Tag Archives: COVID-19

IPMI Blog, Resources, Safety & Security, Transportation & Mobility

When Will I See You Again?

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remote work isolation human interaction blogBy Roamy Valera, CAPP

Saying goodbye to someone after a visit or meeting was clearly underrated prior to the pandemic. We had become accustomed to moving freely and willingly to visit family, friends, and colleagues. In my case, getting on a plane once a week and traveling for meetings and events was as common as my wife driving to her office.

For some of us, affection when meeting and/or greeting someone is part of who we are. The new normal makes it difficult for that firm handshake or warm hug. Instead, we are faced with a virtual reality, where our camera and microphone must carry and communicate our feelings. At times we find ourselves around a virtual table, feeling invisible.

I am reminded daily of how important being in the moment is for our family, friends, and colleagues. And how critical human interaction is for our well-being. According to novelist Terry McMillan, “Every human being I know craves love and affection.” This seems to ring true in today’s environment, where distance from our daily routines has affected us and our ability to show our love and affection has taken a different form.

I hope and trust we find the right vehicle to continue to express our love and affection to those we care about and come in contact with during our new normal. In the end, your legacy and mine will be made more meaningful by the impact we have on the lives we touched.

When will I see you again? I hope soon and I hope I have the ability to give you a firm handshake and a warm hug. Stay safe!

Roamy Valera, CAPP, is CEO, North America with PaybyPhone.

 

Free Online Shoptalk: The Leading Edge – Response, Reopening, and Recovery for the Parking, Transportation, and Mobility Industry

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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, moderator Gary Means, CAPP, will lead the group in discussions centered on best practices, next steps, and the challenges ahead.

We understand this is an extremely busy time and will record the online shoptalk and distribute to all members and colleagues. If you have a question or would like to share something that has worked for your organization in advance, please email Fernandez@parking-mobility.org.

Gary A. Means, CAPP, Executive Director, Lexington & Fayette County Parking Authority

Gary is a Certified Administrator of Public Parking (CAPP) with a BA in Broadcasting from Eastern Kentucky University. Gary is a member of the International Parking & Mobility Institute Board of Directors and Chair Elect on their Executive Committee. Locally, Gary serves on several boards/committees including Lexington Area MPO Bike Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Town Branch Park Partners and Downtown Lexington Partnership. In 2000, he received Downtown Lexington Corporation’s “Outstanding Individual” Award. Gary has worked in the parking industry for over 25 years in both the public and private sectors. Gary and his wife Melissa have two children and three grandchildren.

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

Member News: ParkMobile Mobility Study Shows COVID-19 Will Have a Significant Impact on Consumer Behavior

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ParkMobile - New LogoSurvey results indicate changing outlooks about where people will go and how they will get there

Atlanta, GA, – June 24, 2020 – ParkMobile, the leading provider of smart parking and mobility solutions, released a new research study today showing the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior. The survey, conducted with over 2,000 ParkMobile users in the month of May, reveals that people plan to make significant lifestyle changes as a result of COVID-19 over the next two years, including less travel, less commuting, and attending fewer events. Additionally, people plan to use mass transit and ride sharing less often and use their personal vehicles more often.

The complete survey results are posted on the ParkMobile website at parkmobile.io/covid. Below are some key highlights.

  • People say they will work about 50% fewer hours in an office environment
  • 29% of respondents expect to use their personal vehicles more often
  • 46% of respondents will take public transportation less often and 29% of respondents expect to use ride sharing options less often
  • Over 40% of respondents plan to attend fewer concerts, sporting events and other large gatherings.
  • 30% expect to do less personal travel and 34% expect to do less business travel

 

Additionally, survey respondents expect to increase usage of contactless payment options, allowing them to pay without needing to hand someone cash, a credit card, or touch physical payment hardware. According to the survey, 40% expect to increase their use of contactless payment options in the coming year, while only 4% expect that use to decrease.

“It is clear that COVID-19 is creating a ‘new normal’ for people everywhere,” says Jon Ziglar, CEO of ParkMobile. “This study shows that people are being extra cautious when it comes to the places they are going, how they are getting there, and the way they are making payments. These behavior shifts will most likely continue until there is a vaccine.”

 

About ParkMobile

ParkMobile, LLC is the leading provider of smart parking and mobility solutions in North America, helping millions of people easily find, reserve, and pay for parking on their mobile device. The company’s technology is used in thousands of locations across the country, including 8 of the top 10 cities as well as college campuses, airports, and stadiums. People can use ParkMobile solutions to quickly pay for on-street and off-street parking without having to use a meter or kiosk. Additionally, ParkMobile offers parking reservations at stadium venues for concerts and sporting events. Reservations are also available in metro area garages, allowing people to drive into the city without having to worry about finding parking. ParkMobile has been named to the Inc. 5000, Deloitte Fast 500, Smart Cities Connect “Smart 50,” and the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Top Workplaces. Additionally, the company won the 2020 Stevie Awards for Product Innovation. For more information, visit ParkMobile.io or @ParkMobile on Twitter.

 

ParkMobile Contact:
Jeff Perkins, CMO, jeff.perkins@parkmobile.io

IPMI Blog, Resources

Pandemic Travel Patterns Offer Hints About Future

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Woman wearing a mask on a busThe world collectively has learned a lot since COVID-19 begin forcing shutdowns and stay-home orders. Experts say that’s true for travel patterns, and the way people shifted theirs during and after lockdowns may offer a glimpse of the future of human transportation.

Bloomberg CityLab says, “The lessons of the great transportation freeze of 2020 could guide future policies as many cities reopen and attempt to build a healthier future.”

Travel declines varied by mode when shutdowns started, says the report. Walking and driving both saw declines but the most drastic was on transit, as local governments and health experts advised people to stay off buses and trains if possible. Today, walking and driving are beginning to bounce back but transit use remains low.

“Bike-share systems around the world gained popularity as commuters fled transit systems: In Beijing, the three largest bike-share systems reported a 150 percent increase in use by May, according to the research firm ITDP. Ride volumes grew some 67 percent on New York City’s bike-sharing system in early March,” the report says, noting that personal bike sales doubled this March over one year prior.

Other findings include environmental effects and the effects of transportation changes and shutdowns on Black and other minority groups.

Read the whole story here.

 

 

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

Member News: Flowbird Unveils ‘Park & Sanitize’ Solution to Support Communities Emerging from COVID-19 Lockdown

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Flowbird Group Park & SanitizeJune 26th, 2020

Moorestown, NJ —  Flowbird has launched a ‘no touch’ automatic hand sanitizer technology to help safeguard potentially millions of motorists and transport passengers around the world in conjunction with reduced COVID-19 lockdowns.

The company has developed ‘Park & Sanitize’ – a contactless hydroalcoholic gel dispenser that attaches to Flowbird parking pay stations and transport ticket vending machines and provides hand sanitizer on demand to help combat the risks associated with coronavirus. The system is automatically triggered once a transaction is complete and a sensor releases a pre-set dosage of gel when hands are placed underneath the unit.

Flowbird partners with more than 5,000 customers in 80 countries around the world, with over 100 million people interacting with the company’s mobility solutions every week. As such, Flowbird is ideally placed to support urban centers, university campuses, and parks locations with measures that will help citizens adapt to a post-lockdown environment.

“As lockdowns start to ease, urban authorities and operators will look to innovators such as Flowbird to help them reassure communities by making daily routines, such as parking a car or riding a bus, train, tram or ferry, as easy and safe as possible,” said Bertrand Barthelemy, Flowbird Group’s president.

“Park & Sanitize, it’s an innovation that will help cities and operators build confidence among people who need to travel for work, for family, or other reasons”, said Barthelemy.

Authorities will be able to monitor sanitizer volumes remotely through Flowbird’s back-office management system and replenish gel as needed.

Park & Sanitize aims to provide confidence for customers. The product, the first of its kind, is an important addition to the Flowbird portfolio, which also includes remote payment options for parking and travel, such as the Flowbird app or account-based ticketing.

Flowbird has been at the forefront of urban intelligence for more than 60 years, developing innovative and inclusive solutions to help towns and cities manage traffic flows, improve access to public transit and enhance the end-user experience. Each year, the company invests between 8% to 10% of revenue in research and development – Park & Sanitize is one of the latest examples of its commitment to value-added innovation.

 

Flowbird US Media Contact

Sean Renn – Vice President of Marketing & Communications
856-220-1577
sean.renn@flowbird.group
www.flowbird.group

 

About Flowbird Group:

Flowbird Group is helping customers to push the boundaries of innovation in transportation hardware, software, sensor systems, machine-learning and AI, information security and mobile development.

Every week around the world, thanks to our pay stations, mobile applications and online services, we contribute to improving the living environment of our 100 million users by helping to reduce air pollution, optimize traffic, simplify payments and make cities more secure and economically dynamic.

 

IPMI Blog, Podcasts & Videos, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Authentic Concern and The Potential of Industry Technology Suppliers

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Podcast E31 - Brian WolffBy Brian Wolff

“Authentic concern” is defined simply as a company that genuinely demonstrates concern, as opposed to a fake or half-hearted interaction that leaves you feeling less than appreciated or valued. If your company is delivering authentic concern, your customers feel like they are more than a number or a means to an end, and that your company’s intention (thought) and declaration (word) of wanting to deliver excellent customer service is much more than just words (deed).

We all must work together to make the experience more seamless for the parking customer, and it is important to stitch our systems together behind the scenes on behalf of our operators. As suppliers to the parking industry, we too must demonstrate thought, word, and deed when selling and delivering technology solutions for our customers. Additionally, we must take part in breaking the walls down between companies in the name of a seamless, frictionless, and outstanding customer experience.

Customers know when we’re simply giving lip service to the concept of customer service. How? Do you say that delivering excellent customer service is important on your website and/or in your advertising? Do your ambassadors have smiles on their faces when they greet customers? Do they go the extra mile when a customer needs help? Do your parking customers pull into your facility with a good first impression and leave with the same? Is there clear signage? How long do your customers have to wait when they push the help button? Do your people have the training and the tools to deliver a great customer experience? If the answer to any of these questions is soft, then there’s a disconnect somewhere between thought, word, and deed.

Delivering a great customer experience is hard, but you’ve got to start somewhere. If you’re not sure where to start, look around. There are great customer experiences everywhere – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel! You might even lean on customer service legends to guide your path. But it starts with good thoughts, sharing those thoughts and then doing one thing differently to get yourself on a good path toward delivering authentic concern and a great customer experience.

Learn more about the value of training and mentorship discussed in the latest episode of The Parking Podcast; learn more at parkingcast.com.

Brian Wolff is CEO of Parker Technology.

 

IPMI Blog, Operations, Resources, Sustainability, Transportation & Mobility

Balancing the Post-pandemic Budget

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Blog finance fundsBy Pamela Corbin, CAPP

There is little doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge effect on the budgets of parking systems throughout the country. Operating budgets are one of the most important work products in municipalities. They give the authority to incur obligations and pay expenses, allocate resources, and control how departments/programs/cost centers spend.

Governmental parking systems typically fall into one of two categories:

  • General Fund: comes from tax levies and is required by statute to have a lawful appropriation.
  • Enterprise Funds: used to account for operations that operate like a business enterprise with budgeted revenues and expenses in balance.

The City of Orlando is an Enterprise Fund with the requirement for our revenues to cover expenses; in the event they don’t cover, funds are pulled from retained earnings (reserves). During the economic downturn of 2007-2009, referred to by many as the Great Recession, the city parking system was out of balance. This resulted in the requirement to pull down from our retained earnings, and it was clear they could quickly get depleted. As a result, the parking system went through an extensive parking study and raised rates. This enabled us to balance our fund and as the economy recovered, we were able to continue with much-needed maintenance projects.

This pandemic has had the same effect on most of our systems, with impacts on some systems being greater than others. Whether you are an enterprise fund or get your funding through tax dollars, there will be challenging roads ahead as we move to ensure we have adequate funding to run our parking systems.

I have heard the topic of raising rates mentioned by various cities, but given the circumstances, this may present a great deal of public outcry. There is no doubt we will need to go deep into the think tanks to come up with new and innovative ways to balance our budgets through reducing our expenses.

 

Pamela Corbin, CAPP, is parking administration and planning manager with the City of Orlando, Fla.

 

IPMI Blog, Resources

Planning in Unusual Times

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urban planning COVID-19 blogBy L. Dennis Burns, CAPP

I recently read an article by Sam Lubell about COVID-19’s effects on cities, in the Los Angeles Times.

In his article, Lubell outlines how “although pandemics have long been a tragic scourge on our cities, they’ve also forced architecture and city planning to evolve. The Bubonic Plague, which wiped out at least a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century, helped to inspire the radical urban improvements of the Renaissance. Cities cleared squalid and cramped living quarters, expanded their borders, developed early quarantine facilities, opened larger and less cluttered public spaces and deployed professionals with specialized expertise, from surveyors to architects.”

“In the 20th century, tuberculosis, typhoid, polio and Spanish flu breakouts prompted urban planning, slum clearance, tenement reform, waste management and, on a larger level, Modernism itself, with its airy spaces, single-use zoning (separating residential and industrial areas, for instance), cleaner surfaces (think glass and steel) and emphasis on sterility.”

Lubell concludes that, “It’s clear that the coronavirus will have — and is already having— a similarly profound effect on today’s built world. It’s shaking loose notions of what is “normal” in a field still employing many of the same techniques it did a century ago. And it’s pushing forward promising but still emerging practices, from prefabrication to telecommuting.”

I encourage you to read Lubell’s article in which he examines six methodologies related urban design and the built environment that are playing a prominent role in the age of COVID-19:

  • Modular construction.
  • Adaptive reuse.
  • Lightweight architecture.
  • The healthy building.
  • Telecommuting and small city living.
  • The town square, reconsidered.
  • Building beyond COVID.

According to Lubell, if history is a guide, the rise of these temporary methodologies likely will become permanent, at least in some form.

 

L. Dennis Burns, CAPP, is regional vice president and senior practice builder with Kimley-Horn.

 

IPMI Blog, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Return to Normalcy?

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normalcy blogBy Josh Cantor, CAPP

During many large-scale events and emergencies, such as severe weather, I am used to being an integral part of planning and response as I represent parking and transportation. It sometimes takes me being pushy, but I always want to make sure access concerns are addressed, as we are often the only ones who know everything happening across campus because of our daily responsibilities.

However, when the COVID pandemic begin, my staff and I had some major decisions to make regarding shuttle operations. We then had to respond to pressure to provide parking refunds when classes went online for the remainder of the spring and summer semesters and very few would be driving to campus anymore. As people were adjusting to the online classes and telework and among the public health concerns, I was not surprised that parking issues jumped into the discussion—while people don’t like paying for parking when they do park, they certainly don’t like paying when they can’t park anymore!

Once the refunds were done, operations become relatively quiet and my role stepped back. As we prepare to re-open in fall and several different scenarios are considered by the university’s administration, our role has returned to high visibility. How are we going to deal with drastic reductions in shuttle seating capacity, how are we going to sell permits and provide more daily options, how are we going to clean pay stations and push more mobile payment use, etc.?

While I think there are more complex decisions to make as we re-open—likely with limited in-person classes—perhaps it’s a good sign of normalcy when everyone has time to give me their opinion of how we should operate parking and transportation!

Josh Cantor, CAPP, is director of parking and transportation at George Mason University.