Tag Archives: transportation

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Mobility & Tech: Peak Car?

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By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE

I WAS IN GRAD SCHOOL AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, learning my trade in transporta­tion planning, which would eventually fall headlong into parking planning. I remember one class in which my graduate research professor spoke about transportation trends. The discussion specifically focused on how for the entirety of the modern life of the au­tomobile the number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) grew steadily.

Yes, there were small declines during the gas short­ages in the 1970s and recessions in the 1980s, but the auto industry always recovered and the average user continued to drive more and more. My professor said that while this trend was interesting, we almost cer­tainly would see some disruption in our lifetime that ended or reversed this steady climb in driving.

For many of the thought leaders in the transporta­tion industry, that disruption was the Great Recession. Gas price increases, pay stagnation, and massive disruption to our financial well-being seemed to be the catalyst that would reverse the driving trend. This theory was called Peak Car—the plateauing and even­tual reduction in miles traveled, auto reliance, land disruption, and pollution the automobile has borne for the last 100 years. And for some time, they were right. From 2007 to 2012, the annual VMT in the U.S. slowly decreased. The average annual miles driven per capita dropped below 10,000 miles per person for the first time since the turn of the century. It seemed that Peak Car had occurred, and people were chang­ing course.

Changing Our Ways?

Then, in 2012 something shifted. VMT started to escalate, while auto sales returned to pre-recession levels and are steadily climbing. All of this came at a time when teenagers and young profession­als began to delay or decline the decision to get a driver’s license (since the mid 1980s, the rate of 16-year-olds getting driver’s licenses has dropped almost 50 percent), and a greater number of profes­sionals started to live in urban areas that support a less car-dependent lifestyle. The diverging courses were perplexing.
This begs a not-so-simple question—are we chang­ing our ways or are we reverting to our historical patterns? A few thoughts might provide context to the actual answer:

  • Coming out of the Great Recession, the rate of millennials owning an automobile was relatively low. This makes sense given the financial situation for college graduates entering the workforce. But as their financial situation improves and they start families, it becomes more reasonable to accept that they might own an automobile, even if it is not their only form of transportation.
  • The U.S. population continues to increase. Even though the pace of our growth is at an all-time low, we are still growing. And while most of our popula­tion is moving toward urban centers, the net effects of growth with migration continue to push increases in rural areas that may not have the infrastructure to support a non-automotive lifestyle.
  • The popularity of transportation network companies (TNCs) and the ride-share model has created a new wave of ­single-occupant vehicles that are moving between paying trips, creating more and more miles traveled.

The combination of these three elements paints a clearer picture of the change we are seeing. While annual VMT has seen a sharp increase in recent years, that per capita VMT value is increasing at a much slower rate. More people are on the road for professional-driving related trips, but fewer miles are traveled per person because we have more options to rely on.

Getting to Peak Car
Therein lies the opportunity to truly reach a level of Peak Car defined by those thought leaders (and my professor). Given the proliferation of mobility options in the industry today, we have a distinct opportunity to shape a future that experiences Peak Car. A few examples:

  • Better driving and parking policies to motivate behavioral change such as congestion pricing, demand-based parking pricing, fringe park-and-ride to reduce vehicular access into urban centers, and better information to find parking to reduce miles related to cruising.
  • Providing better options for daily decision-making can help people in urban and urban fringe areas to intelligently choose the cheapest, fastest, and most sustainable option for commuting every day. Data sharing, navigation engines, and user-choice applications can stimulate a much smarter transportation system.
  • Better integration of connected vehicles and transportation systems and the upcoming proliferation of autonomous vehicles can help reduce redundant trips and support more efficient use of TNCs.
  • Implementing micro-mobility options that help connect first- and last-mile options and make transit trips a more reasonable and feasible solution for travelers.

As professionals in this industry, we have the ability to manage and shape these practices to support a more efficient and multifaceted future. The time is now for the parking and mobility industry to take the reins and begin to shape the fu­ture of our industry and the world around it.

Read the article here.

BRETT WOOD, CAPP, PE, is a parking planner with Kimley-Horn and co-chair of IPMI’s Research Committee. He can be reached at brett.wood@kimley-horn.com.

 

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Stop Treating the Symptoms: Curing Traffic Congestion at the Source

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By Juan Rodriguez

CONGESTION IS A PROBLEM that routinely plagues cities worldwide. The threats it poses Symptoms Cure Traffic Congestionto society are immense: chronic pollution, crumbling infrastructures, and low quality of life. As major cities search for solutions, they often turn to tactics such as congestion pricing and curbside management—programs that can produce positive results but only treat symptoms of the problem. To cure congestion at the source, cities need to turn to dynamic mobility ecosystem hubs that manage their sources by connecting people with alternate solutions.

Congestion Control through Pricing

London, England, is one of the world’s pioneers in using congestion pricing, which requires motorists to pay fees to drive into the center of the city during busy periods. London implemented congestion pricing in 2002 with the goals of reducing traffic volumes, improving bus ser­vices, and making the delivery of goods and services more efficient. And it has worked.

In 2006, Transport for London (TfL), the government agency respon­sible for the city’s transportation system, found that the surcharge re­duced traffic by 15 percent and congestion—which it defines as the extra time a trip would take because of traffic—by 30 percent. The TfL reports these trends continue today, with traffic volumes down nearly 25 percent compared to a decade ago. That has enabled it to open more dedicated road space for bicyclists and pedestrians.

However, congestion remains a problem due to a number of factors, including one city officials could not have anticipated back in 2002: the influx of transportation network company (TNC) drivers using their cars to work for companies such as Uber and Lyft.
The Conversation news site reports that while the number of cars driven by their owners has fallen, the number of private for-hire vehicles such as TNCs and minicabs is up. Trips by taxis and private for-hire vehicles as the main mode of transportation have increased by nearly 30 percent since the surcharge was implemented. Today, more than 18,000 different private for-hire vehicles enter the congestion charging zone each day, reducing the speed of traffic through the city.

The ripple effects include traffic jams, slower bus service, and falling revenue. Taxis and minicabs (but not TNC vehicles) are exempt from paying the congestion charge, so, not surprisingly, the number of minicab registrations rose quickly—from 49,854 in 2013 to 87,409 in 2017. Last year, TfL experienced its first drop in congestion charge in­come since 2010.

New York lawmakers are evaluating the pros and cons of the London case study as they prepare to make New York City the first U.S. city to implement congestion pricing. Assuming its scheduled December 2020 rollout is not delayed, motorists will pay a toll of around $12 to drive between midtown and lower Manhattan.
The plan passed as part of the state budget earlier this year, but some lawmakers, business owners, community activists, and residents are pushing for a number of exemptions. They see the mandatory surcharge as being akin to a regressive tax that imposes an unfair financial burden on the lower and middle classes, who typically don’t live in the city and have no choice but to make the daily commute.

The plan currently exempts “conges­tion zone” residents who earn less than $60,000 a year, as well as emergency vehicles and vehicles carrying people with disabilities. Other proposals want to extend exemptions to all New York resi­dents, any police officers who drive their personal vehicles into the city, and all electric vehicles.

Whatever the final version of the plan looks like when (or if) it is implemented, the fight for exemptions will continue, the reduction of traffic congestion will be minimal, and the city will face the same issues of lost government revenue London is deal­ing with now.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found New Yorkers op­pose the congestion pricing plan by a 54 to 41 percent margin. If a majority of New Yorkers are unhappy with the prospect of having to pay extra money to drive their cars, just imagine how they might react to a policy that prohibits them from driving their cars at all.

No-drive Days
That’s the model Mexico City officials created when they imple­mented a “No Drive Day” program. Each weekday is reserved only for cars with specific license plate numbers and letters. The written policy states:

  • Monday: no driving if license plate ends with 5 or 6.
  • Tuesday: no driving if license plate ends with 7 or 8.
  • Wednesday: no driving if license plate ends with 3 or 4.
  • Thursday: no driving if license plate ends with 1 or 2.
  • Friday: no driving if license plate ends with 9, 0, or a letter.

Of course, there are exemptions and exceptions to these rules, particularly for foreigners and Mexican residents who live outside Mexico City. Take this example of a vehicle with Texas license plates that end with the digit 3:

“Thus under the rules above from Monday to Friday, they can­not drive between 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. However, on Wednesday, they have the additional restriction that they cannot drive between 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The only way they can get around this is to obtain a 0 or 00 sticker should their vehicle be eight years old or newer.”

Americans generally hate having to keep track of what side of the street they must park their cars on depending on what day it is. It’s safe to assume that a proposal for a No-drive Day policy will be met with vehement opposition. However, many are experimenting with restricting parking curbside.

Take It to Curb
Take a moment to think about all the uses for those lips of concrete that separate streets and sidewalks. Drivers looking for parking spots (and struggling to parallel park) fight for limited space with taxis, TNCs, and buses dropping off and picking up passengers, as well as delivery vehicles. The results are frustrating traffic jams and an increased risk of accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians.

Autonomous vehicle manufacturers and tech companies such as Google and Uber are developing solutions to ease that con­gestion and reduce the risk of accidents. Their intelligent route navigation and collision avoidance capabilities will enable much more efficient interactions with other vehicles to reduce the instances of unnecessary starting and stopping and prevent ac­cidents. Still, they won’t solve the congestion caused by stopping curbside to collect or drop off passengers.

Implementing a policy that prohibits vehicles from stopping or parking curbside would be counterproductive and costly. Curbs are one of the most valuable assets a city owns (see the May issue of The Parking Professional for more). Governing mag­azine reports America’s 25 biggest cities collect about $5 billion in car-related revenue. The trouble is even if you widen streets; add new lanes for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians; or create dedicated parking zones for passenger or delivery vehicles, curbs remain a fixed asset.

If people stop parking their cars and feeding parking me­ters, what happens to the city services that that money funds? What about the businesses that depend on that traffic to bring customers to their doors? This space needs to be managed more intelligently.
Some cities such as Washington, D.C.; San Francisco, Ca­lif; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have tried to strike a balance between keeping curbsides open for vehicles of all kinds and reducing congestion with curb­side management programs built around the concept of shared mobility zones. Curb­side areas are reserved for specific functions, such as only being available to taxis and TNCs during rush hour and only to delivery trucks in the afternoons or overnight.

While cities experiment with ways to ease traffic congestion on the streets, their sidewalks are becoming just as crowded (and dangerous). Pedestrians, joggers, and bike or scooter riders have to avoid one another. The rise of micro-mobility technology com­panies that enable customers to rent a scooter or bike right from their smartphones can reduce the number of cars traveling short distances and provide new first- and last-mile transportation options that encourage more people to use mass transit. Howev­er, they also create safety issues, and the gig charging economy’s general lack of organization encourages riders to park wherever they want, blocking sidewalks.

Even if a city implements congestion pricing, prevents peo­ple from driving their cars on certain days, sets aside portions of curbside areas for different uses, and rolls out fleets of self-­driving vehicles, the effects on traffic congestion will be minimal. There are simply too many cars and trucks on the streets, and increasingly, bikes and scooters cluttering the sidewalks.

A Congestion Cure: The Mobility Hub

These challenges present an enormous business opportunity for innovative owners and operators of parking garages, lots, and other assets. Using technology available today, they can work with their B2B partners to create full-service mobility hubs that enable TNC drivers to get off the streets between fares.

Drivers can pre-reserve parking spaces, navigate to those spaces via their Uber or Lyft driver apps, use their smart­phones’ Bluetooth connections to pay to enter the facility (perhaps at a discount), and quickly leave when summoned by a customer. The entire process would be automated and immediate so drivers won’t need to worry about using a deb­it/credit card, having cash at the ready, or interacting with a parking attendant.
All parties involved benefit when ride-hailing vehicles are not roaming the streets waiting for passengers. Along with relieving traffic congestion, drivers reduce the wear and tear on their cars and save money on gas, riders won’t experience delays, and parking operators grow their businesses by filling otherwise unused spaces.

Parking asset owners can also partner with micro-mobility technology companies to create docking areas for bikes and scoot­ers and even build charging and servicing hubs. The model could resemble what has worked for so long with luggage carts at airports: You pay to unlock the cart, use it to transport your bags to your car or the curb, then get some money back when you return the cart to a designated area.
Parking garages can be the center of the mobility crossroads for all transportation options, making it easy for people to connect with all options that mass transit agen­cies and private sector companies offer. Parking garages can also serve as hubs for charging electric vehicles and even landing areas for delivery drones. Whatever the vehicle and its purpose, users and drivers (and robot pilots) would be able to find and pay for parking quickly and easily.

These benefits should also extend to drivers of commercial delivery trucks. They work on tight deadlines and don’t have time to circle city blocks looking for streetside parking spots, forcing them to double-park and exacerbate traffic congestion. A curbside management program that designates specific areas for delivery trucks may seem like a good idea, but not when you con­sider how many delivery trucks move through a city every day. There simply isn’t enough available curbside real estate.

All of these scenarios are possible thanks to the maturation of cloud computing platforms and internet of things devices that are always connected to the internet. They present the parking industry with a unique opportunity to turn its assets into con­nected mobility hubs and partner with city officials to cure the problems urban traffic and congestion create, not just put a ban­dage on them.

Read the article here.

JUAN RODRIGUEZ is CEO and co-founder of FlashParking. He can be reached at juan.rodriguez@flashparking.com.

 

 

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Taking Control of the Curb

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By David Singletary

TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY LOOK VERY DIFFERENT than they did a decade ago. 19-09 Curb ArticleThere used to be a handful of ways to travel throughout a city: single-occupancy vehicles, public transit buses, trains, taxi cabs, and the occasional bicycle. Today, the number of options has increased with the introduction of shared ride-hailing vehicles such as Uber and Lyft, subscrip­tion-based car-share services, and docked and dockless bikes and electric scooters.

Each of these new modes, along with growing fleets of parcel and on-demand delivery services and other vehicles, requires access to the curb, which is allocat­ed primarily to car parking. This mismatch between the needs of a modern mobility ecosystem and the traditional curb governance rules has created chaotic curbs that reduce the efficiency of urban mobility by encouraging double-parking, obstructions in the right-of-way, and cruising for parking.

At any given time, a city block could have dozens of vehicles competing for a spot: a truck temporar­ily parked to make deliveries, ride-hailing vehicles pulled over to pick up or drop off passengers, cars ­parallel-parked on the street, a city bus at a bus stop, or electric scooters stored on the street or sidewalk. With all of these vehicles requiring access to the curb, cities need better and more flexible tools to coordinate, manage, and optimize curbside use.

The first step in successfully managing access to the curb is with a parking enforcement system that can measure, incentivize, and enforce which vehicles are allowed to take up space on the curbside and under what conditions. A real-time enforcement system can be part of the backbone of a city’s mobility operation because that single piece of technology can be used to monitor and incentivize compliant curb use across all vehicle types.

Curb Management
Currently, most cities, universities, private operators, and agencies have a parking enforcement system to manage on- and off-street parking for cars. There are plenty of capable systems and companies that can help you write parking tickets, accept payments, manage appeals, integrate license plate recognition (LPR), and manage citations in a traditional parking world view. The important question is “how will your current or future technology partners help you ensure compli­ance across your evolving ecosystem—which now includes transportation network companies, scooters, commercial vehicles, and whatever comes next?”

Curbside management is best thought of as an ex­tension of parking: The curb is a scarce resource, there should be costs and other rules (such as time limits) regulating its use, and non-optimal behavior should incur a penalty (currently, a parking ticket, boot, or similar). With this in mind, the future of curbside management will necessi­tate an evolved version of parking enforcement that combines a mix of tradi­tional boots-on-the-ground enforcement, automated enforcement techniques such as LPR, and program­matic enforcement for the growing number and types of connected vehicles. At present, single-occupancy, privately owned vehicles require traditional parking enforcement techniques, which are resource-intensive and challenging to scale. However, the advent of the internet of things and pro­liferation of connected vehicles mean that the rates to access the curb and the rules that apply can be deliv­ered and enforced in real time to an unlimited number of vehicles citywide.

In the short term, one opportunity for better en­forcement is with delivery vehicles, which are increas­ingly contributing to congestion as online shopping and food delivery grow in popularity. According to UPS, the company pays a significant amount in fines every year for vehicles that receive citations for parking illegally—and these are just for observed events. Delivery drivers don’t have the directive to take the time to pay the me­ter or use their smartphones to start a parking session for a delivery that may only take a few minutes.
Limited coverage of enforcement throughout the day means that temporary parking, such as that from delivery companies, happens without effective enforcement. As a result, the companies know driv­ers will receive tickets on only a small percentage of non-compliant parking sessions, which reduces their incentive to pay for parking. Said another way, their access to the curb is underpriced because enforcement of the rules is inefficient and hard to scale. That drives low compliance, which compounds negative effects on traffic and congestion.

To solve this complex problem, cities must consider the way they want delivery vehicles to fit into their curbside ecosystem and deploy systems that align their interests with the owners of these fleets. To align incentives among these groups in the near-term, cities must increase the aggregate cost of non-compliance by issuing citations on a higher percentage of non-com­pliant delivery sessions and/or increasing the fee per citation. This holds true for virtually every type of ve­hicle that requires access to the curb.
Because the ability to detect non-compliance and issue fines is a function of a city’s parking enforcement system, the flexibility and responsiveness of its cho­sen technology will have a disproportionate impact on the city’s ability to control access to the curb and, consequently, build a mobility system that meets the needs of its citizens and visitors. The job of parking en­forcement software has evolved, and delivery vehicles illustrate that the techniques and technology that were necessary to perform the old job won’t be sufficient as the industry transitions from parking management to curbside management.

Implementation
With the myriad changes in the past decade, we can hardly imagine what the next 10 years will have in store for the parking and mobility space. But leaders need to start thinking today about the future state of their op­erations and how to apply existing and effective meth­odologies, such as paid parking for single-occupancy vehicles, to emerging modes.
To effectively manage the curb, it is important to find the right solutions that can provide the right com­bination of expertise and technology to futureproof your operation. In a world where everything happens at lightning speed and is highly dynamic, an enforce­ment system and strategy that allow you to standardize integrations and centralize data governance will be the lynchpin in enabling you to manage your operation in real time.

Read the article here.

DAVID SINGLETARY is vice president of Passport. He can be reached at david.singletary@passportinc.com.

 

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Empowering the Multimodal Journey

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By Jon Ziglar

TODAY’S INNOVATIONS ARE FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING the way people live. We’re Empowering Multimodalhearing more and more about technologies that are autonomous and electric, connected and shared, and on-demand and in real-time. We’ve seen a rise in ridehailing companies like Uber and Lyft, car-sharing companies like Car2Go and Zipcar, bike-sharing and scooter-sharing networks, mass-transit systems, intermodal transportation, autonomous vehicles, alternative fuel, and artificial intelligence. These shifts in the industry have widely affected the way mobility professionals are doing business as their jobs become increasingly integral to the design, management, and operations that provide consumers with multimodal efficiency.

The Mobility Landscape Today’s mobility solutions are enabling people to move around more freely than ever before. As these solutions continue to evolve and expand, it’s not about which mobility player is going to win in the end, but about how all of the available options fit together to create a seamless mobility journey for the consumer. User experience is continually being elevated in every single aspect of our lives, and each mobility player that has disrupted the market in recent years has contributed to the phenomenon we’re all experiencing: a technologically optimized experience with transportation and mobility. By offering users different transportation methods to get from place to place, mobility solution providers are enabling them with the option to choose which method or combination of methods is most convenient. While cars remain the default for many urban trips, other transportation options are a key component of the consumer journey. In reality, some hybrid of these mobility solutions is what’s going to actually make our lives easier. And as the options diversify, the potential for a truly interconnected mobility experience actually becomes more realistic.

The Multimodal Consumer ParkMobile recently conducted a survey with over 500 users to see what mobility services people are engaging with beyond the app. We began our research by defining today’s most common modes of transportation in urban environments: 1) walking, 2) scootering, 3) biking, 4) driving a personal car, 5) ride-hailing (i.e. Uber, Lyft), 6) car-sharing (i.e. Car2Go, Zipcar), and 7) public transit. Our survey results confirmed that users are engaging with all of these modes – proving our hypothesis that consumers across the board are using a variety of mobility solutions to get from place to place in the most efficient way. Today’s consumer is, in fact, multimodal.

Which of these modes are people engaging with the most?

Public Transit

Public transit was the most popular mode of transportation, with 55 percent of respondents engaging with public transit every month. Despite owning a car, 13 percent of respondents actually engage with public transport more than 10 times per month. For their daily commute, many of these consumers drive their car to the nearest public transit station before taking the bus or train to work. This scenario defines a clear intersection between parking and transit: car-owning consumers often use their cars to get to the nearest transit station in the first place, and before they can board the bus or train, their cars need to be parked in the transit lot.

Ride-Hailing

Our survey results showed that 54 percent of our respondents use a ride-hailing service every month. Again, we see that car-owning consumers still engage with alternate mobility services to get from place to place. In this case, the majority of consumers are now engaging with ride-hailing—proving that while consumers may own a car, they still like having the option to request a driver on-demand. Maybe you’re going out to dinner and plan to have a few glasses of wine. Or you’re going to the airport and you don’t want to deal with parking. Ride-hailing provides a good alternative in certain situations even if you own a car. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, roughly two-thirds (64 percent) of regular ride-hailing users (“regular” defined as those who use ride-hailing services on a daily or weekly basis) say they own a personal vehicle. Interestingly, household vehicle ownership has actually increased in the cities where Uber and Lyft are most heavily used. (CityLab)

Bike-Sharing and Scooter-Sharing

In the past few years, we’ve seen an explosion of bike-sharing companies, such as Citi Bike and Divvy, and scooter-sharing companies, such as Bird and Lime, hit cities. Bird is now available in over 120 cities after only two years on the market, and the company’s success has made it the fastest start-up to reach a $1 billion valuation. (QZ.com) Uber recently entered the bike and scooter-sharing space with Jump and a heavy investment into Lime, while Lyft acquired Motivate in July 2018. Even though bike and scooter-sharing services are relatively new to the market, a striking 40 percent of people we surveyed are now using those services every month.

Car-Sharing

Following bike and scooter-sharing services, 31 percent of respondents said that they engage with a car-sharing service on a monthly basis. Car-sharing companies, such as Car2Go, Zipcar, and Turo, are currently on the rise, especially as the traditional concept of car ownership is evolving with the rise of various on-demand mobility services. Turo now offers cars in over 5,500 cities and 300+ airports across the United States, Canada, and Europe. By 2024, it’s predicted that the car-sharing market will be worth $11 billion due to its financial benefits to consumers. (Marketwatch) By moving away from car ownership, consumers eliminate the costs incurred to purchase, insure, and maintain the vehicle over time.

The Intermodal Commute

Interestingly, 70 percent of our survey respondents have used multiple mobility services in a given day. A consumer’s day is now intertwined with several modes of transportation for traveling most efficiently between destinations. For example, you might use public transit to get to and from work. To grab lunch with your coworkers, you might take a bike-share to a restaurant nearby. After work, you might use your personal car to drive to the grocery store, where you’re required to use a parking app to pay for a spot in the deck. Later that evening, you might use a ride-hailing service to grab drinks with a friend. Our research indicates that 48 percent of users have used multiple mobility services when navigating to a single destination—an experience that goes from “multimodal” to “intermodal.” For example, to get to work, you might drive and park your car at the nearby transit station, board the train, get off at the stop six blocks from your office, and then take a scooter-share the remainder of the way. In this example, you engage with three modes of transportation in your daily commute— your personal car, public transit, and a scooter-share. And while this commute does involve multiple touchpoints, it’s the combination of options that ends up saving the consumer the most time and money.

The Demand for Interconnected Technology During the last decade, we’ve become used to doing everything on our phones. We order whatever food we’re craving, map to our next destination, check out various account balances, and communicate with others around the world. Mobile apps have fundamentally transformed nearly every aspect of our lives, and with the steady increase in population density that urban communities have been experiencing, the demand for interconnected technology is greater than ever. By providing access to the many mobility solutions on the market, cities are providing people with a better way to get where they are going, while also enabling them to make a smarter choice around which option or combination of options is most effective for them. REACH NOW, a leading provider of mobile transit evolution of urban mobility and subsequent emergence of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), which is defined as “urban transport solutions that are integrated into a single platform by which users can determine the best route and price across several end-to-end travel services and modes, according to real-time data such as traffic conditions, time of day, and demand.” The result of an effective MaaS initiative is a city that helps people on the move while reducing congestion in the process.

In the very near future, this will become the norm. There will be one app that allows consumers to design the most efficient, customized mobility journey for wherever they need to go. These consumers will be able to access every available mobility service from a single touchpoint, ultimately unifying their entire experience.

Our research informed us that 38 percent of those we surveyed are interested in a feature in their mobile parking app that allows you to reserve a scooter near the location where you are going to park. This shows that users are interested in an interconnected experience where they will be able to utilize multiple mobility services from one place. As the industry moves forward, it is important to consider how we’re creating a cohesive experience for customers. We must partner together to identify opportunities to reduce friction for users by enabling them with an interconnected, one-stop-shop solution for all of their mobility needs. Now and into the future, we should be prepared to keep learning from our users as we dramatically change the way we think about moving people from point A to point B.

Read the article here.

JON ZIGLAR serves as CEO of ParkMobile. He can be reached at jz@parkmobile.io.

 

 

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

ON THE FRONTLINE: That’s Karma, Vincent

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By Cindy Campbell

ONE OF THE RUNNING JOKES I HAVE WITH FRIENDS centers on the theory that I have good parking karma—or is it CARma? (I digress.)

Let’s focus on the concept of karma for a minute. It’s been said that there is no such thing as luck and that we make our own luck. I believe the same can be said about having good karma.

To illustrate, let’s consider a recent travel experience I had: One of my flights was delayed, causing me to miss connections. The end result was a two-hour Uber ride to arrive at my final destination. Fully anticipating a long, unpleasant ride, I dreaded requesting the car. But rather than creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, I did a little self-talk, changed my attitude and outlook, and decided it actually had the potential of being an inter­esting journey.

Meeting Vincent

Driver “Vincent” called me in advance of his arrival. He knew the curb designated for transportation network companies would be chaotic and wanted to coordinate with me in advance of the pick-up. Once at the curb, he exited his car and greeted me with a warm smile and a handshake: “Welcome! Let’s get you settled in for a comfortable ride.” He knew this was going to be a long trip and made the effort to put my mind at ease. With his congenial approach, Vincent had already conveyed that this trip would likely be a pleasant experience.

As he drove, we chatted about the challenges with air travel and about our respective families. Vincent had served as a pilot in the Air Force. After his mil­itary service, he worked as a special assistant to a now-­retired airline CEO. Vincent saw this executive as a mentor who projected a professional passion for al­ways putting the customer first.
That revelation led to a conversation on the topic of how badly people sometimes treat customer service representatives. I told him stories about the parking and mobility industry and the disrespectful attitudes and behaviors our frontline professionals encounter. “You know, I’d never really considered what you folks have to deal with. That’s gotta be a tough job!”

Vincent was right. It can be tough. As service professionals, we understand that people can be downright mean and disrespectful. They can be intolerant, dismissive, and unwilling to take personal responsibility.

The Good Stuff

I told him, “While that’s true, I also have to say that on a daily basis, we encounter plenty of good people. Kind people. People who recognize and appreciate what we do to keep everything circulating and safe. The problem is when we fail to recognize this, when we only remember and recognize the unpleasant contacts, it can make our work life so much less fulfilling.” For the rest of the drive, we shared positive, sometimes funny, stories about people we had each encountered over the years. Time flew.

Two hours later, we arrived at my destination. Vincent got out of the car and placed my bags on the curb. He shook my hand again. “Ms. Campbell, this trip has been the highlight of my week. I can’t entirely put my finger on why, but I feel happi­er—and that was a long drive! Thanks for that.”

That’s karma, Vincent.

A chance encounter presented the opportunity to extend a positive attitude, or karma, toward another person in hopes that he would return the favor. On this day, my effort was not in vain.

The reality is that I could have missed out on an amazing human encounter had I not caught myself and adjusted my attitude. We can be our own worst enemy when it comes to dealing with the bad attitudes hurled our way. When we choose to extend the proverbial olive branch to others—even when they don’t seem to deserve it—we sometimes have the ability to turn a negative encounter into something special.

Read the article here.

CINDY CAMPBELL is IPMI’s senior training and development specialist. She is available for onsite training and professional development and can be reached at campbell@parking-mobility.org.

 

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Moving Ahead in Los Angeles

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UCLA Transportation moves its campus into the next century

By Karen Hallisey and Michael Sommers

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (UCLA) celebrates its centennial this year, 19-08 Moving Ahead Pg1and while its mis­sion of education, research, and service has stayed the same, the university’s parking and mobility needs have shifted significantly during the past century.
When ground broke on the UCLA campus in 1919, the surrounding area was rural and sparsely populated. That’s not true anymore. UCLA is now situated in the second largest city in America, bordered by three of the busiest streets in the metro area and close to some of the most congested freeways in the nation. And with an infamous car culture that has long dominated mobility in the region, emissions have greatly affected air quality in the LA basin and beyond.

Things began to change when the Olympic Games came to Los Angeles in 1984. With UCLA designated as an Olym­pic Village and hosting several key events, UCLA Trans­portation launched a modest commuter vanpool program in an attempt to proactively counter the anticipated traffic congestion during the games. But as the games came to an end, the university’s sustainable transportation program was just beginning.

Now, 35 years later, thousands of commuters across the campus participate in UCLA Trans­portation’s subsidized vanpool, carpool, public transit, bike, and walk programs. By making a deliberate shift away from simply providing access to parking on the campus to investing in more mobility and sustainable transpor­tation options for staff, faculty, and students, UCLA has become an example of how best to address serious traffic and air quality issues while providing convenient and economic alternative modes of transportation to its customers. In doing so, the department’s efforts have earned recognition from the International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI) as an Accredited Parking Organization with Distinction for its robust programs and services.

Work Hard, Commute Easy
UCLA Transportation is charged with getting commuters out of their cars and into more sustainable transportation modes to ease traffic and decrease the university’s overall carbon footprint. Despite 85,000 students, employees, and visitors on its campus each day, the UCLA employee drive-alone rate has dropped below 50 percent for the first time. And with its commuting student drive-alone rate at just 23 percent, the combined drive-alone rate at UCLA is now just less than 37 percent. Compared to LA County’s commuter drive-alone rate at 76 percent, one has to ask— how did UCLA do it?

UCLA Transportation consistently rolls out programs that are cost-effective, convenient, and accessible. Find­ing a better way to UCLA starts with smart and sustain­able commute options; the department recently launched a new online trip planning tool to help commuters explore their best routes to the university, be it by vanpool, public transit, carpool, biking, or walking.

Ride-sharing
For commuters coming from more than 15 miles away, the UCLA vanpool program is often a lifesaver as it provides a reliable means of transportation at an affordable monthly rate. Vanpool riders avoid directly battling LA traffic by relaxing in a deluxe passenger van. Currently, UCLA has 147 vanpools serving 80 Southern California communi­ties; they come to campus each weekday from as far as 70 miles away. Carpooling is also an attractive option for both employees and students, offering discounted parking permits with the convenience of having a car on campus when needed.

In 2018, UCLA Transportation negotiated with Lyft and Uber to offer the campus community discounted flat-rate fares for short-range shared rides to encour­age carpooling to and from campus. The promotion, which came at no cost to the university, matched rid­ers going in the same direction and charged a flat rate within a five-mile radius of UCLA.

Public Transit
Although public transit ridership has declined in LA County—it’s currently at the lowest level in more than a decade—transit use has increased at UCLA. With seven transit agencies serving the campus, including local and commuter lines, UCLA subsidizes transit use for its students and employees. To encourage ridership, UCLA Transportation offers the Bruin Commuter Transit Benefit Program, which provides a free transit pass for an entire academic quarter to those who are new to transit and wish to try it. Thousands of eligible students and employees have joined the award-win­ning program and opted out of parking permits, making it one of UCLA Transportation’s most successful pro­grams and increasing the university’s overall transit use by 5 percent.

Active Transportation Options
As more people invest in health and fitness, UCLA Transportation continues to promote active transpor­tation commute options such as biking and walking by launching innovative programs and enhancing the university’s built environment. Enhanced crosswalks, narrower streets, and slower speed limits on campus
UCLA Transportation also has an Earn-A-Bike program, encouraging eligible employees and graduate students to turn in their parking permits for two years in exchange for a free bike and accessories package. The program currently has more than 300 participants and continues to grow.

play a significant role in keeping active transportation users safe from vehicle traffic.
UCLA has more than seven miles of bike routes, hundreds of accessible bike racks and lockers, an af­fordable bike-share system, and a bike shop located on its central campus. This year, more than a half-mile of green designated bike lanes were installed on campus roadways in an attempt to keep cyclists and other com­muters visible to motorists while keeping sidewalks clear for pedestrians.

UCLA Transportation also has an Earn-A-Bike program, encouraging eligible employees and graduate students to turn in their parking permits for two years in exchange for a free bike and accessories package. The program currently has more than 300 participants and continues to grow.

For its efforts, UCLA was designated a Bicycle Friendly University twice by the League of American Bicyclists, receiving bronze status in 2011 and upgrad­ed silver status in 2015. And with more than 3,000 bicyclists now arriving to campus each day, the bike community at UCLA has more than doubled in the past decade.

Bruin Commuter Club
Sustainable commuting takes commitment, and UCLA Transportation rewards its commuters with incen­tives and benefits through its Bruin Commuter Club (BCC). BCC members receive commuter rewards from LA County Metro, emergency ride home services, and discounted daily parking privileges for those occasions when they need to drive to campus. Those who bike or walk to campus also receive additional mode-specific benefits through BCC. Additionally, members can now take advantage of both bike and transit benefits concur­rently to encourage multi-modal sustainable commuting. In 2018, BCC had approximately 7,100 members.

The UCLA Transportation Team

There’s much to admire about UCLA Transportation’s success. Besides its notably low drive-alone rate, UCLA recently recorded its highest average vehicle ridership on record and has no student waitlist for parking spaces, despite UCLA having the highest undergraduate enroll­ment in the UC system. Of course, no strong transportation program is possi­ble without a strong team. UCLA Transportation, which is financially self-supported and receives no funding from the UC system, employs more than 200 full-time
staff members and approximately 300 part-time stu­dent employees. Because so much of the transportation business is customer-service based, education and professional development within the organization is encouraged through involvement in industry-related organizations, certificate programs, workshops, and continued learning opportunities within the department and through university training programs. In coopera­
tion with UCLA administration, UCLA Transportation recently launched beginner computer training courses aimed at frontline employees. This new program, which starts with a skills assessment and includes every­thing from typing to basic Microsoft Excel and Word overviews, gives employees an opportunity to train for higher-level positions or gain skills to help them better navigate the digital world.

Many employees on the department’s frontline cus­tomer service team are undergraduate students who work as hospital valets, parking attendants, and event support, enforcement, and operations staff. Some of these positions offer the best pay on campus for students and provide flexible work schedules to avoid conflicts with their coursework and other school activities.

Because student employees are often the first point of contact when guests arrive on campus for performances and sporting events, rigorous customer service training is key. Along with taking part in professional development, many students are groomed for supervisory roles, which build valuable leadership skills for life beyond their UCLA experience. UCLA Transportation also works with the campus Career Center to aid student employees in translating their job skills into experiences that will im­press future employers.

At UCLA Transportation, employee recognition ex­tends to everyone in the organization. Individual contribu­tions are honored through various awards, as well as em­ployee of the month and year designations. Twice a year, the department hosts employee celebrations as a way to thank the entire team for its commitment and hard work.

Along with taking part in professional development, many students are groomed for supervisory roles, which build valuable leadership skills for life beyond their UCLA experience.

Moving Forward

What’s next for UCLA as it embarks on its second century? UCLA Transporta­tion’s road map for the coming years includes implementing more sustainable transportation initiatives that provide its customers what they want. With trends indicating a greater shift toward more multi-modal commuting, UCLA Transportation will give commuters the flexibility to choose sustainable trans­portation while still providing parking on campus when they need it. Bruin ePermit, the university’s new virtual parking permit system using license plate recognition, will eventually give commuters the option to participate in sustain­able transportation programs while still having access to parking on campus.

And just as the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles heralded the intro­duction of UCLA Vanpool, the 2028 games planned for LA will lead to new in­novations in transportation demand management at UCLA, beginning with the Metro Purple Line subway extension, which will be completed and operational in Westwood Village by 2027.

Due to UCLA Transportation’s commitment, sustainable transportation at UCLA is no longer the alternative choice—it’s now the preferred choice. In fact, UCLA Transportation recently integrated its Parking Services Unit with its Commuter Services Unit to form “Commuter & Parking Services,” reflecting the changing times. As the university enters its second century, UCLA Trans­portation will remain an innovator and leader in providing sustainable trans­portation options that support the campus community and surrounding area, making daily life better for Bruins and all Angelenos.

Read the article here.

KAREN HALLISEY is senior communications analyst with UCLA Transportation. She can be reached at khallisey@ts.ucla.edu.

MICHAEL SOMMERS is senior marketing analyst with UCLA Transportation. He can be reached at tsommers@ts.ucla.edu

 

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Technology, Transportation & Mobility

The Future of Mobility

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By Kelsey Owens

CITIES ARE EVOLVING faster than ever before. Populations are getting denser, congestion is increasing, and new modes of transportation are being intro­duced, bringing tremendous opportunities and challenges. With the increasing rate of innovation, what will cities look like five, 10, or 20 years down the road?

The future is unknown, but that can’t stop park­ing and transportation leaders from taking action now. To prepare for the future, cities need to create a digital transportation infrastructure, focus on the customer journey, and develop dynamic pricing mod­els to influence behaviors in order to create fair and equitable solutions.

Building a Digital Infrastructure

Since the introduction of cars, cities have adapted their physical infrastructure to support these vehicles. Roads, sidewalks, curbs, stop signs, traffic lights, me­dians, crosswalks, street signs, and parking meters all require physical changes to improve the way vehicles and people move around a city.

Most city solutions have been focused on hardware and physical infrastructure, but with the growth of technology, the focus is shifting to software and tech solutions. A decade ago, U.S. cities began to imple­ment mobile pay-for-parking apps to supplement parking meters and provide a digital way to pay. Now, some cities are removing meters altogether in favor of a mobile-only solution.

As the world becomes more digital, transportation leaders should consider changing their city infrastruc­ture at a digital level. To determine if a parking space is full, cities can develop predictive availability models based on historical data and trends. Instead of impos­ing scooter caps or medallion-like permits, cities can implement a digital solution to manage scooter distri­bution across their city. A solid digital foundation can help create a more connected mobility ecosystem. This allows cities to more flexibly adopt new innova­tions and gives them control over what technologies are implemented to best serve citizens’ needs.

User-oriented Transportation Solutions

With many possibilities for getting around, citizens can use multiple modes of transportation to get from point A to point B, but they have to manage each mode separately. Agencies are recogniz­ing this trend and shifting from mode-oriented to ­user-oriented services.

One example is Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation and Public Works in Florida, which was created to embrace mobility management and improve the transportation experience for citizens. More cities are considering a similar approach as they understand that when parking, transit, and micro-­mobility are managed collectively, leaders can make better decisions for positive city outcomes.

We’re also seeing a focus on the user journey for first- and last-mile solutions. In 2018, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) began a partnership with Lyft to offer subsi­dized rides for users of the CATSPass app. Passengers who originate or terminate a trip at specific locations receive a contribution toward their Lyft fares. With this partnership, CATS increased public transit use by providing options to use multiple forms of transportation in a single journey.

Influencing Behaviors through Pricing

Dynamic, progressive, and congestion pricing are hot topics in the mobility industry. Some agencies have implemented pricing models, such as the San Francisco Bay Bridge in Cali­fornia, which charges a higher toll during rush hour to reduce bridge traffic, and the Long Island Rail Road in New York, which charges higher fares at peak times. Some cities, such as Boston, Mass., and Chicago, Ill., have tried dynamic pricing models for on-street parking.

Price can be a motivating factor for consumers, influenc­ing behaviors to achieve desired outcomes. By raising park­ing prices in a downtown area and reducing them outside the city center, people are more inclined to park farther away and find a secondary method of transportation to get to their final destinations. This can lessen circling for parking—a leading cause of city congestion.

The idea of dynamic pricing is going beyond tolls and car parking and is being applied to micro-mobility. The cities of Charlotte, N.C.; Detroit, Mich.; and Omaha, Neb., are in the midst of a six-month pilot program to test pricing models for scooter parking to make them more accessible and decrease sidewalk congestion.

Our industry is at a critical point, with unlimited op­portunities, but many unknowns lie ahead. Transportation leaders need to think proactively about how to create sys­tems today that can be adapted easily as new modes and challenges arise.

Read the article here.

KELSEY OWENS is director of municipal sales at Passport and a member of IPMI’s Technology Committee. She can be reached at kelsey.owens@passportinc.com.

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Thoughtful Management: A county’s division of parking management shines in the close-in suburbs of Washington, D.C.

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By Sindhu Rao

IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD., the Department of Transportation’s (MCDOT) Division of Parking Management has served the parking lot districts (PLDs) of the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Bethesda, Silver Spring, and Wheaton for more than 60 years with thoughtful parking management techniques.

Charged with addressing on- and off-street parking needs while supporting economic and transportation-­related initiatives, the PLDs con­tinually implement new parking management and operations solutions to enhance the competitiveness of these traditional and urban environments. The PLDs receive no direct government subsidies and are responsible for generating sufficient revenue to cover capital, operational, and debt service costs. Additionally, a certain amount of PLD funds are transferred to the county for the promotion of tran­sit benefits, streetscape and lighting improvements, and other public amenities.

Organizational Structure

MCDOT’s Division of Parking Management is respon­sible for the administration of the county’s three PLDs. The division’s mission is to promote economic growth by offering sufficient parking, encouraging efficient transportation mode choice through a careful balance of parking rates and supply, and developing parking management strategies to maximize the usage of avail­able parking.

The PLDs are a single administrative entity, giving it full control over on- and off-street parking manage­ment, regulatory and compliance coordination, and customer service. As an enterprise fund, the PLDs must generate enough revenue on an ongoing basis to not only be self-sufficient, but also to transfer millions of dollars to transit funds, urban districts, and the county’s general reserve every year.

The division governance structure is organized into four sectional units: administrative management, financial management, engineering and capital project management, and parking operations. Their roles are divvied up in the following ways:

  • The administrative management section manages the planning, information technology, and customer and administration services staff to optimize organi­zational effectiveness. The section plans for the stra­tegic redevelopment of PLD real property. The plan­ning team leads the division’s innovation initiatives and plans for growth in the PLDs through short-term demand studies and long-term strategic plans.
  • The financial management section has overall responsibility for recording and reconciling all revenue, the management of the encumbrance and invoice payment process, the revenue bond debt, and budget. In 2018, the section was responsible for man­aging program-wide revenue of nearly $38 million.
  • The engineering and capital project management sec­tion provides engineering and project management for the design and construction of new parking facilities. The program ensures the preservation and structural integrity of existing parking facilities. It also provides services such as snow and ice removal; housekeeping services; equipment maintenance for elevators, elec­trical, and HVAC systems; and groundskeeping care.
  • The parking operations section is responsible for collecting and processing parking revenue from the many methods of payment offered by the division. It is also responsible for managing the parking citation database, providing onsite security, and overseeing the appeal process for parking tickets.

Biennial Customer Service Survey

As bounded by Montgomery County government bylaws, the Division of Parking Management is required to conduct a park­ing customer service survey every two years to gauge custom­ers’ perception of the public parking system’s performance. The division hires a consultant to administer the survey, ensuring it is completed in an independent manner. The survey targets two subgroups—permit holders and visitors—and offers those customers an opportunity to provide feedback on a wide range of parking issues. The survey results are used by MCDOT staff to measure the division’s performance. In the most recent sur­vey, visitors and permit holders gave their highest marks to the conditions of facilities, safety and security, and convenience to destination. Overall satisfaction with the PLD’s facilities was high, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.

Recent Accomplishments and Initiatives

The county recently became one of the first jurisdictions in the U.S. to partner with two mobile payment vendors. The two-vendor mobile payment system was phased in during six months and is now available at more than 10,000 meters throughout the county. By offering two choices, MCDOT is providing greater flexibility and convenience for parkers.

Another technology adopted by the division is a digital parking guidance system, which offers ­real-time message signs outside and inside garages to direct people to available parking. This information is published to websites and mobile applica­tions as well. The division’s electric vehicle (EV) infrastruc­ture overview plan addresses the need and pathway for install­ing electric-vehicle charging stations in PLD facilities. To date, 16 charging stations that can serve 32 vehicles system-wide are operational with plans to install additional stations.

Another positive change the division made in its parking operations is an upgraded lighting system in each of the di­vision’s 20 garages. The new high-output lamps are not only brighter but have saved the division around 20 percent in ­energy-related expenditures per facility.

Finally, with its partnership with Zipcar, the division has been a leader in promoting the usage of car-share. The division has more than 30 car-share spaces in a mixture of lots, garag­es, and on-street. To promote the visibility of car-share and encourage MCDOT’s alternative transportation objectives, the division has located the on-street car-share spaces near vibrant retail centers.

Additional initiatives implemented recently include a new residential permit program using mobile license plate rec­ognition (LPR) enforcement, modernization of four parking facilities from single-space parking meters to master meters, a variable parking policy program, a dynamic parking map embedded on the county’s website, the county’s first “cy­cle-track” bike lane, and revamping the Ad Valorem tax pro­gram that helps fund the PLDs.

To support the general tax base and improve pedestrian experience, the division has repositioned land by developing three surface lots into mixed-use centers. As part of a pub­lic-private partnership, the division transformed an existing 200-space parking lot in downtown Bethesda into a 950-space subterranean parking garage with first-floor retail and a multi-story residential building above. The publicly owned and operated garage was needed to release pressure off a nearby garage that frequently operated at capacity during peak hours. The project included wider sidewalk space, a pedestrian cut-through connection to an adjacent trail, a public plaza, restau­rants, and the addition of hundreds of residents within a short walk of a transit station.

Two other public-private partnerships are currently un­derway. In Wheaton, the division is redeveloping a 160-space parking lot; by 2020, it will have been converted into a 400-space underground garage with first floor retail, a town square, and a 310,000-square-foot office building above. And in Silver Spring, construction recently wrapped up on a 162-space underground public parking garage with a residential tower above and associated plaza on what was formerly the site of a county parking lot. Beyond these projects, the division is in var­ious planning stages for the future redevelopment of additional PLD lots and garages.

Dual Vendor Mobile Payment System

Mobile payment technology is a win-win. For customers, it is a convenient cashless solution. For parking management agencies, it requires little financial investment or continual operating costs. As the second largest jurisdiction in the Washington met­ropolitan area, Montgomery County has a significant demand for parking from employees, residents, and visitors in its urban areas. In 2010, the division introduced a mobile payment solution to its payment ecosystem. The division partnered with MobileNOW, and success followed immediately with high adoption rates. To­day, the program processes more than 150,000 parking sessions monthly and has generated over $30 million in revenue since its inception.

To build on this success, the county explored solutions to fur­ther increase mobile payment use for several reasons. First, mo­bile payment systems have minimal infrastructure requirements and limited ongoing operational costs and lack credit card pro­cessing fees. Benefits flow to customers too, including the ability to conveniently pay for parking, receive a text message when parking time is close to expiring, extend the parking session remotely, pay for only time parked, and track personal parking activity.

Second, the county serves a cross-jurisdictional consumer base. A substantial portion of MCDOT’s parking facility users come from outside the county. Consequently, these parkers are accustomed to using the mobile payment provider offered in their hometown, which may differ from Montgomery County’s. Wanting to avoid balancing multiple payment accounts, there’s a segment of the customer base that’s disinclined to register with the county’s vendor’s app. Therefore, to mitigate the downside of parkers eschewing mobile payment due to unfamiliarity with the county’s vendor, improving mobile payment access became a division priority.

Ultimately, the county decided to become one of the country’s first jurisdictions to provide customers with a choice of mobile payment vendors. The county wanted to capitalize on the op­portunity to nudge customers in the mobile payment direction. The county issued a request for proposals in early 2017, and following the bidding process partnered with its existing vendor, MobileNOW, and a new vendor with a well-estab­lished presence in the Washington, D.C.-area market, ParkMobile.

Prior to the rollout, a few issues needed resolution. For example, the county needed to get both vendors on board with a sign package. To keep sign clutter to a minimum, it was apparent that both vendors’ branding would have to be integrated into the same signs. The county spearheaded the design process, contracted with a local graphic designer, and developed instruc­tional signage to be installed in visibly prominent loca­tions within garages. Both vendors provided feedback during the design process and approved final drawings. The result was a cohesive sign package that reduced visual clutter in parking facilities.

Another issue impeding a smooth deployment was enforcement complications. The county was challenged with integrating both vendors’ parking en­forcement technology into a single software platform. MCDOT collaborated with the vendors’ IT teams for workable solutions, and the county’s enforcement of­ficers are now able to view transaction data from each vendor on their handheld devices in real time.

Decals on meters inform customers of the mobile payment option. However, relinquishing space on me­ter heads exclusively to vendor decals could have nega­tive future consequences if either vendor folded or did not meet contractual obligations. To work around this potential problem, the county configured a consistent meter layout with four distinct decals:

  • MobileNOW’s decal displaying a QR code and space number.
  • ParkMobile’s decal displaying a QR code and space number.
  • A Montgomery County decal displaying the space number.
  • A Montgomery County decal displaying a URL address directing patrons to the county’s website with mobile payment instructions.

This approach eases the transition if the partner­ship with one of the vendors were to end. That com­pany’s decal could be removed or replaced without disrupting the mobile payment program.

By late 2017, the county began an incremental launch. A phased approach was adopted as staff was tasked with installing the four decals on more than 10,000 meters throughout the PLDs. By mid-2018 the launch was complete with 10 garages, 20 lots, and more than 2,300 on-street meters in the PLDs outfitted with dual vendor mobile payment capability. The county plans to expand the program to additional facilities, including pay-by-space environments.

Program Outcomes

Due to the widespread diffusion of mobile technol­ogy, consumers have come to expect convenience in many aspects of their lives. While the county has modernized the payment systems in several facilities, budgetary realities have prevented the county from modernizing the entire parking system. This has given rise to frustrated customers. Paying for parking with coins is a common pain point. Indeed, the dual vendor mobile payment system has provided MCDOT and its customers with tangible benefits and improved expe­rience. For MCDOT, the system has proven powerful because it does not require new equipment or main­tenance costs. For customers, it has aligned with the convenience that technology has brought elsewhere in their lives.

The county has access to a comprehensive web-based collection of reports from both vendors, enabling analyses of mobile payment activities. To benchmark success of the program, the county tracked mobile pay­ment sessions and revenue per facility in the months leading up to the dual-vendor implementation and tracked sessions and revenue post-implementation. Since implementation of the dual vendor system, year-over-year total parking sessions increased over 20 per­cent and revenue by $1.3 million.

MCDOT plans to expand the dual vendor mobile payment system to additional parking facilities. The system is currently only available in facilities operated by single-space meters and pay-and-display environ­ments. The county anticipates rolling out the dual ven­dor system in its pay-by-space garages and lots soon. With this impending expansion, MCDOT will reap further benefits, and greater convenience will flow to additional county parkers.

Read the article here.

SINDHU RAO is IT specialist III in the Division of Parking Management of the Montgomery Department of Transportation. She can be reached at sindhu.rao@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Sustainability, Technology

Leading Mobility

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By Bridgette Brady, CAPP

MOBILITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN a part of our lives. Howev­er, the recent and swift evolution of interconnectivity, mobility-as-a-service, curb management, and so many other holistic approaches to transforming the facilita­tion of movement means the industry needs to pause and understand its foundation. As with any paradigm shift, understanding what we know now—the foundation of existing ­conditions—is critical.

At its core, mobility is about people, not a marketplace for mobility goods. Of course, the market provides the options in which to serve various mobility needs, but it is paramount we remember the human element belongs at the beginning of the process as we visualize mobility impacts.

Mobility Leaders

If mobility is about people, it is also about the need for strong, adaptable leaders at every level. In a recent constructive and in-depth conversation with a cus­tomer base group, I was enlightened by a comment. A very astute individual with a distinctly different background in infor­mation science remarked that it appeared that our jobs as leaders in the mobility space isn’t as much about vehicles or the reductions thereof, but rather about change management.

What does the leader of mobility change look like to both internal and ex­ternal customers? How does this leader help the foundation of mobility—people—maneuver the swiftly evolving changes of opportunities and challenges in their needs to get where they want or need to be? Here are a few ideas:

  • Use data-driven processes to quantify the benefits and opportunities that will occur with the implementation of new mobility initiatives.
  • Use case studies as examples to identi­fy the intended outcomes and change associated with new mobility invest­ments, identifying relatable real-world examples.
  • Use open and continuous communi­cation to support change by helping people along at their pace, which will help them adapt more naturally.

 

Leading Change

Change-capable leadership requires the ability to influence and enthuse, in addi­tion to the ability to make knowledge­able, data-based, and strategic decisions. It isn’t surprising that communication is at the top of the list of essentials to be­ing a successful leader of change. A few opportunities for communication in the change-management realm:

  • Internal program workshops to discuss the intentions of changing mobility and how to educate customers and end users.
  • Community-driven outreach focused at educating users how mobility deci­sions can improve commute, access, and movement.
  • On-the-ground conversations aimed at promoting use of alternate mobil­ity options and enabling better daily decision-making.

What is different from strictly strate­gic leadership is not only explaining the “what” but also explaining the “why.” Collaboration in many forms is necessary, most importantly with engaging employ­ees early in the decision-making process. Change-capable leaders will need the courage to commit to the “why” and perhaps stretch outside of their comfort zones.

Getting There

IPMI has a wonderful start on developing leaders in the industry with its Leader­ship Summit and various trainings aimed at developing the leaders of tomorrow’s parking and mobility industry. The as­sociation has also been arming leaders with knowledge and resources from the formation of the organization. A few examples of IPMI’s industry-leading resources include:

  • “A Guide to Parking,” the first textbook for the parking and transportation industry, which provides the foundation for greater mobility research (parking-mobility.org/textbook).
  • Cutting-edge education on trends and tech that are trans­forming and disrupting the industry, including specific resources and best practices shaping curb management (­parking-mobility.org/education).
  • Unique partnerships designed to expand and grow our shared knowledge and expertise, such as our relationships with the Alliance for Parking Data Standards, the U.S. Green Building Council, the Transportation Research Board, and multiple uni­versity relationships, to foster new research.

 

Resources

After much conversation with IPMI’s strategic partners about preparing for the future, it’s clear that a resounding understand­ing that reliance on research and reputable resources must be a foundation to advance the profession. As industry leaders in parking, transportation, and mobility, it’s incumbent upon us to help drive change in a meaningful way, using our understand­ing of parking and mobility to help our customers, employees, and colleagues make decisions that improve their lives and the environment around them. As change leaders, we should be prepared to:

  1. Lead by example, making decisions related to the intersection between parking and mobility that influence a better tomor­row and promote a more balanced transportation system.
  2. Focus on the people who are influenced by mobility decisions and help them understand the importance of change and the positive benefits of their decisions.
  3. Use data and real information to define change and influence decision-making.
  4. Create strong and open communication plans to help educate our constituents and promote change.
  5. Lean on IPMI to help develop supportive research and metrics to drive change and support industry growth.

 

Read the article here.

BRIDGETTE BRADY, CAPP, is senior director of transportation and delivery services at Cornell University and co-chair of the IPMI Research Committee. She can be reached at bb635@cornell.edu.

 

Outreach and Media Relations, Parking & Mobility Article, Research, Resources, Sustainability, Technology, Transportation & Mobility

Eyes on the Trends

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By Brian Shaw, CAPP

AS MOBILITY PROFESSIONALS, we have to try to stay aware of trends in our industry. Most of us were caught off guard with the advent of transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft and the impact they have had on curb space, traditional taxis, car-sharing, transit usage, parking demand, and traffic. What could be coming next that will affect our profession and industry? I will attempt to make some predictions, and I will be interested to see how right or wrong I am in the coming years.

Electrification of Transit Fleets

Batteries continue to get better. Consistent range, per­formance, and safety have made moving bus transit to an electric platform feasible, viable, and cost-effective. China has led the way in this trend, and North Amer­ican transit properties, universities, and airports have begun to transition their bus fleets to electric. Bus manufacturers have emerged who specialize in elec­tric buses while also collaborating with traditional bus companies on conversions.

EV Charging?

Many of us have installed electric-vehi­cle (EV) charging stations in our facil­ities. This may be due to a code require­ment or as a way to attract EV owners to park in our facilities. But the range for EVs has dramatically improved; some EVs can go 100, 200, or more miles on a charge. Is EV charging still needed at worksites as battery range im­proves? Should EV charging be done at home, and should EV charging be free? Should fast or slow chargers be the option?

Transportation Network Companies

Is the growing use of Lyft and Uber a prelude to how life will be with autonomous vehicles (AVs)? Will we own cars in the future and need to park them? How should our facilities be designed and what features do they need if the vehicles can park them­selves? For now, it may be prudent to develop staging areas for TNCs.

Pickup/Drop-off Curb Space

Given the increasing use of TNCs and the likely future advent of autonomous vehicles, our built environments will need to develop new design standards and op­erational use criteria to make the best use of limited curb space. Perhaps when parking demand declines, the curb space issue will be addressed by having fewer curbs in use for parking. At least for the foreseeable future, curb use and availability will remain a challenge.

Technology Instead of Travel

In more urban and suburban areas, this could lead to a growing need for short-term loading zones to accom­modate delivery activities. Commuters may commute less or to various remote locations to facilitate remote working/working from home, reducing demand for monthly permits and parking and increasing need for daily permits. Meetings may take place online with improving video conferencing, reducing mid-day trips and parking demand. Why go to the theater if you can see the next Oscar winner from home? If your dinner can be easily delivered from your favorite restaurant, why go out? This trend should reduce retail parking demand, but it will increase demand for curb and loading areas, particularly in urban settings.

Microtransit

Will microtransit services reduce parking demand? Are they shifting trips from transit or using a personal bike? Are these inducing travel by making it easier and faster to travel short distances? Dockless electric scooters are making inroads in some cities and are becoming more regulated. Perhaps converting or adding dockless device parking where bike parking is located is prudent. It remains to be seen if these microtransit services will be profitable and worth incorporating into planning processes. When mobility-as-a-service becomes possible, microtransit should have a place in travel planning and seamless paying.

LPR and Gateless Parking

Can parking garages and lots be operated with license plate recognition (LPR)-based payment and enforcement exclusively?

Have we seen the end of parking meters, pay stations, and gate arms? Can parking be factored into emerging mobility-as-a-service solutions via LPR? When parking facilities become staging areas for TNCs and/or autonomous vehicles, automated vehicle detection and payments will be needed. While vehicles could be equipped with a device like an E-ZPass, all vehicles have a license plate that is valid everywhere. Perhaps LPR

becomes a way for AVs to pay for parking/staging/charging at a parking facility. If that is the case, will gates and pay stations be necessary? Until cash is gone and humans no longer drive and park, parking equipment should continue to be useful. However, the day is coming when barrier-free, LPR-based parking payment and enforcement will be the norm.

Amplification of Transportation

Is it possible to crack the challenge of real-time ride-sharing—trip, location, and time? Is this service best accomplished with TNCs and ride-matching apps versus dedicated vehicles and routes? When AVs can carry larger passenger loads, perhaps services such as Chariot and RidePal will be economically viable. Until then, daily ride-matching apps seem to have found a viable place. Combining daily ride-matching with LPR-based parking management should allow use of preferred carpool parking and sharing commuting costs for daily carpools. Transit agencies have begun considering using TNCs to provide on-demand trans­portation, particularly for lightly used routes or during off-peak service hours. Arguably, TNCs can be a more cost-effective way to provide needed transportation when ridership loads are low.

Adaptive Reuse

Under what conditions does it make sense to pay the extra upfront costs for adaptive reuse (see p. 36 of the May 2019 issue for more)? Depending on the location of the facility, age, design, and ownership, it may or may not make financial sense to build a parking facility to accommodate an autonomous vehicle future. Can the property be redeveloped? If so, perhaps when parking demand declines to the point where a garage is no longer needed, it may be best to redevelop the property.

A growing aspect of our roles as parking and mobility professionals is to stay aware and informed of these and oth­er trends and advances in our profession. In some cases, our best approach is to wait and see how the trend plays out.

Read the article here.

BRIAN SHAW, CAPP, is executive director of parking and transportation at Stanford University, and co-chair of the IPMI Sustainability Committee. He can be reached at bshaw2@stanford.edu