CURBSIDE MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS PLANNING MANAGER
District Department of Transportation, Washington, DC

Benito O. Pérez, AICP CTP, CPM, has been advancing curbside management in the nation’s capital and throughout the industry for the past five years. Pérez has been curbside management operations planning manager for the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in Washington, DC, since January 2018. Before that, he was curbside management operations planner.

In his early days of curbside management, Pérez helped structure and build out a framework and culture on data-driven, performance-based, and context-sensitive curbside management planning for operations. That involved creating a curbside analyst internship program with DDOT’s Parking and Ground Transportation Division (PGTD).

Pérez is leading the scoping and rollout of next-generation, regionally holistic, curbside asset management solutions such as digital curbside permit management, mobility wallet/payment and data aggregator, and comprehensive curbside asset management services. He was also instrumental in crafting DDOT’s Parking Services Industry Day, which showcases innovations to regional curbside managers and the public. He’s also been involved with analysis and community advocacy work with the Penn Quarter/Chinatown Multimodal Value Pricing Project and recalibrating the Stadium Event Performance Pricing Zone from fixed rate event pricing toward customer- and enforcement-friendly progressive duration pricing.

He has been involved in the design, rollout, and communication of the District’s Pick-up/Drop-off Zone program since 2017 and revamped the accessible meter parking program toward a more asset-light approach paired with rolling out pay-by-plate metering in the District.

Pérez is a noteworthy advocate in advancing and documenting the state of the practice in curbside management, presenting at the Transportation Research Board, Railvolution, American Planning Association, and the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

He started a regional dialogue on curbside management; it has regional implications and has garnered regional cooperation and collaboration in curbside management planning, operations, and procurement. Pérez has spent considerable time helping DDOT PGTD recalibrate its curbside management practice, which has included ensuring better curbside accessibility for mobility impaired and/or limited-English– proficient customers. That has led to publications such as “Parking 101,” the forthcoming consolidated ParkDC website, and a curbside mobility photoshoot to better visually document user experiences.