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Parking & Mobility Article, Planning, Design & Construction, Regulatory Environment, Resources, Sustainability, Transportation & Mobility

GARAGE CASE STUDY: An Automated Solution to Parking Perils

October 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Christian Hermansen

PARKING IS A NECESSARY EVIL IN THE PUBLIC’S MIND. It’s something we all do before going shopping, hanging out with friends, or catching a game. It’s the experience before the experience.

As someone who has recently joined the parking-sphere, I see parking as something where you either have a neutral experience or a below-average one. Consumers rarely perceive a top-notch parking experience.

This lines up with the feedback I hear from friends, family, and members of the general public. People forget the times where everything worked perfectly but remember the bad experiences when it all went wrong. Circling for ages and not being able to find a space, getting confused by not knowing where to drive, and the resulting congestion are all reasons for a negative parking experience.

Parking is also (normally) the first impression a customer gets of the place he or she has just arrived. Everyone knows how important the first impression is in any interaction! It sets the tone for the experience. Making it easy, stress-free, and frictionless means your customer is content when he or she walks in the door ready to engage with your offering rather than lamenting over the bad experience in your parking lot.

Many large providers and operators of parking, particularly shopping centers, airports, and cities, are acknowledging this and are taking steps to ensure the best neutral (or even net positive) experience possible for users of their parking. If only there was some way of automatically displaying occupancy and guiding people to available parking spaces.

Circling for ages and not being able to find a space, getting confused by not knowing where to drive, and the resulting congestion are all reasons for a negative parking experience.

Case Study: Irvine Spectrum Center

The Irvine Company has worked for five years to make parking easier for visitors to the massive Southern California shopping center the Irvine Spectrum Center. It started with the outdoor parking area and then moved to the indoor spaces, with a number of custom requirements catered for along the way.

When the company sought to install another indoor solution at the new Block 800 parking garage on the south side of the site, it took into consideration lessons learned from its established Irvine Center parking areas. Being a new garage, a key component of this project was to keep that minimal, slick, and premium look and feel with the parking guidance installation.

Since implementing the initial parking guidance project at the Irvine Spectrum Center, a new method of detecting vehicles, using an eye-safe, class-one laser sensor mounted in the middle of the driving aisle instead of an older, Bluetooth sensor, had been developed. Users say it offers detection accuracy but also greater reliability from eliminating batteries, having no hardware on the often harsh road surface, and a lower cost of install.
But with a new sensor in the equation, the integration done in the past with the site’s existing strip-lighting and LED guidance lights needed a redesign to incorporate new components.

Retrofitting
With a large, internal team of product and hardware engineers, along with a dose of can-do attitude, the vendor was able to produce a new fixture to seamlessly attach to the end of lighting enclosures.

There are some other significant benefits to integrating parking guidance technology with existing lighting infrastructure. For example, integrating with the existing infrastructure at the parking lot meant an extremely low-impact installation. Installers were able to use an existing power supply and wire power into the same power supply as the lights, reducing costly cabling or the need for specialized power points.

Anecdotal evidence on the ground suggests the parking guidance is working. Speaking to parking users on a recent site visit, I was told they thought the garage looked smart, new, premium, and clean. Users also told us they enjoyed the easy journey and fast parking and compared the experience they’d just had with an experience in a garage without parking guidance. Customers often cited those “red and green lights and the signs” as the reason for that.

An easier parking experience gets you off on the right foot with your customers. Reduce the time to park, reduce congestion, reduce circulation time and increase your customer’s experience.

Read the article here.

CHRISTIAN HERMANSEN is brand manager with Frogparking. He can be reached at christian@frogparking.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.

July 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

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.

Case Studies, Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

Bringing It All Together

June 1, 2019 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

Creating a sense of community through parking.

By Brittany Moore

AS A POSITIVE PERSON WITH A MARKETING BACKGROUND, it was initially difficult to step into a role with parking. Sure, I enjoy a challenge, but the negative connotation surrounding parking weighed heavily. There was little public support, morale was low, and communication was lacking between departments, community stakeholders, and event venues.

I thought it would be a good idea to bring some of my marketing practices into parking. I try to look at things in municipal government, parking included, through the eyes of the customer. This does not mean giving the customer whatever he or she wants and never saying no, but it does means aiming focus toward customers—their needs, feedback, and overall experience. Losing sight of the customer is doing a disservice not only to the customer, but to your operation as well. Now, let’s be real, in the parking business you are not going to make everyone happy, but small steps in the right direction sure take a lot of stress out of the day-to-day.

The City of Greenville, S.C., has 11 garages, four surface lots, and 800 on-street parking spaces, totaling close to 9,000 spaces. Many of the facilities are tied to development projects in the form of hotels, office complexes, event venues, residences, restaurants, and retail. Here are a few tips from Greenville to connect with the community through parking:
You have no idea how tattered these look until you replace them. It is an easy fix that makes garages look cleaner, is highly visible, and that people notice.

Small Touches Matter
Small details make all the difference to customers as they walk to and from their vehicles. Painting elevator walls and landings is a simple wayfinding technique that also brightens the garage. We took it a step further and applied an epoxy paint with speckled flakes to landing floors. It took a few tries to get this right, but our maintenance team found the perfect color combo that hides stains and gives the garage that polished look. That paired with clean, new signage and tiled elevator flooring make the areas more approachable.
We started making these changes, and, much to our surprise, customers noticed. We partnered with local high schools to hang student artwork in one of our garages; it serves as not only a focal point but as part of the overall wayfinding package. We were awarded an IPMI award for this project in 2015.

Another garage has wind chimes hanging in an adjacent breezeway that provide a relaxing cadence on the walk to work. Local maps are hung in each garage that detail public restrooms, ATMs, and major landmarks. These maps are in frames with printed inserts that allow changes to be made easily and afford-ably as our city grows. Another simple replacement that truly made a difference involved trash cans and clearance-height bars. I’ve come quite a way in my short parking career—now I get excited to order both! You have no idea how tattered these look until you replace them. It is an easy fix that makes garages look cleaner, is highly visible, and that people notice.

Taking Ownership
Our employees are ambassadors for our city, and we urge them to take pride in that role as well as in their workspaces. The city has full-time maintenance employees who are each assigned to two garages. They are in charge of cleaning, minor repairs, lighting, painting, sweeping, and removing trash. We encourage them to get to know those parking in our garages. This has helped to reduce calls to our office, and customers seem pleased with the garage aesthetics.
Employees are praised for going the extra mile— helping a customer in need, even if that means carrying a box a block away to someone’s office. When hiring, make a concerted effort to build a team that shares your philosophies and goals. If you are lucky enough to find a group that wants to put in the extra effort, take on special projects, and make customers happy, hold on and don’t let go! More importantly, when they take the time to go the extra mile—for example, come in early to paint an entire stairwell top to bottom at the request of a hotel—you as a manager need to take the time to admire the work and praise all involved.

Building Community Relationships
The importance of building community relationships cannot be stressed enough and has been one of the keys to Greenville parking’s operational success. We meet regularly with downtown merchants, hotel and concert venue staff, and homeowners associations. These meetings take place in various forms: face-to-face, phone calls, emails, board meetings, and lunches. Building these relationships keeps our operation running efficiently with fewer headaches.
We make sure stakeholders know when we are performing any maintenance work in the garages, whether sweeping, blowing, lighting repair, touch-up painting, or pressure washing, not only because we want them to be informed but because we want them to know the garage they use every day receives just as much attention as the next. More importantly, they know who to call with any concerns before elevating it to a higher level.
We ask for input on paint colors, signage wording, and cleaning schedules. We ask for suggestions and share our goals with them. Quick and effective communication makes all the difference. Greenville continues to be generous with parking specials to thank our customers and encourage downtown visitors. Every weekend, parking in our 900-space garage and in on-street spaces is free. We offer free parking specials for major holidays citywide. This is a perk that comes with great support and input from our downtown businesses and visitors. Programs such as these, along with other efforts, have really helped shape the image of parking in Greenville (outside of enforcement, of course).

Signage

It only took a few months in my role to see the low-hanging aesthetic fruit in our garages. I often heard that the garages were confusing and drab and not user-friendly. Our monthly parkers could navigate the garages, but guests were lost. Having six hotels and more than a dozen residential complexes attached to the garages meant working toward a better solution. That became top priority.

Our sign campaign began with an inventory of current signage and a list of desired signage. This turned into quite a large project involving the city’s public information team, but it produced great results. Fresh signs were strategically placed for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and we added signage in elevators and stairwells, including maps on the ground levels. All of this reduced confusion, and we started to get those (rare) parking compliments. With 11 garages this is an ongoing project, but we are well on our way.
The most important thing to note when starting a project like this is to stay organized. Be prepared to meet, take pictures, keep a tape measure at close reach (so important—those signs look much smaller when looking up at them from the ground), spend lots of time in your garages, and add more signs even after you thought you were finished. It is no easy task, and to be successful requires a fresh set of eyes. Have someone who’s not a frequent parker walk and then drive the garages with you. Let that person point out what you may be missing. After your signs are in place, keep an eye on them and make sure your staff does too. Do not be surprised if that sign in the elevator only lasts two months before it needs to be replaced. Be smart and save yourself some time by ordering in advance spares of the small signs that might be more prone to damage.

Customer Service

You always hear it, but any organization is a reflection of its employees. An employee’s attitude, determination, and demeanor all translate to his or her work. It is important to take the time to invest in, encourage and get to know your employees, especially those in customer-facing positions. It all starts with hiring the right people and giving them the tools to succeed in this business.
I am a firm believer that mistakes are inevitable, but you must use them as an opportunity to learn. I am not afraid to admit that we should have done something differently and to make adjustments after the fact, but I will support employees if they were doing what they felt was right.
We offer a wide range and many types of training. The most effective seems to be discussing real scenarios with employees and how they handled or would handle each situation. Sometimes this means analyzing phone calls, event operations, and field decisions. Mostly, we try to take advantage of group training scenarios, but we take time for one-on-one trainings if the need arises.

Training should be positive, informative, and concise. Get your point across, address the tone and dialogue, ask for feedback, and offer advice. Engage the employee in the training to ensure you are making progress. Ultimately, you want to get to a point that you trust your employees to carry on your customer-service mentality when you are no longer in the room. This takes time and requires a lot of attention.

I have found sometimes a pat on the back (and maybe a lunch) is the best motivation you can offer. Feeling appreciated goes a long way—it is something we as managers need to be reminded of because with customer service you should always be striving for more. Complacency is unacceptable.

So there you have it: Make the extra effort, build those relationships, provide exceptional customer service, and pay attention to the details. But also take the time to invest in your employees and get involved in your operation. Remember, it is all what you make it.

Read the article here.

BRITTANY MOORE is Assistant general with the City of Greenville, S.C. She can be reached at bmoore@greenvillesc.gov

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / JUNE 2019 / PARKING & MOBILITY 51

IPMI Blog, Resources

Preparing for Bad Behavior

January 11, 2019 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By Cindy Campbell

Hostility. Aggression. Belligerence. Incivility. Rudeness.

All these words describe bad human behavior. Again this week, an over-the-top outburst was caught on video and went viral. Maybe you’ve seen it: A female would-be airline passenger went ballistic at the gate, reportedly because her flight was delayed.

It’s disheartening to think these scenarios don’t surprise us anymore. We have grown to expect bad behavior and at some level, tolerate it. Having said that, there is a significant difference between expecting bad behavior and being trained and prepared to encounter and effectively deal with it. We see emotional, anger-filled outbursts and disrespectful behavior everywhere. As our agencies’ representatives, frontline staff must be well prepared to handle these encounters.

It’s important to recognize that within our industry, customers are frequently hostile, even aggressive, and often have difficulty hearing and understanding our intended message. You have likely experienced scenarios where citizens see themselves as victims rather than customers. The skillset to capably provide helpful service within a public service agency requires the ability to quickly sort information and apply an appropriate response. Frontline staff typically perform their duties independently and therefore must be resourceful and aware that their words affect how they are perceived. The goal must be to quickly decipher what we hear while keeping our emotions under control so we are prepared to calmly and effectively address the situation.

What steps will you take to promote this concept within your agency in 2019?

Cindy Campbell is IPMI’s senior training and development specialist. She is available for onsite trainings; visit parking-mobility.org.

IPMI Blog, Resources

Disney, Nordstrom, and Parking

December 4, 2018 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By David M. Feehan

I was delighted to read the interview with Lee Cockerell in the November issue of The Parking Professional. I’ve always pointed to Disney as the gold standard when it comes to customer service. And I think every parking manager should take to heart the principles of customer service Cockerell articulates.

But way back in 1989, when I assumed the presidency of Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated, and found that my organization would soon be operating the municipal parking system under contract, we had a different model in mind.

At the first meeting of our newly formed parking task force, I stood before a flip chart and asked task force members to consider this question: “How would our parking system feel if it were run by Nordstrom?” Everyone in the room knew Nordstrom was the epitome of retail customer service. Its efforts to please customers were legendary, so we began brainstorming all the changes we could make to alter the very negative perception downtown visitors had of visiting or shopping downtown.

Many of the changes we adopted have become industry standard–battery jumps, flat tire and lockout assistance, employee training–but we took matters several steps beyond these practices. For example, when there was a festival in the city park, we issued no parking citations within a six-block radius of the park. We did not want visitors to leave town with a negative impression. We empowered enforcement staff to void tickets if a motorist was returning to his car with a handful of quarters. We put our staff in bright green blazers instead of police-type uniforms. All staff carried fanny packs with maps, event schedules, and other downtown information. We trained every staff person to be an ambassador for downtown.

The results were, to put it mildly, surprising. Within a couple of years, customer complaints dropped by nearly 80 percent. Parking complaints to the mayor’s office were near zero. While ticket writing dropped by two-thirds, overall revenues increased by 50 percent, as customers filled up our spruced-up parking garages. Employees took pride in the fact that we won a couple of national awards.

So ask yourself this question: Is our parking system enforcement-oriented, revenue-oriented, or customer-oriented? You may find that the latter option is the one that really pays off.

David M. Feehan is president of Civitas Consulting, LLC.

IPMI Blog, Resources

Customer Service the Disney Way

November 13, 2018 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

“Remember that once you train people how to be professional, you’ve improved their lives. When you become great, it affects your children and grandchildren and on down the line. It becomes your legacy.” So says Lee Cockerell, former executive vice president of The Walt Disney Company, also known as the guy behind much of Disney’s legendary customer-service strategy. It’s part of one of his 39 rules of outstanding customer service: Great service follows the law of gravity, which he says breaks down perfectly for parking.

Disney customer service is the gold standard, and Cockerell, who’s authored several books, runs the Creating Disney Magic podcast, and travels the world teaching others about creating a top-notch service culture (including to the Disney Institute), has great, actionable insight on how the Disney philosophy translates to parking and mobility–and it’s all in The Parking Professional this month. Read it here, share it with you colleagues, and let us know in the comments: What’s your favorite tidbit?

IPMI Blog, Resources

The Best Kind of Disney Magic

October 26, 2018 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By Kim Fernandez

The hotel was church-pew quiet when I wandered down to the lobby at about 1:30 a.m., three hours after we arrived at our Disney World accommodations. My kids were little, it had been a long and loud day, and I was wiped out. But we were all sharing a room and as two of my three beloveds fell into deep slumbers, they started snoring. No sleep for me.

I passed two workers up on ladders scrubbing the lobby walls (scrubbing the walls!) on my way to a very comfortable couch, where I sat and stared at a wall. “Can I help you,” asked a desk agent who walked over. Snoring roommates, I told her. She smiled and disappeared … and then re-appeared, pushing a little bag into my hands and wishing me a good night.

Earplugs. She brought me earplugs. No charge—just here they are. Because they’ve thought of everything. And I slept and enjoyed a wonderful vacation and have kept Disney close to my heart ever since.

My savior behind the desk probably learned her customer service skills from a program developed by Lee Cockerell, who was EVP of Disney before becoming a speaker, podcast host, and bestselling author of books about hiring the right people and teaching them those stellar skills, ingraining service into the company culture no matter what company is in question. He’s the man behind much of the Disney magic you experience. And, believe it or not, he recently shared lots of thoughts with me about the parking industry.

Read all about it in the November issue of The Parking Professional, coming to an inbox near you next week. I can’t wait to share it with you. Not to go too far, but you might say it’s magical.

Kim Fernandez is IPMI’s director of publications and editor of The Parking Professional.

IPMI Blog, Resources

Parking People

October 16, 2018 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By Matt Penney

I just returned from a parking conference in Arkansas. I’m now sitting back at my desk trying to catch up on everything I missed during my time away. Work stacks up so quickly. As my attention span gets the better of me, I find my mind drifting back to thoughts from the conference.

This morning, I have been sharing highlights of conversations with the Baylor office staff. Small nuggets mostly; quick thoughts on how other universities solved a specific problem. Sometimes they’re words of warning about issues another department encountered. We laughed together when I repeated crazy customer stories from across the country–it’s good to know it’s not just Baylor.

Then there are stories I internalized. A peer manager at another university visibly strained by his supervisor, a micro manager who doesn’t understand parking. A team of directors who all knew their operation inside and out. How the room was filled with humble leaders and a handful of bold karaoke singers.

At that conference, almost without exception, what I saw impressed me. Creative problem solvers looking for the best technology for their campus. Budget-conscious planners stretching to get the most bang for their buck. Visionaries who didn’t necessarily like the rise of yet another mode of transportation but understand the trends need attention. Most importantly, I saw managers who cared about their customers.

I’ve heard it said that no one chooses parking, that parking chooses you. From what I can tell, parking has chosen some outstanding people.

Matt Penney is director of parking and transportation services at Baylor University.

IPMI Blog, Resources

The Look of Loud

October 12, 2018 Kim Fernandez Leave a comment

By Cindy Campbell

Some time ago, I decided to invest in a compact rolling bag that would always fit easily under the seats of small regional jets. On a recent trip, a member of the airport ground crew was waiting at the end of the jet bridge to collect larger gate checked baggage. I smiled and nodded as I rolled past her with my bag. “You need to leave that here,” she barked. Once I realized that she was talking to me, I turned and kindly thanked her, letting her know that I knew from experience that the small bag would fit under my seat. Without uttering a sound, she responded to my statement with a fairly dramatic eye roll.

Oh. No. She. Didn’t.

Now, if you know me, you likely know my motto in customer service situations like this: Challenge accepted.

I stopped, took in a calming breath, and turned back toward her. “I’m sorry,” I began, “I didn’t hear you clearly. Do you need me to do something differently?” Her response wasn’t unexpected or technically wrong. “I didn’t say anything to you,” she said. “Right,” I replied, “and yet your look said everything.”

When was the last time you and your team talked about how loud a look can be? It’s important to remember how quickly our spoken words can be silenced by a harsh facial expression. When the content of a message isn’t unified with how it looks, your facial expression and body language will be assumed as the accurate message.

Cindy Campbell is IPI’s senior training and development specialist.

Parking & Mobility Article, Resources, Transportation & Mobility

Connecting The Commuting Dots: Offering intermobility services to maximize campus access.

September 1, 2018 Rachel Yoka Leave a comment

By Casey Jones, CAPP

A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT IN THE PARKING INDUSTRY has occurred during the past decade or so in which parking professionals see their role as service providers rather than simply ensuring cars are parked between yellow or white lines. This shift has resulted in a sea change in the relationship between the provider of parking and the parker and has given rise to the development of new technologies, services, and products aimed at improving the parker experience.

Another shift is currently underway that is perhaps even more tectonic in nature and further defines not just the relationship between the deliverer of the service and the receiver, but what services our industry is tasked to provide.

The parking industry is beginning to embrace the idea that our product is more than just a space to park cars and that instead we provide access and mobility. Access allows people to reach the destinations of their choice, whereas mobility is the ease at which we move from point A to point B. We’re beginning to realize that a significant enough number of commuters desire access to multiple transportation modes and are likely to use alternatives to driving, at least part of the time, if we couple parking and transportation options in a complementary and seamless manner. In the U.S., universities and colleges are leading this revolution and serve as examples for the entire industry.

Driving Change
There are many factors driving this shift. First, and perhaps most importantly, higher education in the U.S. is facing significant budgetary challenges. To remain competitive and relevant, institutions of higher education must add high-caliber faculty, offer inspiring and up-to-date buildings and facilities, and provide programs that inspire, entertain, and support life-long loyalty from alumni. Building parking structures can be expensive, and the typical method of paying for parking garages with permit and citation revenue is largely insufficient to construct what is needed. Even if permit holders can fund new garages through increases in permit fees, there is often little or no political appetite for such endeavors.

Second, a growing sector of the campus community—namely students—wants commuting options. Sometimes riding a bike to campus is desired while other trips require a car. Sometimes taking Uber or Lyft is the best option while other times the campus shuttle or public transportation works just fine. The myriad of choices is a good thing, but often the options are not designed to work together to provide a mix-and-match approach that can save money and time and improve convenience. Commuters are typically left to figure out on their own how to fit the options together.Fortunately, several high-performing university parking and transportation programs are figuring out that people shouldn’t be considered uni-modal and may, in fact, prefer to use different options depending on the day, season, and circumstance. Knitting together commuting services in a seamless, convenient, and effective manner is referred to as mobility-as-a-service (MaaS).

Mobility as a Service
The MaaS Alliance is a European public-private partnership working to create “the foundations for a common approach to MaaS, unlocking the economies of scale needed for successful implementation and take-up of MaaS in Europe and beyond.” Its goal is to facilitate a single open market and full deployment of MaaS services.
The Alliance defines MaaS as “the integration of various forms of transport services into a single mobility service accessible on demand. To meet a customer’s request, a MaaS operator facilitates a diverse menu of transport options, be they public transport; ride-, car-, or bike-sharing; taxi or car rental/lease; or a combination thereof.”

The European MaaS framework centers on a single commercially motivated, private-sector technology aggregator that interfaces directly with the consumer. In the U.S., it is more probable that public-sector providers of parking and transportation will remain as the centerpiece of the commute services delivery. Public-sector players may be supported by both private operators and technology providers, but delivery will likely flow through the owners of publicly owned facilities and services. The U.S. version of MaaS is mobility on demand (MOD) which, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, is defined as “an innovative, user-focused approach which leverages emerging mobility services, integrated transit networks and operations, real-time data, connected travelers, and cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to allow for a more traveler-centric, transportation system-of-systems approach, providing improved mobility options to all travelers and users of the system in an efficient and safe manner.”

To avoid confusion between MaaS and MOD, I’ll use the term “intermobility” to describe offering a variety of commuting options in a coordinated, complementary, and flexible manner that may or may not be tech-enabled. In the U.S., intermobility is already well beyond the concept stage and found most often at progressive, forward-thinking institutions of higher education. Here are some examples:

Arizona State University
Arizona State University’s (ASU’s) robust alternative transportation features the Eco-Pass program that ties together important modal options. Registered bicyclists, holders of high-occupancy-vehicle carpool permits, and student and employee bus pass holders can purchase a discounted bundle of 30 all-day parking passes for parking in a designated parking lot or structure.

The University of Virginia
The University of Virginia provides incentives in which carpool (known as Cavpool) members get 20 occasional use parking permits per year when they sign up to become members. For added flexibility, permits are interchangeable among members of the same carpooling group.

Stanford University
Stanford University in California offers the Commute Club, which includes incentives to reduce parking demand while providing modal flexibility. For starters, members receive up to $300 per year for agreeing not to drive alone or park near campus. Club members can buy up to eight daily parking permits per month for times they need to drive and can pocket a few hundred dollars per year even when they buy the maximum number of daily permits allowed. Eligible commuters also receive free transit passes and can join a free vanpool or receive a free permit if they carpool. Promotions during the spring and fall include generous prize drawings for members and make the program fun and exciting.

University of Wisconsin
Flex Parking is available at the University of Wisconsin. Users of this program sign up for parking for a specific lot or garage but only pay for the actual time they are on campus. Unlike the typical annual parking pass, this approach promotes the use of alternatives to driving. Another innovation allows members of carpools and vanpools to have priority over non-carpoolers when permit renewal occurs. Front-of-the-line privileges mean those who share a ride get their pick of campus parking locations.

Boise State University
Several years ago, Boise State University in Idaho offered 10 scratch-off daily parking passes for bicycle commuters who purchased access to the university’s secured bicycle storage facility known as the Bike Barn. The program was recently revamped. Now called the Deluxe Bicycle Registration program, the program provides registrants access to secure bicycle storage; their bike is registered (easier to recover if stolen) and they receive four all-day parking passes and 15 percent off university bike shop merchandise and services.

Sacramento State University
Most schools have a mobile app that provides a wealth of information about events, dining options, athletics, and more, and most also provide some information about parking and transportation. Sacramento State University in Californa features commuting information prominently on its app, and with one click users can get real-time parking availability information, pay for parking, find out when the next shuttle arrives, and find bicycle routes and bike parking options.

Keys to Success
The examples above make clear a few emerging keys to intermobility success:

Less all-you-can-eat. In The High Cost of Free Parking, Don Shoup cleverly (and accurately) labels the typical way of selling annual parking permits as “all-you-can-eat.” The problem, Shoup notes, is that when you sell someone something for a whole year, they’re likely to use it. This may not be true of gym memberships, but it’s true for parking. A meaningful enough number of people on your campus may only want or need to drive occasionally. Let’s figure out who those people are and sell boutique permits that may only be good for certain days of the week.
Data is key. If we intend to sell fractional parking permits, we’ll need to have a good handle on how our parking facilities are used by day, week, season, and time of day so we don’t over- or under-sell them. Collecting, analyzing, and making data-driven decision will help us ensure that a space will be available even for the occasional parker.
Flexibility is a must. I live in a place that isn’t all that friendly to biking a few months out of the year. What’s more, life happens to people, and a mode that seemed to work at one point in your life may not meet all your commuting needs at another time. Intermobility requires flexibility so people can pick and choose their modal options based on what best meets their needs. Like with a cellphone contract with no immediate way out, commuters may feel as if making the shift from one mode (driving) to something else (public transportation) may be too much of a commitment because they anticipate life happening. The best intermobility programs are those that provide patrons with the most flexibility and an easy way to move from one mode to another based on their needs.
Parking is still prime. Let’s face it: Driving is still the dominant mode of transportation and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. Experience suggests that many within the campus community are reluctant to move completely away from their preferred option. The successful intermobility professional understands this and will package offerings to include parking. Several occasional-parker options exist in the higher education space. Maybe we need to welcome and accommodate occasional cyclists and transit riders with pricing and service packages that allow parking most of the time. The truth is that even a modest modal shift away from single-occupancy driving will have a meaningful effect on parking demand, especially if we can spread the reduction in demand broadly across facilities and times of peak occupancy.
Single point of sale. Most commuters need some help figuring out what commuting options work best for them, and if we up the complexity ante by allowing people to piece their commutes together as they see fit, we’ll likely need a common delivery platform and a single customer interface that easily allows access to each mode.
Partnerships make it possible. Universities typically control most, but not all, the modal programs and services offered on a campus. Public transportation systems, private parking owners adjacent to campus, transportation network providers, and others are involved in the provision of transportation services; partnering with outside entities will be essential to maximizing access and mobility and customer convenience most of all.

We’ve understood for a while that we maximize access and mobility when we design, build, and operate parking facilities to accommodate multiple modal options. We also accept and embrace that ours is a service industry and that providing a positive customer experience is crucial to our success and relationship with those we serve. It’s now time to fully integrate parking and transportation programs and services to accommodate a mix of commuting options that offer convenience, flexibility, efficiency, and ease of use.

The truth is that even a modest modal shift away from single-occupancy driving will have a meaningful effect on parking demand, especially if we can spread the reduction in demand broadly across facilities and times of peak occupancy.

Read the article here.

CASEY JONES, CAPP, is vice president at Timothy Haahs & Associates, Inc. He can be reached at cjones@timhaahs.com.