By Jason M. Jones

During the last year, the New York State Parking Association (NYSPA) has been working on a rebranding campaign, complete with a new website, enhanced social media pages, and a name change. As the parking industry continues to evolve, we needed to be sure we were not the last coin-operated meter left standing. We conducted surveys, made phone calls, reached out through emails, and discussed in-person with association members to determine the best path to take. We also reached out to founding members, past presidents, and other associations that recently transitioned away from just having parking in their names and added either transportation or mobility. These decisions cannot be made in isolation and any association is only as strong as it members and the research they conduct.

Based on our thorough outreach and an overwhelming association member approval vote, we have become the New York State Parking & Transportation Association (NYSPTA). We are very excited to begin this new chapter after 25+ years as NYSPA and look forward to another 25 years. We have many events planned in 2019 including our Summer Retreat on June 25 in Syracuse and our annual conference/expo in historic Saratoga Springs, October 9-11.

Please visit our new website at nysparkingandtransportation.com or visit us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Jason M. Jones is director, parking & mass transit services at the University of Albany, and president of NYSPTA.

New name reflects interconnectedness of parking, transportation, and mobility industries and expanded role of parking and parking professionals

The world’s largest association of parking professionals, formerly known as the International Parking Institute (IPI), has changed its name to the International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI). The change reflects the interconnected, choice-driven network that now encompasses parking, transportation, and mobility.

The decision was made by the Board of Directors at a meeting in Denver yesterday.

As the results of IPI’s 2018 Emerging Trends in Parking survey revealed, there has been a major shift in the past decade that has blurred the distinctions between the industries. The explosive growth of ride-hailing/transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, car- and bike-sharing, and effective mass-transit systems, coupled with the growing consciousness of environmentally friendly choices and sustainability, have transformed the way we get around.

More than 90 percent of those surveyed feel that “parking and transportation or mobility professionals” is a more apt description of their jobs, which today encompass such tasks as curb management, alternative commuting methods, data collection, and much more.

“Our broadened name signifies changes in the industry and what is happening in the larger sphere, where mobility is emerging as a more inclusive term for the expanding role of parking professionals,” says IPMI CEO Shawn Conrad, CAE. “We feel the new name provides an umbrella that incorporates parking and mobility and thus will better serve our members by ensuring future opportunities for growth.”

IPMI’s monthly magazine, The Parking Professional, will be renamed Momentum beginning in January 2019. Some changes will be phased in. Although the organization’s current website and email addresses will continue to function for some time, the new internet address will be parking-mobility.org, and staff email addresses will change to the domain parking-mobility.org. Its current governance structure, staff, and contacts will remain the same.

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Changing for the Right Reasons In New York State

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