Tag Archives: transportation

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

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

June 25, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

June 26th, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flowbird US Media Contact

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

About Flowbird Group:

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

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

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

Authentic Concern and The Potential of Industry Technology Suppliers

June 25, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Brian Wolff

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

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

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

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

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

Brian Wolff is CEO of Parker Technology.

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

Balancing the Post-pandemic Budget

June 24, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Pamela Corbin, CAPP

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

Governmental parking systems typically fall into one of two categories:

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

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

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

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

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

Podcasts & Videos, Resources, Safety & Security, Sustainability, Transportation & Mobility

The Parking Podcast Episode E31: An Interview with Brian Wolff and a Conversation about Authentic Concern

June 23, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

Topic: Brian Wolff, CEO of Parker Technology, discusses leadership, parking technology and authentic concern.

Check it out here

https://www.parkingcast.com/

IPMI Blog, Resources

Planning in Unusual Times

June 23, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By L. Dennis Burns, CAPP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IPMI Blog, Resources

Is This Micro-mobility’s Moment?

June 22, 2020 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

A kick scooter on a city sidewalk Since COVID-19 lockdowns started in March, micro-mobility has struggled and several big players have either exited specific markets or left the field altogether. But with more people around the world heading back to work and wary of trains and buses, micro-mobility may be enjoying a big boom–and a chance to ingrain itself into city culture.

Several cities are reporting huge increases in the number of people using shared bikes and scooters, and at least one company is rolling out a leasing model, where a user would have a specific device to use for a monthly fee rather than hitting the dock or an app to claim one every day.

Key, some experts say, is avoiding monopolies, which left several cities’ riders stranded when companies collected their vehicles and left the markets during the pandemic.

Is this micro-mobility’s big moment? Read it here.

IPMI Blog, Resources, Safety & Security, Sustainability

Choose Kindness

June 19, 2020 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Kathleen Federici, MEd

I witnessed an act of kindness about three weeks ago that has stuck with me. Kindness is everywhere. Sometimes, the act is so small we don’t allow ourselves to acknowledge it. Sometimes, the act is so large, we can’t allow ourselves to forget it.

With our world in crisis, kindness matters now more than ever.

In a past job, I had a company car and was required to take a defensive driving course every year. Three weeks ago, I was driving along my one lane, no passing zone road that connects the three townships that make up my city and all of a sudden this driver flew up the Pike and got so close to my bumper, I was actually nervous. My kids were in the car, and I just kept thinking, what the heck is this person doing? Is he going to hit me? The car was on my bumper for about a half-mile, which seemed like forever. We came to a red light and the driver quickly maneuvered around my car into a left turn lane, jumped out of his car, and ran to the car in front of me. And I kept thinking, what the heck is going on?

Of course, I turned off my radio and clicked my window down so I could hear the exchange. It turned out the person in the car in front of me left her cell phone in the store she had just visited. The on-my-bumper driver was a store employee who saw her leave the phone on the counter. Evidently, he desperately tried to catch her attention but she got into her car and left too quickly. So he grabbed his keys and chased her down to return her phone. Now, don’t get me wrong, I would have been more comfortable with less of a movie-style car chase, but to go that far to bring a customer back their phone was not something I have never witnessed before. It left me with a good impression of customer service and going that extra mile. The customer and employee did not know each other.

Kindness.org has a mission to educate and inspire people to choose kindness. Their research team, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University, spent the past several months compiling a list of more than 1,000 acts of kindness. When COVID-19 brought our world to a halt, kindness.org saw an opportunity – and felt a responsibility – to investigate what kind acts are most effective now, in the middle of this crisis. The results are:

Wash your hands.
Take care of a family member who is sick.
Cover your mouth when you cough.
Make a donation to people hit especially hard by the economic shutdown.
Cook a nutritious and delicious meal to share with your family.
Buy groceries for someone.
Arrange video visits with elderly relatives.
Video call your parents, grandparents.
Get groceries and other essentials for a neighbor.
Tell a child what you’re proud of them for.

Let’s all work together to make the world a kinder place.

Kathleen Fedrici, MEd, is IPMI’s director of professional development.

IPMI Blog, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Return to Normalcy?

June 18, 2020 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By Josh Cantor, CAPP

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

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

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

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

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

Parksmart Advisor Training – October 22, 2020

Parksmart Advisor Training – October 20, 2020