Resource Search

Suicide in Parking Facilities: Deterrence, Response, and Recovery

July 12, 2019

Published May 2016 12-page publication, color, PDF Produced by the International Parking & Mobility Institute in collaboration with leading suicide experts. This publication is provided as an informative tool intended for use by organizations that design, manage, or operate parking garages as they consider the issue of suicide deterrence, response, Read More »

2020 Insider’s Guide to the International Parking & Mobility Institute

February 20, 2019

Download the full document to explore member benefits, member survey results, and more.

2018 Emerging Trends in Parking Survey Report

May 29, 2018

The 2018 Emerging Trends in Survey reveals that more than 60 percent of parking professionals surveyed now identify as “parking, transportation, and mobility professionals,” their jobs increasingly integral to design, management, and operations of parking that are part of the broader movement to ease traffic congestion and create more livable, Read More »

Forum, IPI’s New Online Community

April 5, 2018

Forum is an online community that gives members a powerful new way to access and share parking, transportation, and mobility-industry information and on-the-job experiences. IPI members can log in and join vibrant discussions, gain others’ perspectives on questions and challenges, access a robust, online library of member knowledge and resources, Read More »

Transportation, Mobility, and an Aging Population

January 16, 2018

Much has been researched and written about the need for housing and healthcare as the next generation ages. But there hasn’t been a lot said about that generation’s transportation needs and what they’ll need to get around, which is a huge part of aging comfortably. TransitCenter, a foundation dedicated to Read More »

What Do We Know About Technology in Parking?

September 28, 2017

During the past several years, the use of technology has accelerated in the parking and transportation industry. As the number of cars on our roads rises and cities struggle with congestion, diminishing space, and increasing concerns over air quality, parking technology evolves to deliver solutions. With these advances come new Read More »

BPA-IPI Technology Glossary for Parking Professionals (First Edition 2017)

September 21, 2017

IPI and British Parking Association’s Technology Glossary for Parking Professionals During the past several years, the use of technology has accelerated in the parking and transportation industry. With these advances come new terms and changes to some definitions of terms we thought we knew. This glossary will help you better Read More »

Sustainability Framework

May 8, 2017

Industry-wide goals and action items for sustainable parking solutions. Sustainability Framework 2017

At a Glance: Green vs. Greenwashed: A Reference for the Parking Industry

With the rise of consumer demand for environmentally (and socially conscious) products and services, companies promote the perception that an organization’s products, goals, or policies are environmentally friendly. This may occur without a true commitment to environmentally sustainable practices. “Green marketing” or “greenwashing” is defined as the practice of a Read More »

Ditching Drivers

January 1, 2017

Ditching Drivers By Jess McInerny, SE What parking professionals need to know now to prepare for a new world of driverless cars.  How will parking differ in the future? If you are investing right now, given 30 to 50 years of building use, what should you consider to improve the Read More »

A New System for Abu Dhabi

A New System for Abu Dhabi By Mohammed Al Muhairi and Tope Longe Managing the conflicting priorities of parking management. Parking pricing remains an important aspect of parking management. The need to set prices at a level that is effective for road space management and to redress the gap between parking Read More »

Profitable Pricing

Profitable Pricing By Saloni Firasta Vastani, PhD How new trends in pricing models can benefit the parking industry. Why is price so important? A study conducted by Hinterhuber in 2004 shows that a small increase in price can increase or decrease profitability by 20 to 50 percent. That seems like Read More »

Six Ways Hiring a Parking Consultant Can Save Time and Money, and Reduce Aggravation on Your Next Project

December 14, 2016

Whether you’re an architect, urban planner, or head of a parking department, getting advice from a parking consultant at the earliest stages of a project can really pay off. When people enter a city, university, hospital, airport, or any other large institution, what are their critical first and last impressions? Read More »

The Same, Only Different

October 27, 2016

by Clement Gibson, CAPP, and Adam Isen, CAPP How two cities approach meter modernization in different ways to get similar great results. Motor sports may not be the only thing Charlotte, N.C., and Indianapolis, Ind., have in common. Meter modernization has been happening in Charlotte since 2006, while Indy hit the Read More »

Smarter than the Average Detective

by Charlie Francis   How municipal parking finance professionals can catch parking bandits with data visualization.  I FIRST ENCOUNTERED the parking industry in the early 1970s as an entry-level accountant. I had to manually count the number of parked cars in each of Denver’s public parking lots between downtown and what Read More »

Rolling It

October 26, 2016

by Mark A. Vergenes Changing jobs? 401(k) rollovers come with lots of choices. Learn how to make the best ones.  If you’re changing jobs, you may be wondering what to do with your 401(k) plan account. No matter what stage you are in your career or how close you are Read More »

Boosting Intelligence

October 25, 2016

by Jason M. Jones An IPI task force takes on intelligent transportation systems and how they might work with parking, and members want your input.  As I write this, I’m heading off to the New York State Parking Association conference to see many old friends and hopefully meet a few Read More »

Facing the Sharks

by Kim Fernandez  Last year’s IPI Park Tank™ contestants say the competition was fierce but came with huge benefits to their fledgeling companies. ARE YOU READY TO JUMP INTO THE PARK TANK™? IPI launched its live game show, modeled after television’s “Shark Tank,” at the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo in Las Read More »

Myths Busted

by Thomas E. Curtis, CAPP Will autonomous vehicles really lead to the demise of the parking garage?  Parking garages will be obsolete by 2025 (2020 if you believe Uber CEO Travis Kalanick). Of course, the paperless office was hinted at in 1964 and predicted by 1975. Decades later, the use of Read More »

Taming More than Lions

October 24, 2016

by Bill Franklin, P.Eng. A new way of thinking about parking eliminates extreme road congestion at the Calgary Zoo. The Calgary Zoo had a really big problem: It was too popular. On warm, sunny days, excited children and accommodating parents filled family cars and SUVs in lines that stretched hundreds of Read More »

Getting Connected

by Chris Chettle, CAPP; Mike Drow, CAPP; and Peter Lange Connectivity is the exploding technology trend of 2016. Are you on board? Refrigerators that help you create a shopping list, cars that provide real-time pressure information for each tire, roads that talk to vehicles to inform drivers of current driving conditions, and watches Read More »

Emergency Preparedness Manual

October 6, 2016

Parking-specific guidance on developing an emergency response plan for natural disasters, criminal activity, and other risks. View the Emergency Preparedness Manual.

Pocket Guide to Transportation 2016 Smartphone App

August 19, 2016

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has introduced its most innovative product — a smartphone app for the Pocket Guide to Transportation 2016. The Pocket Guide is a popular, quick reference guide to significant transportation statistics. The new app allows users to take all the informative Read More »

What’s What in Parking Technology 2016, Third Edition

June 1, 2016

Glossary of nearly 100 parking technology terms and definitions, from Access Control to Yield Management. What’s What in Parking Technology, 2016

Parking Safety Matters PSA and Fact Sheet: Heatstroke

March 17, 2016

Combined public safety ad and fact sheet on preventing heatstroke deaths of children in parked cars. Get the fact sheet only.

How to Park: The Must-Read Manual for Teen Drivers

March 15, 2016

Tips for helping teenagers become safe drivers.  Designed for teens and their parents. How to Park

Don’t Forget the Kids

February 13, 2016

By Stasha Echols As we hit the middle of the year and temperatures start climbing, we have vacations and cookouts and summer fun on our minds. Along with the summer fun comes the summer heat, and with the summer heat come stories of children and pets being left in hot Read More »

National Guidelines A Green Idea

By Paul Wessel I was struck when reading “In Sickness and In Health,” Christina Onesirosan Martinez’s April Parking Matters® Blog (blog.parking.org) post, that Britain’s Department of Health had issued comprehensive parking guidelines. It’s hard to imagine the U.S. National Institutes of Health or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services doing Read More »

EVs Everywhere

By Sarah Olexsak When it comes to parking, employers and facility managers are working together to make plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging stations the next bike racks. Parking providers that offer charging to workplaces can have a competitive advantage when attracting clients in ­cutting-edge industries. Employers have long recognized that Read More »

Lots of Greening

By Brian McKelligett The city of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently completed an almost one-year renovation of its very popular and recently renamed Cox’s Landing 15th Street Boat Launch. This launch facility has long been popular with boaters thanks to its easy access to the ocean. The city estimates that more Read More »

Making a LEEP

By Michael Myer There’s no doubt about it: Parking facility lighting has come a long way in recent years, saving energy, money, and nearly countless resources. Thanks to a new campaign and awards program, it’s taking a giant LEEP and hopes to achieve more than 500 million square feet of Read More »

Modern Chauffeurs

By Soumya S. Dey, PE, PMP, and Stephanie Dock, AICP The parking industry has seen more changes in the last decade than it did in the preceding 60-plus years, since the first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City in 1935. Fundamental shifts are underway that can be categorized into Read More »

Not So New

By Isaiah Mouw, CAPP, LEED GA The first purpose-built garage was constructed in Chicago in 1898. Again in Chicago, the earliest recorded multilevel parking garage was built in 1918. Less than a year later, as World War I came to a close, downtown Louisville, Ky., welcomed its first parking facility: Read More »

Strategic Planning Sustainability at its Best

By Rick Decker, CAPP How do we incorporate sustainability into our parking operations and the strategic planning of our larger organizations? Frequently, budgeting and planning methods are already in place and can be difficult to influence. It appears a daunting task. Let me add some rays of hope. There are Read More »

Permits? What Permits?

By Alan M. Rucker and David Davitaia Nearly 25,000 daily parkers use lots and count on the Department of Transportation to provide an accurately enforced and cost-effective approach to parking at the University of Maryland, College Park. Decades ago, the backbone of that system was bumper stickers indicating lot assignment, Read More »

App Nation

By Mike Drow, CAPP, Peter Lange, and Blake Laufer, CAPP There’s an app for this and an app for that! Companies have Facebook pages so you can like them, and celebrities are Tweeting about any and all topics. And every person and business seems to have their own website. Trying Read More »

Sustainability and Parking

February 12, 2016

By Megan Leinart, LEED AP BD+C One of the most popular and likely heavily debated subjects in the parking industry is sustainability. The topic has been one to elicit a significant amount of interest and excitement in public gatherings and mediums, along with a certain level of skepticism in more Read More »

A First Taste of EMV

By James Maglothin, PE, PMP The liability shift for EMV payments has occurred. Owners and operators of paid parking facilities are either in the process of implementing EMV payment terminals or planning for the transition to an EMV solution. Guiding clients through the process has been both interesting and challenging. Read More »

Our Role in Ending Distracted Driving

February 11, 2016

By Patrick Wells Earlier this year, I co-chaired a large regional golf outing in Central Ohio. Our beneficiary was Dom Tiberi, a local sports broadcaster who lost his 21-year-old daughter to a distracted driving incident. I listened to the pain behind the situation and the alarming statistics: 20 to 30 Read More »

Artsy Parking

By Melonie Curry Despite being one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the nation, there’s one thing the City of Houston can’t get enough of: free parking. In Houston’s Warehouse District, streets fill rapidly with the vehicles of employees and university students, leaving area residents and business owners searching Read More »

A Win-Win on Two Wheels

By Craig Cotton and Stacy Stockard The cycle always repeated. Every August, fresh-faced students showed up to the Texas Tech University campus to begin their collegiate journeys, shiny new bicycles in tow. And at the end of every May, hundreds of bicycles littered the campus. Every bike rack had a Read More »

Bicycles Bicycles Bicycles

By Doug Holmes, CAPP There are thousands of bicycles on the Penn State University Park campus and thousands more in the adjacent Borough of State College. In fact, walksite.com recently ranked the Centre Region (State College area) as the ninth most bicycle-friendly location in the country, with a score of Read More »

The Lost Art Of Networking

By Bill Smith, APR Networking has always been a hallmark of successful businesses. But at many organizations today, it’s a lost art. I spoke with Whitney Taylor, president of Whitney Inc., a professional services firm based in Los Angeles that provides business development strategy, marketing/communications, PR/outreach, and government relations services. Read More »

2015 Emerging Trends in Parking

According to the results of a new survey by The International Parking Institute (IPI), technology and the desire for more livable, walkable, sustainable communities continue to transform the ever-evolving parking industry. In addition to tracking trends, IPI’s 2015 Emerging Trends in Parking survey explores perceptions of parking, zoning issues, accessible Read More »

It’s Chip Time – Are You Ready

By Randy Vanderhoof Merchants of all kinds are now fully immersed in the process of migrating to Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) chip-based payments, and the U.S. parking industry plays a large role in that transition. In many places, customers are already used to paying for parking with credit and debit Read More »

Extra Points

By Kim Fernandez If you’ve ever had your car valet parked in Spartanburg, S.C., and thought the guy behind the wheel—the one with the big smile and friendly greeting who hustled a little bit more than usual to get you where you were going—looked vaguely familiar, you probably saw him Read More »

Caitlyn Jenner and the Parking Workplace

By Leonard T. Bier, JD, CAPP The rights of same-sex partners have been legislated and tested in the courts on a state-by-state basis. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, definitively decided the issue of same-sex marriage for all of America, ruling that same-sex Read More »

Case Study Greening a Campus

By Mark Pace and J. Michael Whitcomb, PE Montgomery College in Maryland has incorporated ice thermal storage in its campus central plants as a summertime electrical demand management strategy since the early 1990s. Highly efficient rotary screw industrial chillers that use ammonia refrigerant (R717) operate at night when electrical demand Read More »

How to Speak Parking Matters (Spanish)

February 8, 2016

How to Speak Parking Matters (Spanish)

How to Speak Parking Matters

How To Speak Parking Matters

IPI’s Parking Matters Program Turns 5

January 27, 2016

By Michele Ostrove Anyone who has been in the parking industry for more than five years has witnessed some profound changes, but perhaps none more remarkable than the the way it is regarded by others. As the International Parking Institute’s (IPI’s) 2015 Emerging Trends in Parking survey recently confirmed, nearly Read More »

Saving Lives

By Larry J. Cohen, CAPP This is the story I never wanted to write. I have published many stories over the years but fought the urge to share my experiences on a topic we would hope to never encounter as parking professionals: dealing with a suicide from one of our Read More »

Solutions To Disabled Parking Placard Usage

By Mark Wright The 100-foot walk from a parked car to a building entrance is nothing for most people, but it is a slow slog for someone gripping a walker or crutches and shuffling forward a few inches at a time. The trip is not especially fun in a wheelchair, Read More »

A Bright Horizon

By Kim Fernandez A lot of people say I have the toughest job on campus,” says Princeton University’s director of transportation and parking services. “But I think I have the best job on campus because I get to interact with everybody.” Parking is definitely a people business as far as Read More »

What’s Love Got to Do with It

By Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR I once heard someone say that people long for the good old days and that for our children, these are the good old days. It’s true—most of us remember with great fondness our childhoods and the things we did to make those times special. Recently, Read More »

Not-So-Mysterious Millenials

By Joe Balskus, PE, PTOE It is often said that if you want to learn something, you must experience it. So I did something different while researching this article—something a millennial would do. I researched my topic totally online, including newspaper and magazine articles I would have searched for in Read More »

Big Analytics & Business Strategy

January 26, 2016

By Soumya S. Dey, P.E., PMP; Benito O. Pérez, AICP; and Cliff Wickstrum Big data is an evolving term that describes any voluminous amount of structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data that has the potential to be mined for valuable information. Although big data does not refer to any specific quantity, Read More »

Parking Management for Smart Growth

Rick Willson’s new book, Parking Management for Smart Growth, is a how-to guide on strategic management of parking to let communities better use existing resources and avoid overbuilding. It covers strategies from shared parking arrangements and digital tools that make the most of every space and includes case studies of Read More »

Placemaking and Parking

By Isaiah Mouw, CAPP and Brent Matthews, CAPP In the 1950s and ’60s the City of Chattanooga, Tenn., was one of the leading manufacturing cities in the U.S. With that success came the typical unintended consequences for a manufacturing city: pollution, smog, and ugly industrial plants. In 1969, network news Read More »

Parking Woes in Developing Countries

By Annaliza Vasallo Parking is hell. This is according to a Freakonomics podcast episode dealing with the hidden side of free parking. It made me think that if you think parking is hell in cities such as New York and San Francisco, imagine how the parking situation is in densely Read More »

Constant Change

By Colleen M. Niese Never before has the parking industry had readily available big data to exploit its parking revenues and space utilization. With the help of a number of emerging tech partners, we can now analyze our parking customers in a number of different ways and cater to their Read More »

An Image Turnaround

By Marc Denson It was a beautiful morning when I reported to work years ago, but within a few hours the real picture began to unfold: a parking unit in chaos with only one employee remaining after an internal affairs investigation; 70 percent of meters were more than 30 years Read More »

Leading the Discussion

By Bill Smith In more than 20 years of working with parking planners, one of the most common frustrations I’ve heard is that municipal decision-makers are sometimes hesitant to try new planning approaches even though their benefits are clear. The problem is that decision-makers sometimes worry about public opposition deriving Read More »

When The Customer Hears…

By V. Ann Paulins, PhD, and Teresa Trussell, CAPP As parking administrators know, developing a workforce of customer service providers who are committed to building a valuable parking brand for the organization can be a big challenge. Our employees have an enormous responsibility in building a positive image for parking Read More »

Marketing Green Parking in the Social Media Age

By Megan Leinart, LEED AP BD+C The year 2015 will be a pivotal milestone in the history (and future) of green and sustainable parking. At the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, June 29–July 2, IPI and the Green Parking Council (GPC, an affiliate of IPI) will present Read More »

A Personal Reflection

By Pierre Koudelka News of APD’s demise is heartbreaking. To say I’m upset is an understatement. I think it’s worth noting what APD meant to this industry. I came to know APD when I graduated from college and a headhunter told me to interview at this firm that had to Read More »

Parking as Public Policy Priority

By Perry Eggleston, CAPP For years, we’ve heard the joke, “What does parking policy have in common with jumbo shrimp? Some experts say both are oxymorons.” Historically speaking, parking planning was left to the urban planner, who used antiquated space ratios to determine parking requirements for new construction projects. When Read More »

Making The Most

By Ryan Baker and Chris Chettle, CAPP There’s been a shift in parking technology adoption in recent years. Where single-space meters and gated systems once monopolized the parking landscape, both public and private parking operators are now realizing the benefits of multi-space parking pay stations. This technology offers the flexibility Read More »

An Easy Approach to Innovation

By Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR Innovation has been a hot topic since Ben Franklin first flew a kite in a thunderstorm to search for electricity. The major differences between Ben Franklin’s time and today are about 200 years and the enormous amount of information people are continually bombarded with as Read More »

People the Trio’s Overlooked Segment

By J.C. Porter, CAPP We all have a good idea of what sustainability means in regard to the planet and how it can affect the bottom line (profit), but people seem to fall into a gray area of our understanding. Providing great customer service is something everyone strives to achieve. Read More »

Starting On The Right Foot

By Casey Wagner, PE When I first set out to choose a career, I didn’t picture myself as a parking professional. In fact, as a college student in 1993, I probably didn’t even realize that there was such a thing. But more than 20 years later, I’m a confirmed parking Read More »

Spiraling Upward

By Juan Ramos, LEED AP BD+C The City of Allentown, Pa., is experiencing a significant makeover of its downtown as a result of many exciting development plans. During the course of two short years, the city and its downtown core have transformed from a rather uninviting stretch of pawnshops, tattoo Read More »

The Two Tier Solution

By Donald Shoup and Fernando Torres-Gil Almost everyone can tell an anecdote about disabled placard abuse. One of mine stems from a visit to the California capitol building in Sacramento. After noticing that cars with disabled placards occupied almost all the metered curb spaces surrounding the Capitol, I talked to Read More »

Greening the Air(ports)

By Michael Cramer I spent a recent drive to the airport thinking about how to write a column on airport operations with a sustainability angle. It’s a challenge because my 30-year career has been in class-A office tower, and while I’m sure airports have lots of sustainability programs, I don’t Read More »

Really Ride Sharing

January 20, 2016

By Josh Kavanagh, CAPP Transportation options are expanding rapidly in communities across the United States, and that’s a good thing; expanding choice is good for consumers and can spur innovation and economic development. However, when those choices come in the form of disruptive technologies and business models, they create unique Read More »

Pricing Prominence

By Rachel Weinberger, PhD; Amy H. Auchincloss, PhD, MPH; and Semra Aytur, PhD, MPH Off-street parking prices—not meter prices, fines, or time limits—appear to affect whether people drive or use transit. Parking supply and cost may influence how often people choose to use public transit, but without large-scale data, little Read More »

Stepping It Up

By Nima Chhay, Sean Laraway, Susan Snycerski, and Marjorie Freedman The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that more than one-third of adult Americans are obese, which threatens their health and costs our nation $147 billion in health costs annually. As members of a university community, we are Read More »

Playing a Critical Role

Todd Litman is founder and executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative solutions to transport problems. There, he works to expand the range of effects and options considered in transportation decision-making, improve evaluation methods, and make specialized technical concepts accessible to Read More »

Work-Life Balance. Really.

By Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR Quick: What is the No. 1 cause of business failure in the United States? Some might say it’s lack of capital or access to capital, while others may say the problem is a lack of a defined business plan. Yet still others might lament that Read More »

Stakeholder Communication To Infinity and Beyond!

By Vanessa K. Solesbee, MA Any conversation about building an effective municipal operation is incomplete without a discussion about stakeholder communication. According to ­Merriam-Webster’s definition, communication is “the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings Read More »

Student Smarts

By Charnae Sanders As is true on college campuses across the nation, parking has been and continues to be a big issue among students at Central Michigan University (CMU). With limited parking and a large student population, problems are expected to arise. Student Government Association (SGA) President Chuck Mahone says Read More »

A Robotic Revolution

By Wes Guckert, PTP A report recently issued by the United Nations highlighted a global trend: More than half (54 percent) of the world’s population lives in urban areas. This trend isn’t expected to slow anytime soon. In fact, that number is forecast to rise to 66 percent by 2050. Read More »

Mixed Use Dreams

By Per Linde Frank Lloyd Wright designed gorgeous houses. Frank Gehry dreamed up amazing concert halls and museums. An architect known for incredible parking garages? They’re few and far between, but an architectural competition that challenged participants to design just that might have found the industry’s future stars. Combo Competitions, Read More »

Changing Perspectives

By Rob Ley Eskenazi Hospital was established in the 1850s in Indianapolis to treat soldiers with smallpox. It has since become one of the largest hospitals in the Midwest and primarily cares for low- to medium-income patients. A few years ago, the hospital began construction of a massive expansion. Included Read More »

Placemaking Defined and Redefined

By J.C. Porter The Green Garage Certification Standard was recently released, and with it, parking professionals were introduced to a new language that may be unfamiliar to some. If you have not yet had a chance to purchase the new certification standard, I highly recommend you do so through the Read More »

The Hottest New Couple In Town

By Vanessa Weston, CAPP Automobiles have been around for centuries, and from their initial introduction until today, have needed their own storage: parking. Smartphones have been around since 1993 but did not become a part of consumers’ everyday lifestyle until the last decade or so. Who would ever think of Read More »

Meeting Conflicting Demands

By Dave McKinney, EdH, CAPP Customers have highly diverse expectations of those who provide parking services. Administrators of parking operations face the formidable challenge of meeting multiple customer expectations while also achieving financial business objectives. In the course of setting and achieving goals related to meeting many diverse demands, parking Read More »

Closing the Gap

By David Hill, CAPP The parking industry is not new—it’s been around for 80 years, ever since that first parking meter hit the streets in Oklahoma City in 1935. The meter was invented for a specific purpose, too. To citizens’ minds, it required depression-weary Okies to pay a nickel to Read More »

She Said What

College and university campuses are high-thinking places…most of the time. When it comes to parking, reasoning goes out the window, and excuses for why this vehicle is parked illegally or that ticket should be excused reach the height of creativity. We recently asked IPI college and university members for their Read More »

Unleashed

By Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR Years ago, I authored a piece called “Unleashing the Human Spirit at Work.” I’m currently working on a book by the same title but thought the idea of unleashing the human spirit at work needed to be revisited given the talk (much of which I Read More »

Green Alphabet Soup

By Irma Henderson TDM, SOV, HOV, AVR, TOD, ATP. What does this all mean, and why is it so important to parking professionals? According to Wikipedia, transportation demand management (TDM) is, “the application of strategies and policies to reduce travel demand or to redistribute this demand in space or in Read More »

Building Your Organization’s Brand

By Bill Smith One of the essentials of successful marketing is building a brand key audiences care about and one for which they are willing to pay. While many parking organizations don’t give a lot of thought to their brands, every organization should. Cities’ brands should help fill their parking Read More »

Parking Plus

By June Williamson Parking has been an essential part of suburban development in North America since the Ford Model T was introduced in 1911. More than a century has passed, and it is high time for parking needs to be rethought, just as automobiles themselves and the fuels they run Read More »

Warm and Fuzzy Parking

By Jeff Petry Can a municipal parking program be thought of as warm and fuzzy and still deliver necessary parking services? In Eugene, Ore., we have been on a five-year journey to create a municipal parking service that reflects our community’s values. Our progress toward this goal was recently noted Read More »

Metadata and Parking

By Leonard T. Bier, JD, CAPP The defection by Edward Snowden from the U.S. to Russia spotlighted the metadata intelligence gathering of the U.S. National Security Agency’s (NSA) Prism Program. The general practice of collecting and analyzing telephone metadata by the NSA and the federal government significantly intensified after Sept. Read More »

Every Effort Counts

By Jody Miller Sustainability is a hot topic in nearly every industry, political agenda, and even consumer purchasing pattern. Once a fashionable trend, sustainable practice is now an expectation. Everyone has an eye on what organizations are doing in support of economic, social, and environmental sustainable practices. With the world Read More »

Striding for Community Success

January 19, 2016

By Robin Davenport This is the month gym memberships, purchased with all good intentions 30 days ago, lose their luster. Attendance falls—that extra half-hour of sleep is much more appealing than a few miles on the treadmill, after all—and many of us lose our will to keep exercising. Here in Read More »

Beyond Just Parking

By Gloria Gallo, CAPP, and Patricia Rumi, CAPP For many years, the four-square-mile Borough of Fort Lee, N.J., has made clever use of its parking authority. To keep taxes down and offer residents increased services, the municipal government has called upon the department from time to time to assume responsibility Read More »

Free Wheeling

By Bill Smith, APR Airports are always striving to find new ways to make the traveling experience more convenient and enjoyable. Competition for travelers can be fierce, and terminals need to offer the amenities and services that travelers are looking for. Entrepreneurs are helping many airports in their quest for Read More »

Customer Service Enhancement from an Unusual Source

By Mark N. Santos, PE During the closing session of the Florida Parking Association’s (FPA) 34th Annual Conference & Tradeshow, FPA featured Liliana Rambo, CAPP, IPI chair and director of parking services, Houston Airport System. She provided an exciting and informative talk on Parking Matters®. A particularly memorable point for Read More »

Along the Curb

By Clement Gibson, CAPP, and Doreen Szymanski The city of Charlotte is reorganizing curb lane use in its uptown area and erecting newly- designed signage that communicates the changes to motorists. Through an integrated approach for all of Charlotte’s uptown streets, curb lane users will discover a more uniform use Read More »

Let the Sun Shine

By Jon Sarno Parking lots and garage rooftops offer expansive, un-shaded, and unobstructed spaces that are ideal for housing commercial-scale solar energy solutions. Solar photovoltaics (PV) have long proven a smart choice for parking facilities for a variety of reasons. With the growing trend of installing plug-in electric vehicle charging Read More »

Car Sharing at a Mile High

By Robert Ferrin Launched earlier this year, Denver’s car sharing program is a fee-based service that provides a shared vehicle fleet to members 24 hours per day, seven days per week, at unattended self-service locations. Car use is provided at minute-based, hourly, or per-mile rates that include fuel, insurance, and Read More »

Minimum Efforts

By Daniel Rowe Multifamily residential buildings often provide too much parking, which can be an impediment to achieving a wide range of community goals. King County Metro Transit (Metro), Seattle, Wash., recently embarked on a project to rewrite the rules for multifamily parking. Through its Right Size Parking Project, Metro Read More »

Overnight Options

By Mike Estey It’s not often that those of us who manage on-street parking for city governments do something that results in near-universal praise. But it happened here in Seattle! Seattle has an active nightlife. While grunge may have put our music scene on the map a couple of decades Read More »

Media Masters

By Gary A. Means, CAPP T wenty-five years ago, I was studying to receive my bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from Eastern Kentucky University, and all I thought about was producing music videos. That was back in the ’80s, when MTV was in its heyday; I also had a lot more Read More »

From the Ground Down

By Rich Wagner, CAPP Permeable paving includes a range of sustainable materials and techniques for using pavements with a base and sub-base that allow stormwater to move through the surface. In addition to reducing runoff, this structure effectively traps suspended solids and filters pollutants from the water. Although some porous Read More »

Goregous Green

By Roy Diez New garage decks are obviously developed to fill a perceived need for additional parking in a given area. The bet is that, as in the movie “Field of Dreams”, if you build it, they will come. Mixed-use structures hedge that bet by combining supply and much of Read More »

Parking Reform Made Easy

By Richard W. Willson In his new book, Parking Reform Made Easy, Richard W. Willson, professor and chair of the department of urban and regional planning, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, argues that minimum parking requirements are outdated and unnecessary. After all, he says, they offer each person’s car a Read More »

Psychological Contract vs. Employee Engagement

By Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR When I was a child and my dad worked in the stockyards of Chicago, he often said, “Son, get a job where you can build a good career, stay for 50 years, and then retire.” After I completed graduate school and started to explore various Read More »

Concrete Steps to Sustainability and Profits

January 15, 2016

By Tom Nickell, MBA Concrete. Gray, dull, boring. Not something to think about, right? Well, it’s also the most common man-made material. We walk on it, drive on it, and park on it. It’s no exaggeration to say that concrete and steel make up 99 percent of the materials used Read More »

On Abolishing Parking Citations

By Anam Ardeshiri and Mansoureh Jeihani Parking management is an essential part of transportation studies. The provision of sufficient parking spaces is vital to sustaining urban activities; parking shortages affect streets’ level of service and reduce mobility and safety. As parking professionals know, a noticeable percentage of cars need to Read More »

The Real Value of Parking

By Jim Zullo, CAPP As most people who read The Parking Professional understand, being a parking professional is a particularly unique experience. We have all faced the blank stares of family members, former classmates, and even people on the street when they hear of our chosen career path for the Read More »

From Gates to Grapes

By Kim Fernandez Joe Kovach looked out over a mostly-unused parking lot behind a closed dormitory at The Ohio State University in the fall of 2010 and pondered what potential might lie on the asphalt. “I started wondering if we could make that productive,” says the associate professor of entomology Read More »

Safer Places

By G. Robert Harkins, Ed.D. As owners, operators, and users of parking facilities, we all have in our minds several lingering questions: Is my parking facility safe? What can I do to protect myself and my customers while in my parking facility? There’s a lot of advice out there on Read More »

Capturing America’s Most Wanted

Author, victim advocate, and crime-fighter John Walsh, host of “America’s Most Wanted,” shares his thoughts on the parking industry and catching the bad guys. Watch true-crime television for any amount of time, and it won’t be long before John Walsh appears on the screen. He left his career in the Read More »

Boosting The Green Bottom Line

By Dominick Brook Over the past few years, demand for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) has steadily grown, with 10 models now commercially available in the U.S. As EV ownership expands, there is an increased need for more publicly-accessible EV charging stations. Many local governments have entered into ventures with EV Read More »

Social Media 101

January 14, 2016

By Sue Cornell The growing phenomenon of social media has extended into almost every portion of our society. In the last 10 years, social media has grown from a passing fad enjoyed by college students to a prime communication and intelligence tool. More and more average citizens are Tweeting, turning Read More »

Service Blueprinting

By Melinda Alonzo-Helton, CAPP, Theresa Fletcher-Brown, and Nancy Stephens Why should you care about your customers’ experiences? Because that is one of the few places you can win in the service business. It can be a basis of distinguishing you from competitors. This is especially true for private and municipal Read More »

Structured Training and Job Success

January 12, 2016

By Vicki Pero Ready. Fire. Aim. When you see these three words in this order, it is obvious that the steps are out of sequence, but employees are often asked to perform their duties without receiving a sufficient amount of training. Comprehensive training plays a key role in ensuring job Read More »

Sustainable Campus

By Gabriel Mendez and Shereen Shaw Arizona State University has a long history of dedication to sustainability. As the nation’s largest public university in terms of enrollment, ASU leads by example, setting short- and long-term sustainability goals that touch every university department. These include the mitigation of carbon emissions from Read More »

IPMI’s Founding and History

January 5, 2016

From its beginnings in 1962 to today’s organization that connects parking, transportation, and mobility professionals around the world, IPMI’s story parallels the increasingly important role of cars and other vehicles in our daily lives. Parking and the National League of Cities In 1948, the Detroit Municipal Parking Authority was established Read More »

Street Smarts

January 4, 2016

By Heather Medley and Eric Crouch Students riding the bus to the Texas Tech campus felt and heard a thump after their vehicle stopped to pick up more passengers. Looking out the window, they saw a student sprawled on the ground with his backpack contents scattered and his cell phone Read More »

Balancing Funding for Parking and Transit at UNC Chapel Hill

By Cheryl Stout The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill is the nation’s oldest public university. Today, it receives an A+ rating in transportation from the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, but struggles with the challenges of maintaining an expanding multi-modal transportation system. The university had Read More »

Preventative Parking

By Maggie McGehee and Paulo Nunes-Ueno Seattle Children’s is a highly specialized academic medical center that serves children and youth from Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. Located in a densely populated residential neighborhood in northeast Seattle, the hospital is a careful steward of its most scarce resource: land. Consequently, when Read More »

Campus Cycle Program Makes a Difference

By JC Porter, CAPP Boise State University launched the Cycle Learning Center (CLC) on the main campus last August, just in time for the 2011 fall semester. The CLC is a collaborative program funded through a 50/50 partnership between Boise State University’s Transportation and Parking Services and Health and Wellness Read More »

Hide Lock Take

By Jordan Wendelken It’s not every day that a person can boast about being a crime fighter or helping thwart experienced criminals, but people are doing so across the nation. With a simple concept in mind, growing populations have taken a stand to fight auto theft by just being aware. Read More »

Government Public Records Transparency

January 3, 2016

By Leonard T. Bier, JD, CAPP The public has always had a common law right of access to government records and information, balanced by needs for individual privacy, government confidentiality, and the efficient operation of the government. A public record under the common law is one that is required to Read More »

Airport Parking Takes Off

By Todd Pierce We don’t go to an airport to park. We go to fly! So parking need not be the adventure. The anxiety of arriving to the airport on time to catch our flight is often heightened as we approach the airport and begin thinking about parking. Do I Read More »

Press Release, 11/21/14, Holiday Parking

January 2, 2016

Holiday Parking? Seven Tips and a Positive Attitude Put You in the Best Spot Simple strategies to help you preserve your sanity and show goodwill this season The weeks between Black Friday and January can present some of the year’s greatest parking challenges, turning holiday cheer into stress and Read More »

Press Release, 6/2/14 Public Safety Alert

Public Safety Alert: Summer Brings Fatal Consequences for Children Left in Hot Parked Cars DALLAS, TX – With another hot summer upon us, the International Parking Institute (IPI) is hoping to change a grisly annual statistic: the 40-plus child deaths caused by heatstroke because they were forgotten by parents or Read More »

New Research Reveals Local Governments Need to Get Up to Speed on Parking

New Research Reveals Local Government Officials Need to Get Up to Speed on Parking Findings Show Disconnect between City Decision-makers’ Awareness of Parking Technologies that Can Remedy Traffic Congestion and Improve City Life DALLAS, Texas – June 2, 2013 – A new survey of city and county officials shows that Read More »

Press Release, 5/7/14, Groundbreaking New Book on Sustainable Parking

Groundbreaking New Book on Sustainable Parking Design and Management Advances “Green” Parking Solutions Sustainable Parking Design and Management: A Practitioner’s Handbook provides theory, application, and case studies from parking architects, planners, and LEED-certified parking experts (Alexandria, VA – May 6) A comprehensive new book, now available for pre-order from the Read More »

Press Release, 11/20/13, Parking Experts Share Ten Tips for Finding the Perfect Spot

Parking Experts Share Ten Tips for Finding the Perfect Spot this Holiday Season Although it is estimated there are more than 800 million parking spaces in the United States (that’s about three for every automobile), finding one during the busy holiday season is often a challenge. Airports, shopping malls, train Read More »

Press Release, 10/8/13, Help for Teens

Help for Teens: “I got my driver’s license, but I still can’t park!” International Parking Institute offers free  How to Park: A Must-Read Manual for Teen Drivers (October 8, 2013 – Fredericksburg, VA) Even after taking driver’s ed and logging the required hours behind the wheel, new teen drivers sometimes Read More »

Press Release, 9/17/13, First-ever Global Parking Industry Survey

First-ever Global Parking Industry Survey Reveals Technology is Transforming How We Park around the World Innovative technology globally viewed as a top trend, and while decision-makers’ attitudes toward parking are improving, more collaboration is needed Do parking challenges and solutions differ significantly around the globe? Are Japan’s parking priorities the Read More »

Press Release, 7/19/13, Parked Car Alert

Parked Car Alert: International Parking Institute Warns of Child Deaths in Summer Heat Each year, children die when parents and caregivers leave them unattended in the heat of a parked car. (Fredericksburg, VA July 19, 2013)– More than 20 children under the age of five have already died this year Read More »

2013-05-20 Survey of Parking Pros: Technology is Transforming the Parking Industry

Survey of Parking Pros: Technology is Transforming the Parking Industry San Francisco, Seattle, and New York lead in parking innovation; LA, DC, Portland,Ore., Miami, Houston, Boston, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Tampa also are named as cities that are re-thinking parking with technology and new approaches (FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA – May 20, Read More »

2013-01-31 Parking Industry joins with U.S. Department of Energy

Parking Industry Joins with U.S. Department of Energy to Support Obama Administration Initiative to Expand Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in the Workplace U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu recognizes International Parking Institute, world’s largest parking association, along with leading automotive, communications, high tech, energy and environmental groups during keynote speech Read More »

Parking Experts Offer 10 Tips for Stress Free Holiday Parking

As holiday shopping gets underway and travelers take flight, there’s one quest we all share: finding the perfect parking spot. (Fredericksburg, VA – November 16, 2012) – What do the holidays mean to you? Loving reunions, bountiful feasts, thoughtful gift giving? Or traveling hassles, crowded shopping centers, and long check-out Read More »

2012-10-29 Smart Parking, Smart Cities

Smart Parking, Smart Cities: World’s Leading Parking Experts to Share Insights with Latin American Architects, Urban Planners, Developers, Government Officials, and Business Leaders Latin Parking Conference & Expo to Convene Dec. 9-12, in San Juan, Puerto Rico An increasing number of government leaders, architects, urban planners, transportation officials, and economic Read More »

2012-07-31 General Colin Powell Shares Leadership Lessons Learned

General Colin Powell Shares Leadership Lessons Learned from…Yes, Parking In the August cover story of The Parking Professional magazine, the former U.S. Secretary of State attributes some of the important life lessons he’s learned to parking people (FREDERICKSBURG, VA – July 30, 2012) According to former U.S. Secretary of State, Read More »

2012-06-11 New Survey of Emerging Trends in Parking

New Survey of Emerging Trends in Parking Industry-transforming innovations are changing the way we park (PHOENIX, Ariz. – June 11, 2012) According to the results of an industry-wide survey conducted by the International Parking Institute, increased demand for technology-related innovations account for half of the top ten trends in today’s Read More »

2012-04-18 Tips for Drivers

Tips for Drivers: 8 Ways to Avoid Getting a Parking Ticket Easy ways for drivers to avoid citations, boots, and other parking pitfalls FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Contrary to public opinion, the goal of nearly every municipal parking authority is not to see how many tickets their officers can write. The Read More »

Why Parking Matters – 2015 White Paper

December 15, 2015

Explains why parking and the expertise of parking professionals are integral to the future of cities. Why Parking Matters – 2015 White Paper

What’s What in Parking Technology 2015

Glossary of nearly 100 parking technology terms and definitions, from Access Control to Waiting List. What’s What in Parking Technology 2015

Tale of Two Cities Smart Parking Infographic

Illustrated comparison of a city with and without smart parking solutions. Tale of Two Cities Smart Parking Infographic

GPALS Survey

A report on surveys conducted by the Global Parking Association Leaders (GPALs) at the 2013 GPALs Summit in Dublin, Ireland. GPALS Survey

Emerging Trends 2015

The annual survey explores where the parking industry stands on a variety of important issues. Emerging Trends 2015

Emerging Trends 2013

The annual survey explores where the parking industry stands on a variety of important issues. Emerging Trends 2013

Emerging Trends 2012

The annual survey explores where the parking industry stands on a variety of important issues. Emerging Trends 2012

Emerging Trends 2011

The annual survey explores where the parking industry stands on a variety of important issues. Emerging Trends 2011

DOE Workplace Charging Challenge

Led by the U.S. Department of Energy, the initiative urges employers to install workplace plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging stations. DOE Workplace Charging Challenge