Tag Archives: Roadmap to Recovery

Defining Our Industry’s Future

By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE

“Research: the distance between an idea and its realization.” -David Sarnoff, founder, Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

I’ve had the good fortune to be involved with IPMI’s Research & Innovation Task Force (formerly the Research Committee) for quite some time now. As a co-chair of that group, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in our industry and help progress some interesting initiatives that attempted to quantify the size of our industry and position our members with critical information around prevailing topics driving the transportation world. These topics have covered everything from sustainability, efficiency, electrification, mobility, and the ever-evolving curb management realm. All of these topics began as questions or ideas that were no more than a seed to cultivate.

More than a decade ago, the industry defined curb management as one of the primary topics we needed to explore further. During that time, we’ve gone from focusing on the parked car to defining how space at the curb needs to intersect with community needs and support more than storing vehicles. And this is apparent as cities have adapted practices to include active space, business supportive measures, and community-centric practices to enrich the lives of everyone who interacts in that realm.

The seed for that research was defined in an IPMI trends survey by our members and has been cultivated by not only the research arm of our industry, but also several other committees whose members aim to help define new information for our members. That’s why we need your help now as IPMI embarks on another trends survey. We are at an interesting crossroads that will be shaped by how resilient and responsive we are the next few years. And defining what we as an industry find valuable for further investigation starts with your input now. We can’t truly recognize our potential unless we plant the seeds now.

Take IPMI’s 2021 Market Trends & Recovery Survey here.

Brett Wood, CAPP, PE, is president of Wood Solutions Group and co-chair of IPMI’s Research & Innovation Task Force.

Academic Parking & Mobility’s Response to COVID-19

By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE

The fall 2020 semester for higher education campuses has been a mixture of trial and error, adaptation, and survival. With the effects of the global pandemic continuing to evolve, ensuring some level of education and campus experience has been a rapidly moving target.

Within the parking and mobility realm, this challenge has been no different. For programs that manage on-campus transportation activities, defining how to operate shuttles, manage parking, assist with mobility options, and keep patrons and staff safe has constantly evolved with the ebbs and flows of this unique campus life experience.

IPMI’s Research & Innovation Task Force has been working throughout the year on the ongoing Roadmap to Recovery project, helping document the steps our industry is taking to support our campuses and communities. The latest installment–Academic Parking & Mobility Response to COVID-19–documents the findings from an industry survey that sought to understand strategies, policies, and practices implemented in the academic realm to provide safe, flexible, and adaptive parking and mobility options. The results, available soon, highlight strategies that have worked, lessons learned, and overall impacts to program performance.

If you’d like to continue the conversation, join IPMI tomorrow, December 16, for the next free online Shoptalk: Looking Back, Planning Ahead: Leaving 2020 in the Dust and Building a Better 2021, moderated by Casey Jones, CAPP. You can register here.

Brett Wood, CAPP, PE, is president of Wood Solutions Group and co-chair of IPMI’s Research & Innovation Task Force.

Airports Managing Through COVID-19 Crisis

Few parking sectors have been hit as hard by COVID-19 as airports–people simply aren’t flying. That said, when they do fly, driving to and parking at the airport is more attractive than using transit or transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber or Lyft, so as lockdowns ease, airport parking operations are seeing a bit of an uptick.

In the October issue of Parking & Mobility, we continue our Roadmap to Recovery series with a look at how airports have been affected and what their responses have been. From the initial hit to strategies to recover, including capital projects and keeping employees on the payroll, directors share what they’ve done, how it’s going, and what the future looks like.

Read the whole story here. Read or download and share the complete Roadmap to Recovery publication here–a compilation of IPMI’s COVID-19 resources, including sector-specific and general industry information.

Acting with Purpose and Kindness

By Rachel Yoka, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP

In a normal year, it takes discipline to set goals and stay focused on the steps you need to take to achieve them. This year has thrown us all for one heck of a curve. It’s easy to mindlessly scroll through 2020 memes (and there really are some great ones, so I recommend checking out a few).

Disruption caused by the pandemic has forced every parking, transportation, and mobility organization to revisit their entire operation. Our organization is no different. The level of disruption we have all experienced is challenging and painful. Yet, it can spur and advance innovation and positive change.

We decided as a team to respond to the ongoing crisis with intention, clarity, and kindness.

The intention behind our stay connected effort is to provide numerous resources, including Parking & Mobility magazine, frontline trainings through December, industry Shoptalks, and on-demand courses and webinars to train industry professionals.  Every one of these resources is available to IPMI members for free. 

Our Roadmap to Recovery initiative exemplifies our approach to clarity. We had to get crystal clear on what our members and the industry need, right now. We asked and you answered. We’ve heard from every segment of the industry on how they have had to adapt and stretch their organization to meet new demands.  Our newest edition of the special publication Roadmap to Recovery is available now–download it today and dive into survey results and articles by industry experts.

Kindness comes easy to our community (or at least it appears to!). Your willingness to share your experience and insight with your colleagues and lend a hand is absolutely extraordinary.  It’s apparent in our volunteers every single day. It’s evident from the generosity of our Frontline Training instructors, who freely give of their time to keep your team members up to date on essential skills.  It’s every one of our speakers showing up at the Leadership Summit  this week to offer their perspectives.  I could go on, but this would become a full feature article in the magazine.  For your kindness, thank you.  We are all that much better for it.

If you have ever had an inclination to volunteer, write, or get involved–this is your year.  Get off the sidelines and give of your gifts to our community.  Reach out to me and we will find you the right opportunity to do so.

Here’s a five-minute ask: We still need to hear from you, it’s critical to our success as a community. Here’s how you can do that:

We look forward to hearing from you–stay well and stay connected.

Rachel Yoka, CAPP, LEED AP BD&C, WELL AP, is IPMI’s vice president of program development.