications or implementing new policies or practices.
Aligns parking management with real-world conditions and user behavior, providing a more customized approach and a higher level of service.
Enables flexibility in parking management as conditions change and evolve over time.
Improves operational transparency and support with the public as decisions are based on objectivity and a clear framework.

A variety of parking operations technology including mobile payment, modern meters, license plate-based enforcement, PARCS, cameras/sensors, and others can provide a variety of insights into on- and off-street parking behavior. Useful data includes parking occupancy, parking duration, meter and mobile payment transactions, citations, permits displayed, and others. Analyzing data across different locations, days, and times, and comparing separate datasets helps identify relationships and patterns. Also, the increasing importance of curb management has catalyzed the importance of inventorying the makeup of curb space and leveraging monitoring technology to understand how curb space is used for passenger and goods loading and unloading, beyond standard parking sessions.

Lest you become awash in a whole bunch of useless data, it’s worth carefully considering your operational capacity to collect, summarize, analyze, operationalize data. What types of data streams do you already collect, or what can you get easily? Do you have the internal capacity to integrate data collection and analytics into your operation?

Creating a data-driven framework plan for guiding your operation is the first step. This plan should articulate the what, when, who, where, why, and how of your operation’s use of data.

Kevin White, AICP, is a parking and mobility consultant with Walker Consultants.

EV HUB, IPMI Blog, Resources

No More Free Parking for EVs in Hawaii

July 6, 2020 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

Parking space marked for electric vehicles A bill that would have extended free parking for electric vehicles (EVs) in state-owned facilities and at metered spaces in Hawaii died without being passed; EV drivers started paying for parking July 1.

Free parking for EVs is a common perk of ownership and environmental advocates say it’s an incentive to buy the cars. A DOT spokesman blamed the bill’s death on an odd legislative session during COVID-19; EV drivers had received free parking in Hawaii since 2012 and it was a popular thing–the airport alone lost $4 million per year in potential revenue because of it. The bill introduced this year would have extended that free parking for three years.

EVs can still drive in HOV lanes regardless of occupancy. Read the whole story here.

IPMI Blog, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Urban Mobility After COVID-19

July 2, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

More of us are working from home than ever—some with no return to office in sight. Buses and commuter trains are running nearly empty in some markets, cars stay parked for weeks at a time, and the demand for bikes is unprecedented.

COVID-19 has had huge effects on the way people get around, but what might it mean for the future of cities? The City Fix, a publication of the World Resources Institute, has some thoughts:

Active mobility (walking, biking, scootering, etc.) will remain popular and cities may decide to widen or create dedicated spaces for those transportation modes, away from cars.
Working and learning from home may never go back to pre-pandemic, low levels, which may translate to less traffic, more open space, and less tolerance for crowds on and off roads. This may lead to more taxes for road users who hope to get from place to place on more than two wheels.
Transit may shift from scheduled services to on-demand, tailored routes—sort of like Uber but with buses. Startups may play a big role in developing the technologies to make this happen.
Nature-based infrastructure becomes a bigger, more visible part of transportation.

Curious about this vision? Read more here. Let us know in the comments—is this an accurate picture?

IPMI Blog, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Flexibility and COVID-19

July 1, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Mark Lyons, CAPP

Albert Einstein said the measure of intelligence is the ability to change. The demand for changes in mobility programs as a result of COVID-19 are enough to make any good mobility professional more flexible than taffy on hot day. I know you’re probably more than done with hearing about C-19 issues. And, yes, there are still many hurdles to cross before we can feel like it was before and getting back to the new “normal.” But for a minute, could we start to look back and realize that in very short order, our industry pros became central in the planning and recovery of our local microcosm?

Look at some of the stories where parking directors have yielded, albeit temporarily, the demand for paid meters and citations, instead posting signage to help local business preserve parking near their doors to encourage shoppers to continue honoring local services. Think about the number of streets and parking spaces that have been cut off so restaurants could bring seating outside to the customer. Loading zones have been extended to improve delivery logistics. Many cities and universities enhanced parking rates or time restrictions to ensure customers were not dissuaded from engaging local businesses. Many of us modified citation collections schedules and fees to provide relief during this period, when so many workers lost jobs.

There are many stories that could be talked about for days, but can we now take a moment to bask in our collective efforts to help our communities? Our professional parking and mobility pros have worked as integral partners with city engineers, planners, police departments, universities, city managers, and business associations and districts, and continue to support local businesses.

I hope our mobility community is no longer considered a distraction or viewed as an opponent of the business community. The next time somebody tells us that paid parking programs scare their customers away, remind them how flexible our industry was during the pandemic and of the hours we’ve spent contemplating how to help our local businesses, as well as the concessions that were made to help keep dreams alive.

If what Albert Einstein said is true, then congratulations team! Not only are you very smart, but you’ve made us all look great in the process!

Mark Lyons, CAPP, is parking division manager with the City of Sarasota, Fla.

Free Online Shoptalk: Planning for What’s Next: Roadmap to Recovery the Parking, Transportation, and Mobility Industry

Planning for What’s Next: Roadmap to Recovery the Parking, Transportation, and Mobility Industry

Download the Shoptalk here.

Join IPMI for our next online Shoptalk addressing the parking, transportation, and mobility industry’s response and recovery planning. Open to all, join us for discussions centered on best practices, next steps, and the challenges ahead.

Our moderator for this shoptalk:

Carmen Donnell, CAPP, Vice President, Sales, West

Carmen brings more than a decade of parking, transportation, and mobility industry experience alongside a keen interest in relationship management. Carmen is a respected sales leader and an active participant in many industry organizations. As such, Carmen prides herself in viewing parking solutions from the client’s perspective. She has the knowledge and background to customize operations to serve any need. As VP, Sales, West, Carmen is responsible for functional aspects and members of the sales team in the central and western US, and Canada. Working closely alongside the CEO, the VP, Sales, East, and other operative departments at PayByPhone, Carmen’s top focus is to deliver results that are aligned with PayByPhone’s overall growth strategy.

IPMI & Member News, Research, Resources, Safety & Security, Transportation & Mobility

IPMI News: City Tech Launches New Resources to Understand Community Impact of COVID-19

June 30, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By City Tech Collaborative

June 1, 2020

Chicago Health Atlas Combines New Data from HERE Technologies With 160+ Neighborhood-Level Datasets to Unlock New COVID-19 Insights

CHICAGO – City Tech Collaborative has launched a new resource webpage on the Chicago Health Atlas to help community partners, health care providers, researchers, and the general public understand COVID-19’s impact on local neighborhoods and find related resources. Building on the Chicago Health Atlas’ existing resources, the new COVID-19 page includes links to the latest COVID-19 data and testing locations, data on underlying conditions tied to the virus, and a map of essential businesses by zip code using HERE Technologies data. Visit the page at www.ChicagoHealthAtlas.org.

The Chicago Health Atlas is a health data resource including information on Chicago’s 77 community areas and over 160 health and demographic indicators including healthcare services, safety, income, and illness and death rates. The Atlas equips communities with open data and street-level resource maps that can be compared over time and across communities to drive future actions. Data on the Chicago Health Atlas is provided by over 30 sources including the Chicago Department of Public Health, MAPSCorps, and the Sinai Urban Health Institute.

Health organizations are racing to understand how health and wellness factors impact the spread and severity of COVID-19. With black Chicagoans dying from the coronavirus at a rate nearly six times greater than white residents, more data and research are needed to fully understand the pandemic and disparities that exacerbate health inequality. Open data from the Chicago Health Atlas serves as a resource to access and understand data that can be linked to COVID-19 trends and outcomes.

“The COVID-19 crisis highlights the need for data transparency and informed action,” said Dr. Wayne Giles, Chicago Health Atlas Advisory Member and Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Open data platforms like the Chicago Health Atlas put information directly in the hands of residents, healthcare providers, policymakers, and community organizations that can assess what’s happening and deliver local support where it’s needed most.”

The addition of HERE Technologies’ data expands the Chicago Health Atlas’ resources by 62,000 data points. Arranged by zip code, the map view shows the location and contact information for essential businesses operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, including banks, ATMs, grocery stores, food pantries, transportation options, and healthcare and government services. The COVID-19 page also links to the Atlas’ data on underlying conditions, the open application programming interface (API), COVID-19 funding resources and testing sites, and the latest COVID-19 data from the City of Chicago.

“Location data provides important context and benefit during public health emergencies,” said Adrian Novik, Senior Director of Global Content Product Management and Innovation at HERE Technologies. “We’re proud to contribute to the Health Atlas’ existing resources page localized data and information for the community to better understand what is accessible during this challenging time.”

*Screenshot from the Chicago Health Atlas shows the new resource map resources for zip code 60601 that incorporates HERE Technologies’ data.*

Data from the Chicago Health Atlas can help identify urgent, unmet needs in underserved communities. In a COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall in April 2020, the Chicago Racial Equity Rapid Response Team used the Atlas’ open data to show how the South Shore community experiences higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, and asthma compared to the rest of the City. For example, 32% of South Shore residents have limited food access compared to 8.5% of Chicago residents overall. Groups such as the Racial Equity Rapid Response Team are responding to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on African American communities and correlating underlying conditions and COVID-19 risks. City Tech offers training to organizations to utilize Chicago Health Atlas data in conjunction with their own work to inform additional research and programming responses.

The new COVID-19 data resources are part of City Tech’s broader response to the pandemic, including partner training on data visualization and analysis. City Tech’s Partnership Innovation Fund also provides direct funding to help Health Atlas partners prepare and add new datasets to the platform. The Chicago Health Atlas is part of City Tech’s Healthy Cities Initiative, which addresses physical, socioeconomic, and technological barriers to strong and vibrant communities. City Tech is also pursuing COVID-19 related work and collaborative solution development in advanced mobility, parking innovation, freight and logistics, and urban infrastructure. These solutions are helping address current issues while also positioning cities and partners to “bounce forward” in the wake of coronavirus and be better prepared for emerging needs and future crises.

To explore the Chicago Health Atlas and access the latest data, visit www.ChicagoHealthAtlas.org.

For more information about City Tech Collaborative, training on using the Chicago Health Atlas for your organization, or to add your own data to the resource, contact City Tech at Collaborate@CityTech.org.

Click here to download the press release (PDF).

About City Tech Collaborative (City Tech): City Tech is an urban solutions accelerator that tackles problems too big for any single sector or organization to solve alone. City Tech’s work uses IoT sensing networks, advanced analytics, and urban design to create scalable, market ready solutions. Current initiatives address advanced mobility, healthy cities, connected construction, and emerging growth opportunities. City Tech was born and raised in Chicago, and every city is a potential partner. Visit www.CityTech.org and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About the Chicago Health Atlas: The Chicago Health Atlas is a community health data resource that residents, community organizations, and public health stakeholders can easily search, analyze, and download neighborhood-level health data for the City of Chicago. A City Tech solution, the Chicago Health Atlas was initially developed in 2012 by the Smart Chicago Collaborative and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) with funding from the Otho S.A. Sprague Memorial Institute. Explore the Chicago Health Atlas by visiting www.ChicagoHealthAtlas.org.

About HERE Technologies: HERE, a location data and technology platform, moves people, businesses and cities forward by harnessing the power of location. By leveraging our open platform, we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes – from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, please visit www.here.com and http://360.here.com.