Tag Archives: parking

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Parking Spotlight: Mobility and Societal Considerations: What’s Happening?

April 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Eric Haggett

I WAS THINKING ABOUT HOW CONVENIENT IT IS to be able to request an Uber, Lyft, or Via at any time from my smartphone—even at 4 a.m. to catch the first flight of the day out of Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Then I thought about how much fun it was to be able to pick up an electric scooter lying in the sand at Venice Beach, Calif., download an app on my phone, and zip off along the 2.5-mile oceanfront path to Santa Monica Pier, passing a suited 20-something scooting the other direction, presumably on his way to work. Eventually, my thoughts strayed to the cost of these on-demand mobility options and how little thought I gave to paying that cost, whether for a work-related trip to the airport or for a quick scoot down the beach while on vacation.

Fortunately, I have the luxury of considering these costs only briefly in my decision-making, but what about people who must agonize over every penny they spend? Or what about people with physical limitations? Are these new mobility options even an option for them?

More questions came to mind:

While there are real and potential benefits to society of increasing mobility options, how do we ensure that these benefits are available to everyone?
Do we care if these options are not available to some groups?
If the trend in society is toward mobility-as-a-service, what happens to the segment of society that can’t afford those services or are not physically capable of using them? Will this be yet another way in which the “haves” separate themselves from the “have-nots”?

Transportation Network Companies
Transportation network companies (TNCs) provide a transportation alternative to those of us (like me) who choose not to own a car and for whom public transportation is not always a viable option. Additionally, research conducted by Anne Brown, presented in her dissertation “Ridehail Revolution: Ride-hail Travel and Equity in Los Angeles” (2018), suggests that “hailing shared rides was common in low-income neighborhoods” as well, and “ridehailing provides auto-mobility in neighborhoods where many lack reliable access to cars.”

For the lowest income individuals who perhaps cannot afford a smartphone, ride-hailing or renting a shared scooter are not mobility options.

Whether serving someone who chooses not to own a car or someone who cannot afford to own a car, TNCs serve a need. However, what happens when market forces dictate that the cost of each ride with a TNC must increase?

According to Uber’s financial results, the company lost $2.8 billion in 2016, $2.2 billion in 2017, and $1.8 billion in 2018. On top of that, New York, N.Y., recently became the first city to require that drivers working for ride-hailing companies be paid a minimum wage. A representative of New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission stated that this increase would raise the average driver’s earnings by $10,000 a year.

Put into context, for the approximately 80,000 drivers in New York City working for a TNC, this would translate into an additional $800 million in wages or, put another way, $800 million in additional fares for ride-hail users. You could see how this New York rule change might make its way into the rules governing TNCs across the U.S. and the world. To become profitable it seems TNCs will have to raise the cost of their rides, making them a less viable mobility option for low-income people.

The Smartphone Factor

All of this assumes that people have access to a smartphone with the ability to download and use ride-hailing apps. According to the Pew Research Center, while only 5 percent of adults in the U.S. do not own a cellphone, 23 percent do not own a smartphone—about 58 million people. Of the adults in the U.S. making less than $30,000 per year, 92 percent own a cellphone, but only 67 percent own a smartphone; this compares to 98 percent cellphone ownership and 93 percent smartphone ownership for those making over $75,000 per year. For the lowest income individuals who perhaps cannot afford a smartphone, ride-hailing or renting a shared scooter are not mobility options.

The Population with Disabilities

People with disabilities have even less access to ride-hailing services, let alone micro-mobility options such as shared scooters or shared bikes. A report by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest says that “Uber, Lyft, and other ride-hailing services are virtually ‘useless’ for people with disabilities because of the relative lack of vehicles equipped to handle wheelchairs and motorized scooters.” The report also says “when riders summoned wheelchair-accessible vehicles from Uber and Lyft—the only ride-hailing companies to offer such a service—the wait time was more than four times longer than for regular service.” When it comes to micro-mobility options, certain segments of the population will not be able to use these services due to their physical limitations, let alone the cost of these mobility options.

On top of the equipment issues reducing the usefulness of ride-sharing and micro-mobility to people with disabilities, the cost of these services is another important factor. According to the 2017 Disability Statistics Annual Report produced by the Rehabilitation and Training Research Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics, “the median earnings of people with disabilities ages 16 and over in the U.S. was $22,047, about two-thirds of the median earnings of people without disabilities, $32,479.” Additionally, according to the same report, the percentage of people with disabilities who were in poverty was 20.9 percent in 2016, versus 13.1 percent for people without disabilities. These statistics indicate that not only are people with disabilities unlikely to be able to take advantage of advancements in new mobility options due to equipment issues, they are also less likely to be able to afford the costs associated with these services.

The Big Picture

In today’s world, where more and more people are feeling marginalized, both the private companies developing mobility technology and services and the public agencies responsible for governing their use need to consider not only the positive impacts of these new mobility options but also their potential to leave a significant portion of the population behind.

Read the article here.

ERIC HAGGETT is senior associate with DESMAN. He can be reached at ehaggett@desman.com.

IPMI Webinar: Your Most Important Resources: Are They Being Nurtured or Left to Wither Away?

Leave a comment

Live Online Webcast: $35.00 for IPMI Members, $85.00 for Non-Members

Description: What do you consider the most valuable asset in your organization? Do you properly invest in that asset? Is it performing at an optimal level? Do you recognize the exposure to your organization if that asset is no longer there? If you answered no to any of these questions, you need to attend this session and recognize the importance of your staff’s knowledge and well-being.

Objectives:

Identify the facets of your business that require effective and knowledgeable staff members.
Identify gaps in that knowledge.
Create and implement a plan, through training and mentoring to address those gaps.

Presenters:

Tom Wunk, CAPP, is vice president of PARCS solutions for T2 Systems and has been in the parking control industry since 1973. He is a CAPP and a graduate of the State University of New York system. He has developed and provided training presentations for IPMI, ASIS, and the AAAE. He is a member of IPMI’s Technology Committee and the IPMI Education Development Committee, the Smart Card Alliance, and the EMV Migration Forum.

Arnold (Gabe) Mendez, CAPP, has been with ASU’s Parking and Transit Services since June 2008. He serves as assistant director of strategic support, and provides support and leadership in the areas of strategic planning, parking technology applications, reporting, and involvement with department initiatives including campus access master planning. He is an active member of the ASU PM Network leadership team and IPMI’s Education Development Committee and Conference Program Task Force.

Irma Henderson, CAPP, MBA, serves the University of California Riverside campus community of approximately 23,000 students and 7,500 employees. She received her master’s of business administration degree with an emphasis in organizational leadership and change from Pepperdine University and bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine. She co-chairs IPMI’s Sustainability Committee and is a current member of several local groups advocating, supporting, and encouraging mobility in Western Riverside County.

IPMI Webinar: To Email, Text or Meet? That is the Perpetual Question!

Leave a comment

Cost: On-Demand Webinar Fee: $35.00 for IPMI Members, $85.00 for Non-Members

Description: Communication is tricky and finding the most effective media (email, phone, text, smoke signal) to share your messages is a constant challenge. Adding to the complexity is the ultimate project delivery method: design build, design bid build, construction manager at risk.

In this discussion, we will define and learn the communication strategies for each major delivery project method.

Objectives:

Learn different project delivery methods.
Learn communication nuances for each project delivery method.
Learn project communication protocols.

Presenter:

Jeremy Rocha, PE, is a parking consultant with WGI with more than 20 years of experience in parking, project management, engineering and planning. His focus at WGI is planning and project management. He has led multiple projects as design team project manager nationwide. As a representative of the parking industry, he is committed to making parking friendly and understandable.

IPMI Webinar: Shared Mobility and Technologies’ Effects on Parking Design and Curbside Management

Leave a comment

Cost: On-Demand Webinar Fee: $35.00 for IPMI Members, $85.00 for Non-Members

Description: The explosion in shared mobility and potential for autonomous vehicles is affecting parking design and curbside management. Parking planners and transportation engineers are shifting from the standard design approach to curbside and parking facility design. This presentation will provide an overview of shared mobility resources and technology and explore how they are impacting parking demand and parking design both on- and off-street.

Objectives:

Identify what should be considered when planning and designing parking and curbside space.
Learn strategies to plan for changes to parking needs using technology and best practices.
Determine how curbside space and parking facilities need to be designed to support the variety of mobility needs and changes in parking demand.

Presenters:

David Taxman, PE, is a parking and transportation engineer at Kimley-Horn. He has been a passionate advocate for reform in parking planning practices, spearheading efforts to include transportation demand management (TDM) and mobility best practices. He has led parking studies for municipalities, universities, hospitals, and other institutions. His expertise in parking planning includes supply/demand studies, operations/management, financial feasibility, parking policy, technology, shared parking, privatization, and functional design.

Brett Wood, CAPP, PE, is a parking and transportation consultant at Kimley-Horn, where he leads the firm’s parking planning group through innovative and industry leading projects throughout North America. He has extensive experience in parking demand management, creation, and management of innovative parking programs, including design of mobility and parking systems and strategic parking planning for downtown areas and universities.

IPMI On-Demand Webinar: How to Cater Excellent Customer Experience on a Multi-building Property by Maximizing Shuttle Routes

Leave a comment

Cost: On-Demand Webinar Fee: $35.00 for IPMI Members, $85.00 for Non-Members

Description: We wanted to identify and correct inefficiencies present in the medical center’s shuttle system to provide the best ridership experience for users. Our goal was to have a wait time for any shuttle at any stop of 15 minutes or less. Using industrial engineering’s operation research optimization methodology, we aimed to achieve the stated goal by eliminating bottlenecks and maximizing route sequences.

Objectives:

Learn how this center used optimization methodology to be within the 15-minute wait time goal.
Understand how they modeled the shuttle system with the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP).
Learn how they tested a heuristic algorithm to efficiently solve the problem.

Presenters:

George Richardson is the manager for Transportation and Parking Services at the University of Florida Health. He’s been in this role for the last three years. Prior, he worked for SP+ in New Orleans, La. In addition, he has 10 years’ experience with parking and transportation services in university systems.

Roque Perez-Velez, PE, CSSBB, MEng, is Project Manager at UF Health, where he previously worked as coordinator of management engineering services, operational effectiveness, and director of management engineering consulting services. He is also adjunct faculty of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at the University of Florida. He is a Professional Engineer (PE) and Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB). He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering.

Parking & Mobility Article, Publications, Resources, Safety & Security, Transportation & Mobility

Parking Spotlight: Design Downtown for Women— Men Will Follow

February 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By David M. Feehan

DARK, DIRTY, DULL, AND DANGEROUS. That is how one woman described parking garages in her downtown. None of us in the parking industry would like to have more than half of our customers saying things like that about the facilities we manage. Yet most parking professionals are not fully aware of how women perceive not only parking in downtowns, but downtowns in general. And the reason is deceptively simple: While women account for more than 80 percent of retail, residential, and healthcare decisions, and today control more than half of the private wealth in the US, they are woefully underrepresented in the professions that design the downtown experience—architecture, urban planning, real estate development, engineering, and related fields.

The new book I co-wrote and edited, “Design Downtown for Women—Men Will Follow,” is a wake-up call for all of us who design and manage what for many is a woman’s first and last downtown experience—parking. The authors are mostly women who will change the way you think about what you do, and how you can appeal to your most important customer. Part of the book is excerpted here.

Marking Parking Convenient for Women

Dull, dark, dirty, and dangerous.
That is how one woman who was interviewed for this book described downtown parking structures. At the start of our investigation, we used SurveyMonkey to contact more than 100 women who were leaders in their professional fields, and women whom we thought would have important viewpoints on downtowns.

The authors interviewed several women who are active in Women in Parking, an organization that describes itself as “the premier association dedicated to the advancement and achievement of professional women by providing networking, leadership, and career outreach opportunities and support of its members.”
Marcy Sparrow, the chairperson of Women in Parking, is a native of Pittsburgh, a city that has its own parking challenges.

Her approach to parking is simple. She always assumes that there is space available near her destination, but proximity is a major issue for her. Another strong consideration is weather. She wears heels so she doesn’t want to walk very far.

Marcy is not afraid of parking garages, a concern many women have, as long as the garage appears to be clean, safe, and well-lit. She looks for garages with guidance systems that indicate which floors have open spaces.
One issue Women in Parking seeks to address is gender equality. Parking has long been a male-dominated field, and Marcy and the organization she chairs seek to change that, making sure that women have an equal voice in managing and owning parking.
One parking expert who weighed in on how parking can be improved to make the experience more inviting for women is Mark Muglich, former president of ABM Parking Services, one of the largest parking management companies in the U.S.
According to Mark, making parking convenient, safe, and pleasant is essential to the development of downtown, particularly for women. Muglich describes his advice to parking operators below.

Muglich’s Advice

Very little crime is actually committed in parking garages, except on TV and in movies, according to Muglich. But, that doesn’t eliminate the perception that parking garages are crime ridden and unsafe.

The following factors are critical to making people feel safe in parking garages:

Cleanliness—A facility with dust, dirt, and debris everywhere sends the wrong impression to criminals and customers alike. Criminals see a dirty structure as a facility where no one is paying attention, and an opportunity to break into vehicles or commit assaults. Customers also see a dirty facility as a place where no one is paying attention and see it as unsafe.
Lighting—A brightly lit parking garage is inviting and feels safe. With the cost and efficiency of LED lighting there is no excuse for a poorly lit garage. Bright lighting at the entrance is critical. It’s also important to brightly light corners and entrances to elevators and stairways. Muglich advises operators to see the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America publication RP-20-14, “Lighting for Parking Facilities,” describes parking structure lighting minimum requirements.
Bright painting—Let’s face it, grey concrete is ugly and always looks like someone’s basement. Painting columns and walls in attractive colors, not just white, makes a garage feel pleasant and safer. Painting the ceiling white will also help improve lighting levels. Parking managers should also pay attention to the choice of colors, as noted elsewhere in Carol Becker’s chapter in this book. There is a growing trend to add level theming and wayfinding elements, public art, and other “parking garage interior environment enhancements” to enhance the “feel” of parking facilities and improve the patron’s perception of safety and security.
Design for safety—Good design elements are critical to making people feel safe in parking garages. Designing for safety, sometimes called CPTED, or Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, is addressed elsewhere in the chapter by Ken Stapleton. Good design requires openness. Parking facility designers should eliminate dead ends and dark corners. Traffic flow that brings moving vehicles to all areas of the garage makes everyone feel safer. This also applies to improving visibility around blind turns, having appropriate turn radii, glass-backed elevators, etc. Stairs, elevator lobbies and elevators should have glass walls. Parking garages should also have ground-level retail to “activate” the street level. No one wants to walk past a long blank wall of a parking garage. CCTV and emergency alarms will help customers feel safer. They must be professionally monitored and provide fast response.
Facility maintenance—A well-maintained parking facility (clean, freshly painted, expansion joint in good repair, no obvious structural or concrete condition issues [spalling, cracking, etc.]) sends a strong signal that the facility is actively managed and attended to. A poorly maintained facility sends an even stronger signal but with the opposite message.
Activity and customer assistance amenities—Parking facilities that are designed to promote local activity (first floor retail, bike share stations, integrated transit or shuttle stops, security call stations, customer service representatives, public art, decorative plantings, etc., promote greater pedestrian activity, which in turn creates a sense of use and safety.

New facilities should be designed as self-serve to maximize efficiency and speed in helping customers to exit promptly. Money saved on cashier labor should be used for customer service representatives.

The exterior of the garage should also be architecturally pleasing. When you approach the garage from the street by vehicle or as a pedestrian, if it looks well designed your initial impression will be a good one, making you feel safer.

Jane Jenkins, president of Downtown OKC in Oklahoma City, and former chair of the International Downtown Association, describes downtown parking as one of the most annoying aspects of visiting downtown. She notes that signage is frequently lacking or confusing, and as a result, people arriving by cars often look for on-street parking in adjoining neighborhoods, causing problems for residents.

Jenkins also comments that the smell in some parking garages is a turn-off. Spilled food containers, discarded cigarette butts, and animal waste can contribute to an unsavory smell. The ground level of stair towers often ends up as a urinal and can result in a stomach-turning experience.

Tamara Zahn, former president of Downtown Indy Inc., said that she believes that parking garages are designed around cars, not around people. This runs counter to a statement Dennis Burns, a nationally recognized parking expert, offered at a recent International Parking & Mobility Institute conference. “Parking is not a car storage business,” according to Burns. “It is a people business.”

Kate Joncas, former deputy mayor of Seattle and former president of Downtown Seattle Inc., recalls that she has experienced areas around parking garages that are loitering locations, especially when security is not visible. Women who are using pay-on-foot pay stations in parking lobbies, and are opening purses and wallets, can find this experience uncomfortable and downright threatening.

Attended surface lots, though not good uses of urban land, are much preferred by women. In Kalamazoo, one surface lot attendant kept a small library of favorite novels in his booth and loaned them to customers with whom he had become acquainted. Having a familiar face in the attendant’s booth made customers, particularly women, feel much more comfortable.

Parking operators can make parking facilities much more inviting for women. Having on site a package of services—dead battery jumps, flat tire assistance, help for customers who accidently lock their keys in their cars—gives any customer, but particularly women customers, a sense of comfort, knowing that if something goes wrong, someone is there to help.

Pathways from parking garages and lots are another area frequently neglected. Lighting, landscaping, and attention to walking surfaces can make a pathway inviting or downright frightening. Some cities have turned grimy, unlit alleys into attractive pedestrian walkways, with openings into shops, and occasional buskers performing music. Removal of snow and ice in cold weather cities is another service parking operators should maintain regularly.

Just finding a place to park can be a daunting task for anyone. Some cities do a good job of signage, guiding people to public parking. Some parking authorities and downtown organizations offer on-line websites that highlight parking facilities, and give useful information such as location of entrances, prices, and hours of operation.
In summary, the design of the downtown parking experience is crucial to attracting women, because so often parking is the first and last experience a woman will have with the downtown business district.

Read the article here.

DAVID M. FEEHAN is president of Civitas Consulting, LLC. He can be reached at dadpsych@mac.com. “Design Downtown for Women—Men Will Follow” is available at amazon.com.

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

PARKING & MOBILITY SPOTLIGHT- PARKSMART Project: Sustainable Building Leads the Way to Sustainable Mobility in Dubai

February 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Sarah Merricks

THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE) is going above and beyond to tackle climate risk and focus on environmentally friendly development. This leadership is especially evident in Dubai. One of the fastest-growing metropolises in the world, Dubai has become a model for how a city can transform into one of the most sustainable and
livable cities in the world.

The city has taken a number of initiatives to reduce its carbon emissions through energy-efficiency policies and production of renewable energy, including committing to reducing emissions from government entities and industries by 16 percent. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, for example, is the largest generator of solar energy in the world from a single location—with a capacity to produce 5,000 megawatts by 2030—almost 25 percent of the total estimated energy production in the Emirate.
In March 2014, Dubai municipality mandated green-building specifications and regulations for all new buildings. Dubai is also a leader in waste management; in 2012, it developed a waste management master plan to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills to zero in 20 years by using an integrated and innovative approach. And most recently, in April 2019, the city was the first in the middle east (MENA) region to receive LEED for Cities Platinum certification.

Government Leadership

These are all impressive achievements that solidify Dubai’s role as an international leader and are due in large part to government leadership. For example, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has demonstrated a strong commitment to reducing the effect of its own ecological footprint. As the distribution authority for electricity and water in the Emirate of Dubai, DEWA’s contribution toward healthy and sustainable development through its buildings and assets has been commendable.

In keeping with the company’s vision of becoming a sustainable world-class utility, the authority decided to pursue sustainable design for its office building in Al Quoz, Dubai. And in September 2012, DEWA Sustainable Building achieved LEED Platinum certification with a score of 98 out of 110 points, making it the largest government building in the world at the time to earn Platinum certification. It was also the highest scoring building in the MENA region and among the top in the world. Earlier this year, the project built on this commitment by also achieving Parksmart Pioneer certification, and it was the first building in the MENA and North Africa region to be recognized under Parksmart.

The Building

The 236,996 gross-square-foot building houses DEWA’s customer service center, a customer call center, an engineering and control center, and the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition center for water systems. The building uses 66 percent less energy and 48 percent less water than a traditional office building thanks to the use of high-efficiency water fixtures. The building has a fully automated control panel to control the cooling and air conditioning systems and a number of ventilation units that further reduce energy consumption. An efficient stormwater management plan at the facility ensures recycling of water for irrigation, and special regulators, sensor taps, low-flow fixtures, and waterless urinals help further reduce water consumption. An in-house laboratory also ensures that water quality conforms to global environmental standards.

Earlier this year, the project built on this commitment by also achieving Parksmart Pioneer certification and was the first building in the MENA and North Africa region to be recognized under Parksmart.

Materials used in construction contain approximately 36.79 percent recycled content; 28.53 percent of those materials were regionally sourced. The project also has a solar hot water system, an on-site greywater treatment plant, a 660-kilowatt solar power plant, and a vegetated roof. LED lights and automatic lighting control systems power the building’s lighting mechanism with occupancy sensors. And indoor air quality in the building is constantly monitored through the use of carbon dioxide sensors with alarms in all densely occupied areas, while outdoor air is treated and supplied throughout the building to provide better ventilation.

Location

Located close to the Dubai Metro Station the project helps reduce pollution and land development impact from automobile use. Bicycle racks have been allocated for 5 percent of the building users, in addition to preferential parking for low-emission and fuel-efficient vehicles and six electric-vehicle charging stations.

As a destination and origination point in the UAE’s transportation system, DEWA recognized the importance of making sure its building maximized its sustainable transportation impact and pursued Parksmart in addition to LEED certification for the headquarters. This LEED-plus approach made sure the authority took advantage of both LEED’s sustainability strategies and those in Parksmart and were also specific to the parking structure building type. If LEED Platinum was good, DEWA figured, then LEED plus Parksmart must be great. And so it is. .

Read the article here.

SARAH MERRICKS is executive communications director with the United States Green Building Council. She can be reached at smerricks@usgbc.org.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / JUNE 2019 / PARKING & MOBILITY

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

The Parking Professional: WHEN PARKING TRANSFORMED A CITY

February 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

How Steel City morphed into an innovation powerhouse: A follow-up on the Pittsburgh Parking Authority.

By Julianne Wilhelm

ONCE AN AMERICAN MANUFACTURING EPICENTER known for its smoke-billowed steel mills, the City of Pittsburgh, Pa., has become one of the top innovation cities in America, positioning itself as a city of tomorrow.

To date, the region’s per capita research and development (R&D) spending is nearly two and a half times the national average. After the turn of the millennium, Pittsburgh began investing in all the typical ingredients of the modern American urban success story: a diverse and educated workforce, universities and research institutes, and restored neighborhoods. Leading in Pittsburgh’s innovative force was the Pittsburgh Parking Authority (PPA), a key player in the city’s striving economy.

Taking lead from David Onorato, CAPP, executive director of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, the city was the first in the country to make the change to a pay-by-plate system in 2012. Within the next five years, the PPA would be named IPMI’s Parking Organization of the Year, becoming one of the first to be recognized as an Accredited Parking Organization and listed among the top 10 innovative parking cities in the U.S. The Authority’s influential shift caught the attention of top cities around the world, all vying to know the secret of their path to success.

A Bold Move Forward
Up until 2012, Steel City was just that, a metropolis vast with steel, coin-operated single-space meters. The slow-paced meters had been a part of the city’s landscape for nearly 75 years and were becoming difficult to support. Onorato led the modernization for the authority with a vision to improve the parking experience for all Pittsburgh patrons—on-street and off-street in busy lots. The first objective was to extend the option of paying by debit or credit cards to those who were limited to the use of coins to pay for parking.
“With the support of my IT Department, the decision was made that pay-by-plate was the way to go,” says Onorato. “We decided we were about to make a drastic change from the coin meters.” The authority made the bold move to transition the meters with a vision of increasing revenue, capitalizing on new technologies, and improving efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency.

In 2012, Pittsburgh became the first U.S. city to implement an on-street pay-by-plate system on a large scale. The authority made the decision to manage its network of metered spaces with Flowbird’s Cale Web Terminal (CWT) multi-space kiosks.
The authority began installation of 500 pay-by-plate terminals, the largest CWT installation in the U.S. at the time. The terminals were all connected to a back-office system that monitored the status of the terminals and tracked revenue generated.

Leading the Transition
With the first large-scale implementation of its kind, the authority sought a seamless customer transition from single-space mechanical meters, as well as several pay-and-display meters, to a full-scale, pay-by-plate operation. Knowing many vehicle owners didn’t have their license plate number memorized, the authority worked with city businesses to distribute key fobs. Each fob had space for patrons to record their license plate information for reference during parking transactions.
Once the new system was installed, meter greeters—staff and local students who came out to educate patrons about the modernized process—began appearing around town.
“The customers needed to know the why,” says Onorato. “When you pay for a parking spot using pay-by-plate, you can park anywhere else within that area with the time you have left over. No new transactions.”
The new system also eliminated wasted parking space that had been unknowingly idle for years. The old parking spaces drawn out for pay-and-display were measured for car lengths that were outdated, fitting 15 cars to a block. With the newly implemented pay-by-plate zone system, patrons easily fit 18 cars to a block. This contributed to a major increase in revenue, allowing the authority to self-fund structural repairs.

Effects beyond the City
By 2014, the authority collected $47,000 a day from the pay-by-plate system, up from $22,000 from the old coin machines. The market’s response was favorable.
Other cities across the U.S. began to take notice. After the 2012 pay-by-plate transition, many requests for proposals (RFPs) for multi-space parking meters asked for pay-by-plate as at least as an option, if not the primary mode of operation.
Advancing toward Organization of the Year
In 2015, the Authority saw another opportunity to expand its progress by adding a mobile payment application to the system. Users were quick to adapt to it.
Pittsburgh’s acceptance of the new payment feature easily outpaced market response elsewhere. Just five months after its introduction, the city’s use of the app rose to fourth among all the app’s roster of metropolitan clients. By 2016, transactions reached the half-million mark to account for more than $1.2 million of meter-sourced revenue. Previous downtime of the old meters of 20 to 30 percent was reduced to less than 1 percent with the new meters and the introduction of the phone app.
Evidencing the success of its efforts, the authority was named the 2015 Parking Organization of the year by the International Parking and Mobility Institute (IPMI). It was recognized for not only their ability to be financially self-sufficient but for funding other city services and activities. Revenues from the new parking system continued to increase, and in that same year, the authority signed a co-op agreement with the city, giving them more than $28 million each year.

Innovation for the Long-Term
Perhaps the greatest factor of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority’s success is its ability to always be two steps ahead, innovating for the long-term. With the knowledge that approximately one-fifth of the city’s metered spaces were in off-street lots, the condition and appearance of those locations were closely monitored, with any necessary repair or improvement funds set aside annually.
During a 14-month period starting mid-2015, the authority began the largest capital repair project in the organization’s 73-year history. Among those restored would be four neighborhood facilities, a project that would add a 25-year lifespan to each structure. Each public repair would be a major investment, but by the end of 2017, nearly $24 million—all internally funded—would be invested to enhance these valuable parking assets.
“One of the major factors in our ability to self-fund our capital repair and to enter into a co-op agreement with the city was the major overhaul to our meter operation system,” says Onorato. “The drastic meter revenue increase can be directly related to the installation of [the] pay-by-plate system with pay-by-phone technology, along with the introduction of credit cards, three years of minor rate increases, elimination of marked spaces, and the ability to maintain the meters through data.”

The largest repair was done on the popular Third Avenue Garage, a facility going on six full decades of continuous operation. The project faced the obstacle of long-term heavy repair with the requirement that parking operations be continued throughout construction. Through careful planning by the authority, the project adopted a white noise method of hydro-drilling that wouldn’t hinder nearby businesses and schools—a sharp contrast to jackhammer drilling. Evidencing the effectiveness of the authority’s proactive approach to capital repair, the Third Avenue project received top honor in the Large Facility Renovation category by IPMI in May 2017.

Maintaining the Standard
By mid-2017, the Pittsburgh Parking Authority had come a long way from where it was five years before. A city that had spent 60+ years using the same mainstream process, had been converted by the authority’s bold moves forward. Steel City was now the City on the Move and became one of the first municipal providers to obtain IPMI recognition as an Accredited Parking Organization (APO), the certification that recognizes best practices in responsible parking management, innovation, customer service, safety, and security.
Onorato views the pursuit of accreditation as having been highly beneficial, both as a management resource and as an aid in sharpening employee awareness to continuously improve all aspects of customer service.

Holding true to APO standards, the authority continues to work with others to enhance economic and quality-of-life values. In the years since initial pay-by-plate installation, Onorato continues to upgrade the city’s mobility structure. Currently, the city has increased its multi-space kiosks to 1,040 units, responding to the need for convenience in more locations.

“The purchase of advanced revenue control equipment and complementary software support improved operating performance across the board,” says Onorato, “The adoption of [the] pay-by -plate system enhanced virtually all aspects of that function, from customer convenience and revenue generation, to enforcement effectiveness and resolution of ticket violations.”

Today, the City of Pittsburgh is witnessing a decrease in citations with an increase in revenue, reflecting that compliance with pay-by-plate is higher than ever. The authority is happy to report it has surpassed $20 million in revenue, compared to $7 million in 2012. Given the sequential investments in technology, the authority is now among the most technologically advanced operators in its field.

Read the article here.

JULIANNE WILHELM is Marketing manager with Flowbird. She can be reached at julianne.wilhelm@flowbird.group.

Case Studies, Parking & Mobility Article, Publications, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Case Study: But I fed the meter!

February 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

How one busy municipality solved the challenge of short-term downtown parking without alienating anyone, with great success.

PARKING AVAILABILITY in a vibrant downtown is something most people entirely misunderstand. The general feeling is that there is not enough parking when space is not available right in front of the destination, but the reality in most cases is that there is ample parking, although a person may have to walk a block or two. It is also interesting to note that folks will typically walk farther than this when parking to shop at an indoor shopping mall. It is all in perception.

I have been asked the following questions more than any others when it comes to parking in the central downtown:

But my meter has been fed all day—why did I get a ticket?
Why can’t my employees or I park in front of my business for the day?
Why can’t my tenants keep their vehicles parked in front of their apartments in the downtown?

I want to dive into these questions to clarify why it is important to have parking regulations when the desire is to have a thriving downtown business district. Finding a solution to parking problems is not always an easy task. The process can sometimes take months and, as you can see in the case of Morgantown, W.V., years of trial and error.

The Beginning

I want to start in November 1996 when I began my career with the Morgantown Parking Authority. At that time parking on High Street, Morgantown’s main street for businesses, was regulated from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays; and Sundays were free. The problem businesses faced at that time was when their shops would open at 10 a.m., there were no parking spaces available on High Street for their customers—those prime spots were already taken by business owners, employees, and those living in the downtown.

With the City of Morgantown bordering the West Virginia University campus, we continually face these unique parking challenges. Our journey began to try and find a solution to this problem. We started by meeting with the stakeholders in the downtown to receive input and ideas to try and find the right answers.

In August 1999, the Morgantown Parking Authority partnered with Main Street Morgantown to hire John D. Edwards, a transportation consultant out of Atlanta, Ga., to begin a parking study in Morgantown. Within that study, it was noted that there were currently time limits in place for short-term as well as long-term parking, but there was no provision in place to enforce the time limits. The study went on to say that as long as an individual continued to feed the meter, the vehicle could essentially stay in the same spot all day.

Edwards’ recommendation was to enforce the posted time limits, but why? Why does it matter who parks where and for how long? Through this study, we, as well as city stakeholders, began to understand how vital short-term parking was to the downtown business district. The study showed how imperative it is to have vehicle turnover to promote successful downtown businesses. Nationwide, parking studies show that 90 percent of people shopping, eating, or visiting the downtown stay for less than two hours. If business owners, employees, or people living in the downtown business district leave their vehicles parked long-term in this district on a daily basis, where will potential customers park?

Beginning Enforcement

After multiple meetings and continued complaints of vehicles being parked in prime spaces all day and taking up customer parking, the parking authority started monitoring the number of cars that were parking long-term in these areas. Throughout approximately two months, there were 17 vehicles noted using the short-term parking spaces for long-term parking on a daily basis. This information along with concerns from business owners was brought to the city council, and in November 2007, there was an ordinance amendment that would allow the parking time limits to be enforced. The information regarding the ordinance amendment was distributed through the local newspaper, radio, and television as well as written warnings being issued before this ordinance was enforced.
The penalties for parking long-term in a short-term space were a $5 ticket for being in a space longer than two hours even if the meter had not expired, then a $10 ticket if the vehicle remained in the space for an additional hour, and finally a $25 ticket if the vehicle stayed four or more consecutive hours. Essentially, a vehicle could receive $40 in parking tickets per day even if there was money in the meter for parking long-term in a short-term space.

This process worked for a while but did not wholly deter those that were abusing the short-term spaces, and some drivers eventually figured out that if they moved forward one parking space before their two hours were up, the parking authority would have to re-chalk the tires and start over with the timed parking.

Alternative Ideas

So back to the drawing board to find an alternative solution. With much discussion both internally and again with the downtown stakeholders affected by this issue, it was proposed to the city council to create a downtown parking zone with steeper fines to discourage the abuse:

First, the hourly parking rate would increase from 75 cents per hour to $1 per hour.
If a vehicle was parked in this zone more than two hours per day, a warning would be issued with information instructing the driver that they could not park in this zone longer than two hours.
If the vehicle was seen again on a different day violating this ordinance, a $20 ticket would be issued.
If this vehicle continued to park long-term, a $100 ticket would be issued each day for the remainder of the calendar year the vehicle continued to be parked in that zone.

The downtown parking zone was established by city council in July 2016 to reflect the changes. These changes have worked very well—customers can now find parking spaces in the downtown close to where they are shopping, doing business, eating, or visiting.
The one misconception about this ordinance is that if a customer comes to town to shop and later wants to come back for dinner, he or she will be cited for being in the parking zone for more than two hours per day. This is not true. First, a vehicle has to be seen parked for more than two hours in this zone on a regular basis before any action is taken. Then a warning is written with an explanation highlighted in bright pink on the bottom of the warning to inform the person that they cannot be in the zone for more than two hours a day. If the warning is ignored, then we begin to enforce the ordinance. As a side note, although the downtown parking zone was designed to enforce short-term parking regulations, there is sufficient long-term parking for business owners, employees, and residents of this zone.

Success

As I write this article, it has been two years since this ordinance has been in place, and out of the 80,000+ tickets that were written during this period, only 12 different vehicles have received the $100 ticket.

Why Does It Matter?

I want to return to the question I asked earlier: Why does it matter who parks where and for how long? Why can’t drivers continue to feed the meter all day? First, I want to state that from the parking authority’s perspective, it does not matter who parks in these spaces because every quarter is the same as the next. But, from the view of businesses in the downtown, it does matter who parks in these spaces and how many times a day these spaces turn over.

Why do these particular spaces need to be available for customers and patrons of the downtown? A piece written to Uptown Lexington, N.C., businesses from Uptown Lexington, Inc. in December 1998 stated that a recent study had shown that if a customer came to town, stayed 30 minutes and spent $5, then left, and the stores were open 40 hours a week, each space would be worth $17,000 a year in commerce. Most parking studies show that the downtown parking space should turn over between five and 10 times per day to be most beneficial for the businesses.

The downtown parking zone was not put in place to discourage parking in the downtown, but to encourage people to visit the city by opening up the most convenient parking spaces closest to their destinations. We are all creatures of habit, and we will circle the block or parking lot more than once trying to find the closest spot possible.

I should also mention that three out of five Morgantown Parking Authority Board members own businesses within the parking zone, and although there was some skepticism at the beginning of creating this zone, the owners, as well as their customers, agree that it is working. Those visiting the downtown can now find convenient parking spaces close to their destination.

In our efforts to open up spaces in the downtown parking zone, we also offer other options for those working or living in the downtown. There are discounted monthly parking permits for the gated parking garages that are one block from downtown, there are long-term parking lots, and we added a parking app in February 2018 to help make parking more convenient. There have been more than 60,000 transactions through the app since February. One of the best features of the app is that drivers get a text message 15 minutes before their meter time expires. They can choose to go back to their cars or add time on the app.

In my 20+ years with the Morgantown Parking Authority, we have made a point of regularly educating the public as to why we have the regulations that we have in place as well as doing regular reviews to see what is and what is not working. The goal of any successful public parking program should always be focused on the needs of all those involved. I know that it is impossible to make everyone happy, but at least they will always have a place to park!

Read the article here.

DANA MCKENZIE, CAPP, is executive director of the Morgantown, W.V., Parking Authority. He can be reached at dmckenzie@morgantownwv.gov.

36 THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2019 | PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

By Dana McKenzie, CAPP

Parking & Mobility Article, Publications, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

The Parking Professional: HOW the and WHY the

February 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By David Mepham, PhD

Rethinking parking, the Main Street place and access experience, and where we go from here.

THE RISE AND RISE OF AMAZON AND ONLINE SHOPPING has transformed the way we consume. This trend can be contrasted with the demise of traditional shopping and face-to-face trading. Despite these trends, some Main Street shopping centers are not only surviving but thriving.
Above and beyond the provision of day-to-day goods and services, successful Main Street shopping centers offer an exceptional place and access experience. There is often a notable point of difference, along with a cultural edge, between successful centers and their competitors. The ones that do well are walkable places that invite people to both wander and linger, with places to relax and watch the world go by. These places offer interesting, unique goods and services with great food and beverages. Accessibility, including car parking and the local walk environment, is central to this exceptional Main Street place and access experience.

While parking is important to accessibility, there are many ways in which it can detract from place quality. Thinking only about parking and cars rather than places and people, we end up with places that are easy to get to but there is nowhere to go or reason to stay. We find poorly designed and located car parking options with inadequate signage, avoidable right-of-way conflicts, and associated congestion. Creating attractive, accessible places requires a holistic approach to the parking experience and this must include safe, comfortable walking access.

Starting the Experience

The parking experience starts when we begin to contemplate our destination and mode choice. There are time and cost considerations, including who we are travelling with and our primary and secondary activity objectives. Over and above our day-to-day travel grind, when we have the time and money, we are more inclined to go out with others. Shopping trips easily take on a social dimension and are likely to involve the consumption of leisure. People love to spend money when they are having fun with friends.
While weighing parking options, we must consider a range of decisions. These include the ease of the approach to the center, consideration of available or desirable parking options, how we locate and then enter a car park, and actually parking our car, including the ease and legibility of paying for parking. Finally, the walk experience between the car park and the center is considered.

Thinking or Feeling

So we leave home and drive to the center. Driving anywhere involves dealing with other drivers and inevitably some level of congestion and delay and then stress. Stress can distort our judgment and compromise our driving behavior. Car accidents are the main cause of serious injury to pedestrians and cyclists, with particular risks at crossings and corners.

Seeking parking in the center can be a particularly stressful experience, especially during busy periods when we have to compete with others for parking. Competition with a sense of urgency can bring out a less friendly side to our personality, sometimes aggression or even bullying. Under pressure to win or just to survive in a car parking/cage fight, our rational brain can flip very quickly into the more emotive/instinctive mode—it’s no surprise that some unbelievable stuff happens in parking garages and lots. Minimizing and relieving parking anxiety is one of the challenges for those involved in the provision and design of parking in busy centers. Good design and good information, early and accurate, are important in addressing this problem.

A range of parking options may be available in the center, each with its own costs and benefits. On- or off-street? Center or edge? Structure or at-grade? Public or private? Paid or unpaid? There are then the related issues of safety, comfort, surveillance/security, duration, convenience, and amenities. So many decisions and so little information!
Directional signage is useful as we approach the center, but in the center itself and at the car park entry, it provides insufficient information and may direct drivers into full car parks, increasing local congestion, stress, and driver anxiety. Real-time wayfinding signage with mobile phone apps help us locate actual, available on-street or off-street parking. Real-time information reduces cruising and local traffic congestion and opens up our parking options depending on how much we want to pay and how long we want to stay. Less stress and less cruising with better, safer driving reduces risk and increases safety and comfort for pedestrians.

Rethinking Main Street Parking

On-street, Main Street parking is highly visible, accessible, and in high demand. The Main Street needs to provide access for on-street transit and delivery vehicles that need shorter-term parking. Typically, short-term parking supports hit-and-run shopping. High vehicle turnover from short-term parking with more complex vehicle movements often creates delays and congestion, with increased risk to cyclists and pedestrians in the center. Demand-responsive parking pricing can spread the peak parking load to other streets, freeing up space.

On-street parking technologies with complementary policies and equitable pricing enable a rethinking of the Main Street place function. By shifting some of the demand for on-street, Main Street parking to other nearby streets, there is an opportunity to socialize and green the Main Street.

Occasional buildouts into parking spaces shift seating and outdoor dining from the footpath to dedicated space enhanced with landscaping, art, trees, and shade. Buildouts also enable safer mid-block crossing points with high visibility holding space and a shorter road crossing. Less clutter on footpaths enables an improved level of service for pedestrians that is easier and offers more comfortable walk access in peak times and at busy points, such as corners and crossing points. Uncluttered footpaths provide safe space for people with disabilities, ease for people with strollers and children, and a better walking and shopping experience for everyone.
Rethinking Off-street Parking

Off-street parking provides for longer stays and time to shop, eat, drink, relax, and socialize. It also provides easier access for people with disabilities and for people with children and strollers. Off-street parking may provide shorter term, high-turnover options in high-access areas closer to shops or services. When off-street parking is accessed from arterial roads, unnecessary Main Street congestion can be avoided. Vehicle access to parking via connecting side streets or laneways from the Main Street creates right-of-way conflicts with footpath traffic, especially at corners where pedestrians are most likely to be injured by turning cars.

By restricting vehicle traffic through connecting side streets and laneways, there is an opportunity to create attractive, green, animated, and inclusive public places for social and community activities, cafes, restaurants, or bars, along with play places for kids, big and small. These places may evolve out of temporary, pop-up closures that will let planners understand impacts and enable informed community and business consultation. These can evolve to be the multi-functional spaces that are often missing from Main Street shopping centers.

Side streets and laneways may also function as the key connections to rail transit. In Melbourne, Australia, rail lines often run adjacent to Main Streets, and smaller, less trafficked cross streets connect rail to Main Street buses. Parking and rail stations are often accessed via these connecting streets.

Increasing Place Quality

A good walking experience is a key element of a great part-of-the-journey parking experience, and it’s one we often overlook in planning for parking. This may be a case of 1 + 1 = 3: Pedestrian traffic to and from stations and car parking animates the place, supports social and economic activity, and increases the sense of safety both during the day and at night.

At-grade, off-street car parking can easily degrade place quality but with a more creative view of the site, you can alternately add something positive to the space. They may be seen as land banks for future development, especially where land adjoins a transit station. If parking is paid, a business case may exist for a higher quality parking structure, ideally mixed-use with an activated street level—maybe with a giant art or green wall. Where at-grade parking is a longer-term preference, it is reasonable to consider larger trees, stormwater management, and water-sensitive urban design with complementary gardens to filter runoff. Solar panels can support onsite electric-charging stations and might double up as weather protection on dedicated walk paths with local area traffic management and security lighting and closed-circuit television cameras.

Paid parking typically supports the provision of higher quality parking outcomes. If the user is not paying, then who is and why? It seems reasonable to independently access the cost/benefit of unpaid public parking to properly understand the real costs and then consider higher and better outcomes. We know there really is no such thing as free parking; what we really don’t know is the cost of a poor parking experience on the overall place experience.

Parking, Place, and Accessibility

When we think about parking, we often fail to consider the effects of car park planning and design decisions on the wider place/access experience. I’m interested in how parking can enhance the place experience. How can we make places better and safer for pedestrians, attractive places, “sticky” places, and places that balance a vibrant local economy with inclusive social and community activities? We should consider how parking space might be more flexible in the shorter and longer terms and how parking can be cleaner, greener, and smarter.

Developments with parking technologies, transport technologies, artificial intelligence, electric cars and buses, shared cars, bikes, and other transportation modes with a range of environmental, economic, and social changes and challenges are catalysts for a rethink of parking and mobility, place, and accessibility. The question is how can we, as parking professionals, encourage these healthy, vibrant accessible places and stay one step ahead of Amazon?

Read the article here.

DAVID MEPHAM, PhD, is an urban access consultant based in Melbourne, Australia. He can be reached at mepham.consulting@gmail.com.

THE PARKING PROFESSIONAL | FEBRUARY 2019 | PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG 23