Tag Archives: TPP-2015-05

Consumer Resources, Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Regulatory Environment, Research, Resources

Parking Woes in Developing Countries

January 26, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

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 populated cities of developing countries!

In the developing world, domestic migration is driving the move from rural to urban living. Almost everyone wants to live in cities, which were not always properly planned and developed to accommodate the millions of new residents. Globalization pushed these cities into newly realized economic hubs.

Along with economic growth is the rise of new car owners, ready to burn rubber and itching to find their perfect parking spot … if they can find one at all.

In Beijing, there’s a glaring disparity between the number of vehicles and the number of parking facilities built to accommodate them. The annual growth of 340,000 private cars in 2004 versus only 100,000 parking slots (both curbside and off-road) is clearly a problem.

Second only to China in terms of population, India is also considered Asia’s third-largest economy. A rapid rise in car sales made India the 11th-largest market for passenger car sales (2010). The market continued to grow so that in 2013, sales were pegged at 2.6 million passenger vehicles. So where do they park all these new cars?

The 2013 Global Land Transport and Infrastructure Requirements study by the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that by 2050, India will need an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 square kilometers of surface parking area, an area equal to 35 times the size of the city of Mumbai or just a little smaller than entire state of California.

Many of the parking woes in developed countries are also present in the developing world. Aside from the disparity between the number of vehicles and number of parking slots available, there are also the issues of parking locations, lack of parking signage, informal parking, and inefficient policies causing altercations and accidents related to parking.

Parking Locations
Just as in cities in the U.S., parking demand in developing countries is dependent on location. As expected, highly commercialized areas need more parking slots compared with less urbanized zones. But to exacerbate the problem, there’s also a lack of garages in some urban residences.

In my city of Manila, Philippines, even parking at home is a problem. The sheer lack of space to park a car can drive owners to park their cars on the streets. Aside from the lack of security and traffic congestion this may cause, the practice also results in pedestrian accidents as a majority of sidewalks in the city are virtually non-existent. Pedestrians are forced to walk on the streets, sometimes even in the middle of traffic.

In a desperate attempt to remedy the problem, a Filipino congressman filed an unusual bill (House Bill 5098) requiring new car owners to provide proof of parking. Although almost nobody believes the bill will pass, it still underscores the need to provide effective parking management to address parking issues in urban areas.

Lack of Parking Signs
One of the most basic parking requirements is parking signs. A lack of parking signs and confusing signage can easily be the cause for other issues, such as unfair towing, altercations, and unpaid fines. As we all know, proper signage is especially important for on-street parking, but a lack of signs or missing signs anywhere causes confusion for drivers.

As it is, professionally made standard No Parking signs are sometimes treated more like suggestions rather than serious parking policies. Imagine what happens in a country with no parking budget or policy where residents use improvised cardboard signs written with a Sharpie?

Informal Parking Market
Parking in densely populated cities can also be an opportunity for corruption by local officials or area gangs. The market for informal on-street parking is driven mostly by demand for convenient parking spaces. Motorists are willing pay premiums for vacant, but illegal, parking spaces provided by officials who look the other way.

According to a study by the Inter-American Development Bank in Latin America, in Mexico, parking prices are between $0.70 and $3.80 per hour. In Guadalajara, it ranges from $1.50 to $2.30. Bogota rates may be as high as $2.70, and Buenos Aires is in the range of $1 to $2.12. The fact that drivers are willing to pay means that there is a real need for these facilities. For the local government, it is a wasted opportunity to raise funds. These additional taxes could’ve paid for other projects the community needs. But instead, the funds go to crooks who intimidate and harass drivers refusing to pay.

Ineffective Parking Policies
The IEA 2013 study predicts that by 2050, global parking for vehicles will have an almost three-fold increase, from 30,000 square kilometers in 2010 to 80,000 square kilometers in 2050—an equivalent of four Californias. It is estimated that China and India will contribute about 40 percent of the increase.

If there’s any hope for parking reform for the cities of emerging economies, it would be the creation and proper implementation of parking policies that make sense. These policies don’t have to be a one-size-fits-all solution for every country, as each country, city, and even city block have different needs.

Fortunately, there are organizations responding to this need. The 2011 study funded by Asian Development Bank, “Parking Policy in Asian Cities,” focused on providing insight about the different parking policies in Asian cities. The study recognizes the importance of parking, not only in the central business districts, or CBDs, but residential parking and commercial parking, as well. It looked at the different approaches to solving parking issues that could potentially improve the parking situation in the region.

It’s interesting to note that the parking predicaments the researchers uncovered were problems developed countries have faced before—namely, U.S. cities in the 1920s, Europe in the ’50s, Japan in the mid-’60s, and Hong Kong and Singapore in the ’70s. As culturally different as these countries are, it cannot be denied that in terms of economic growth, there are similar valuable lessons developing countries can learn from.

Conventional and Alternative Parking Policies
Back to Freakonomics. Stephen Dubner explains in very layman’s terms how the current conventional and mainstream free parking policy works: Four parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of store, three spaces per beautician for a salon, one space per 10 nuns, etc. I’m not sure if he’s kidding but the point is that there is a general lack of flexibility in the policy. Academics, including Donald Shoup, have pointed that out, and some cities, such as San Francisco, listened.

Would a program such as SFPark work in developing countries? SFpark eliminates the concept of free parking in San Francisco and instead charges drivers the “right” cost of on-street parking, relative to location and time. In this system, prices are dynamic, literally applying the law of supply and demand, almost in real time. According to Shoup, the right price of parking is achieved when at least one or two slots remain available in a given city block.

Not all cities in Asia may benefit from this system. Some cities have very low-volume on-street parking, but in cities such as New Delhi, Beijing, and Manila, where parking on the street is the norm, the system could certainly be implemented. Currently, on-street parking prices are set in a lot these cities, but the concept of dynamic pricing could prove to be the best solution.

SFpark’s smartphone app helps drivers check the availability and price of parking, and in some cities, such as Manila, traffic apps such as Waze are already in use. Resistance is to be expected at first, but in time, drivers would get used to the idea of a changing parking price, much like San Franciscans.

Privatization of Parking Facilities
Policing of parking violators takes expensive man-hours for the local government. Giving the responsibility of the parking security and maintenance to private contractors is another option for the city government to still earn income from public on-street parking while saving on overhead costs.

Off-Street Parking
Multi-level parking buildings are another solution to consider. Three of the largest malls in the world are in Metro Manila, but parking is no problem for shoppers thanks to the multi-level parking lot provided. The malls’ parking structures even provide parking spaces for establishments near the area. The relatively low cost of parking attracts drivers to the mall even if they didn’t plan to go there.

Implementing Parking Policies
No matter how many parking infrastructures and policies are created, the city government must have the political will to follow though and implement legislation. If not, the issue of parking will have a domino effect, affecting mobility, economy, environment, and the general well-being of the city’s people.

Annaliza Vasallo is a content team lead for Seton.com, a provider of workplace safety solutions. She can be reached at isabellaassmith@gmail.com.

TPP-2015-05-Parking Woes in Developing Countries

Consumer Resources, Education & Training, Frontline, Management & Human Resources, Operations, Parking & Mobility Article, Resources

Constant Change

January 26, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

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 specific needs in terms of providing spaces at attractive pricing before they even start to head toward their destinations.

Hand-in-hand with this continued modernization of our facilities is the changing role of the frontline associate from the perspective of both the employer and the job seeker, leading to the big question: How do we apply data analysis to the frontline associate when it comes to attracting, interviewing, and hiring this level of talent?

While hourly worker statistics specific to parking may not be readily available, we do know the following thanks to national census and comparative data:

The Department of Labor states that hourly workers make up more than 60 percent of the entire U.S. workforce, equaling 75 million employees; the agency predicts that by 2020, this number will increase by 1 million.

Both the retail and hospitality industries say frontline employee turnover can range from 50 to 105 percent.

According to a study by The Aberdeen Group, the constant cycle of hiring and firing in retail results in more than $1 billion spent in job advertising and hiring costs per annum.

Add to the above what we know about our hourly workforce on the lot: Their job role has and continues to change in material ways, requiring a different skill set and behavioral makeup than in the past. In considering this composite, combined with the shift in operations and the parker profile, organizations no longer have to accept that the churn-and-spend is “just the cost of doing business” when it comes to hiring the frontline associate. Organizations can actually leverage available data to break legacy hiring and leadership habits.

Analyze Available Employee Data
If your organization hasn’t examined its recruitment, interviewing, and hiring practices for frontline associates in awhile, there’s potential opportunity to turn the recruitment process upside-down to drive better results.

As with analyzing revenue and parker trends, look first to the available data. The typical metrics related to recruitment and hiring include various hiring ratios, cost per hire, and days to hire, all of which are readily available from an applicant tracking system. When examining this information, like any other type of analysis, identify the drivers behind each statistic.

As an example, in our practice we find that while Craigslist continues to lead the pack in terms of drawing the highest number of applicants, this source may not yield the highest number of hires; we find it typically averages one hire per 10 applicants (recruitment industry statistics state one in seven is the target to shoot for). We continue to determine that employee referral programs drive the highest number of applicants to hire, averaging two hires per five applicants. Applying the math to the above comparison, if every interview takes roughly 30 minutes, hiring managers spend five hours hiring one employee through the cited posting route versus two and a half hours interviewing to hire two. These types of analytical exercises can shed light on how organizations can shift time, money, and resources to attract larger numbers of applicants who are more qualified for the open positions.

Who Is Your Ideal Candidate?
We once worked with a client in a fairly large market whose hiring practice required applicants to travel up to 60 minutes for the interview. All candidates were told they had to pay for their own background check and uniforms, and the interview questions centered around the applicants’ transportation options and flexibility with working evenings and weekends. Not surprisingly, when we examined their data, we found that more than 70 percent dropped out after the interview and their subsequent turnover was in the low triple digits. We then asked detailed questions regarding their ideal candidate profile and compared it to current hiring practices and the analysis. Needless to say, the hiring managers became quite engaged to shifting all of the above so we could close the gap between what they defined as their desired workforce and who they were, in reality, attracting.

With the proper analysis completed, any organization can conduct a similar exercise, first redefining the ideal candidate with great detail and clarity. Putting job postings and job descriptions aside, brainstorm the characteristics, skills, and behaviors of the frontline associate through three different lenses: parking customer, leader, and co-worker in terms of needs, expectations, and performance. This simple diagnostic always identifies some surprising aspects that can then be used to update job descriptions, job ads, and the applicant process itself.

In combination with this exercise, consider the profile from the actual job seeker’s perspective with the following insight:
39 percent of today’s hourly workers are younger than 25; 33 percent are between 25-44; and the remaining 28 percent are 45 or older.
More than 80 percent listed a five-mile commute and flexible hours as top priorities when seeking an hourly career opportunity.
75 percent of candidates are looking at three jobs at the same time and will, on average, last in any given application pipeline between 30 and 60 hours.

Hourly job seekers increased mobile usage to apply for jobs by 113 percent between 2012 and 2013.

And an interesting trend that will undoubtedly continue to grow is the job seeker’s evaluation of the organization itself. According to an article from The Telegraph Report, 20 percent of rejected applicants shun their potential employers and amplify their dissatisfaction online (think Glassdoor.com and Yelp).

All of this points to a very important implication—if an organization is still posting generic job ads, treating applicants more like numbers than individuals, and hiring based on short-term staffing needs, two potential risks are created: The organization is unknowingly attracting the truly desperate job seeker, and those more qualified who choose to withdraw from the opportunity are potentially sharing their disappointment with the process online.

Market to Win the Top Talent
With the data analysis and candidate profile in hand, this insight can now be applied to practical tactics, starting with the job description and job posting. Ensure the description very clearly defines today’s frontline associate position requirements and essential duties as identified in the previous two exercises. It was during this drafting process that one of our clients realized that his company still required cashiers to be able to drive manual vehicles and valets to have their driver’s licenses for a minimum of seven years. When compared to today’s world, these two legacy requirements were adjusted, and the organization experienced a notable improvement with its applicant pool.

What your job opening communicates is as important as where it is actually posted. The job posting should sell the opening as a career opportunity and not just tell the basic requirements of the position. How it’s placed on your organization’s website and elsewhere will largely determine both the quantitative and qualitative results. Look at any retail website to gain a strong sense of this recommendation: The career page is typically buried somewhere at the bottom of the landing page, and three clicks later, a perfunctory form appears. In stark contrast, view the career page of Southwest.com: It states working at Southwest “isn’t just a career, it’s a cause” and goes on to explain how the way Southwest values the customer experience is applied to their associates’ respective careers. Mystery solved as to why they can have set times during the year to accept job applications and continue to win accolades for both customer service and employee satisfaction.

Beyond the organization’s own employment page are countless posting sites with new ones cropping up every year. In a quick search, I found several sites that actually source hourly candidates on behalf of the employers’ specific requirements and another handful that cater to niche labor pools and offer bilingual functionality. All of these continue to be very cost-effective and, in some instances, won’t charge a fee until a certain number of applicants complete the interview process.

With all the effort placed in drawing a better-qualified candidate, be sure to exploit the process by conducting a robust and meaningful interview. Make sure the interview questions strike a solid balance between technical and behavioral-based questions and always include the selling points as to why working with your organization is of benefit to the job seeker. One sure way to demonstrate your organization’s continued commitment to hiring top talent is by providing a simple one-pager to the candidate that includes both the job description and all that is offered in exchange by the organization. In addition to listing base salary, also include vacation, benefits, retirement allowance, and training with each item monetized and tallied. Candidates immediately connect with all they can gain by performing to an organization’s standards when it’s viewed through the lens of dollars and cents.

Speaking of this: According to several retail and hospitality associations, 30 to 50 percent of a frontline associate’s annual wages can be spent on average per hire. We’ve determined in the parking industry an organization can spend up to $1,200 in direct costs per new hire. By conducting your own data analysis when it comes to the frontline associate, identifying the ideal candidate profile, and then exploiting the findings throughout the recruitment and interview process, you can ensure the time and money invested in drawing qualified candidates at higher volumes will yield the anticipated results: an accelerated hiring process that brings better talent to your organization that ultimately improves the customer experience, which all translates to better bottom-line results.

Colleen M. Niese is principal of The Marlyn Group. She can be reached at cniese@marlyngroupllc.com.

TPP-2015-05-Constant Change

Education & Training, Parking & Mobility Article, Regulatory Environment, Resources, Sustainability, Technology

THE BIG PICTURE

January 26, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By John W. Martin

All of us will spend the rest of our lives in the future. Understanding what’s ahead and what it means has tremendous value, not only to you as individuals, but to your companies and even the entire parking industry. What’s the best pathway for your career? What will sustain your company’s growth? What effect will your industry have on your community’s transportation flow, economic development, land use, placemaking, architectural aesthetics, and even overall quality of life?

Given how fast things seem to change today, what we need now more than ever is a way to glimpse into the future with a greater degree of certainty—to plan for what’s next! And this is precisely what we’ll do at the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

My assignment as your keynote speaker is to share with you a new way to see your industry’s future, to outline the transcendent trends shaping the future of parking, and to equip you with practical ways to position your company as a viable player for years, if not decades, to come.

Seeing the Future Through a
Generational Lens
Most presentations from futurists have three fundamental flaws. First, they make precise predictions like a palm reader: “In 2019, XYZ will happen.” Second, they typically assume that things will go on as they are today—things will get better or worse depending on the trajectory of a particular trend that someone else has identified. Third, they provide little research-based evidence to back up any of their claims or predictions. Our approach is refreshingly different—our clients even call it eye-opening!

As a 50-year-old marketing research company that specializes in the transportation category, we hyper-focus our future-forward presentations not on trendspotting but rather on what we believe is the underlying force behind all demographic, cultural, and societal trends: people. People shaped the events of the past. People will shape the future, responding to changing circumstances, resources, incentives, and motivations. The science and art of trendspotting, therefore, isn’t about envisioning the future based on past trends, but rather seeing the future based on an understanding of people’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations. These are the key predictors of future behavior. In a nutshell (not a crystal ball), we believe the future depends not on trend lines, but rather change agents—the people who are shaping the future: you, me, and us.

To help 2015 IPI Conference & Expo attendees get a better sense of where we are all headed, we will share our research-inspired approach to understanding people. We will introduce generational dynamics as a new lens on how people think, feel, and act today and how this will most likely influence their future actions. We will help everyone gain a new perspective on how baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials have shaped parking in the past and how they are likely to shape its future in the years ahead.

We come by this perspective honestly. We have been studying generational cohorts for decades. We know that members of the same generation, by definition, have shared many of the same formative experiences that set them apart from other generations. Did they live through times of war or times of peace? Did they come of age in an era of prosperity and rising expectations or a period of economic turmoil and broken dreams? Were their families large or small? Were the heads of most households a mom and a dad, or did most have a different structure? Was the dominant media in a generation’s childhood TV, computers, or mobile devices? Did their cultural icons include the Rolling Stones, Nirvana, or Beyoncé?

Because each generation comes of age at a unique time and place in history, they share experiences that shape their worldview (see the sidebar on each generational cohort). Generational distinctions are not psychological, but sociological. We see this in the more than 14,000 research studies we have conducted since the mid-1960s. Understanding how each generation is wired provides profound insights on what’s happening right now and a powerful starting point for better understanding where people are headed in the future.

This perspective puts into context demographics, technology, society, culture, governmental policy, and other trends, making them easier to spot and much easier to appreciate. It takes into consideration the “who”—who will lead the trends and who will make them happen. We will share this perspective with you, turning you into a futurist who is better equipped to see where the parking industry is headed.

Transcendent Trends Reshaping the
Future of Parking
With a generational lens in your head and a practical, Rosetta Stone–like handout in your hand, we will explore the major transcendent trends we see shaping the future of parking (and your business and career).

This research-based journey will include an overview and likely effects of the major demographic and cultural shifts coming our way: the age shift, urban shift, diversity shift, gender shift, mobility shift, expectation shift, sharing shift, and many other equally disruptive demographic, cultural, and technological changes shaping the future of parking.

With each trend, you will see firsthand the power of applying a generational lens. The coming age shift is a great example. There will be a rapid increase in the population of older adults across America as the baby boom generation reaches 65. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are approximately 38 million people in America age 65 and older right now; by 2030, that figure will grow to about 73 million people. Most states will look like Florida does today, with 20 percent of their population being senior. What’s the impact on driving and parking of this large generation reaching the last quarter of life? Today, one in seven drivers are older than 65. By 2030, one in four drivers will be this age—consider Google’s push to develop the “driverless” car. Many of our enlightened transportation clients—DOTs, DMVs, rideshare organizations, and transportation associations—are now aware of this coming age shift and are already starting to look at the resources and services they will need to meet the needs of this much larger age cohort.

They’re doing so using our generational lens. The older adults of tomorrow, aging boomers, aren’t just greater numbers of the seniors we have today. They are members of the original “me” generation (there’s a “me” in boomers), and they’re wired differently than the silent generation before them, the current group of older adults who are 70 to 86 today. Boomers, compared to silent generation cohorts, are more demanding, more transformational, more driven, more entitled, and more determined to always stay in control. The parking needs of older boomers will differ, and what they will expect from the parking industry will differ, too. They will want greater, but perhaps more “invisible,” assistance (read: “I am not dependent”) in locating a parking lot, parking their cars, paying for parking, feeling safe, and even finding their cars when they leave your facility.

What to Do Next
Significant change is coming, and the long-term viability of the parking industry in general, and your business and career in particular, depends on more than simply being aware of what’s ahead. You also need the ability to take action to leverage key trends.

So in addition to sharing our generational lens and our research insights on where the parking industry is headed, we will conclude our session with a set of practical actions that IPI members should take now.

While many of these action steps will help you secure a competitive long-term edge, the insights you’ll gain will give you an edge in attracting and retaining employees and customers today.

My pledge to you: What you’ll learn in Vegas at this keynote session will not stay in Vegas. You will take insights from this keynote session back home, share them with your colleagues, and help your colleagues become more energized and laser-focused on how to drive your business’ success today and for years, if not decades, to come.

See you in Vegas!

John W. Martin, CEO of the Southeastern Institute of Research (sirresearch.com) and GenerationsMatter (www.generationsmatter.com), is a keynote speaker at the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo. He can be reached at info@sirresearch.com.

TPP-2015-05-THE BIG PICTURE

Education & Training, Frontline, Management & Human Resources, Outreach and Media Relations, Parking & Mobility Article, Recognition & Awards, Resources

Viva Las Vegas!

January 26, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By Kim Fernandez

Viva parking! The world’s largest gathering of parking professionals will be held next month, and if you haven’t made your reservations for the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, it’s time to claim your space, reserve your hotel room, book your tickets, and block off the calendar. There’s more in store than ever before, and this is the single industry event that’s sure to leave you energized, educated, and enthusiastic about your role in parking, transportation, the economy, and your community.

The 2015 IPI Conference & Expo will be held June 29–July 2 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Convention Center in downtown Las Vegas, and the schedule is jam-packed with education sessions, lively and informative keynote addresses, the biggest and best Expo in the industry, and a few surprises that are sure to have you on the edge of your seat. With everything going on, this is one event you’ll want to attend.

Pre-Conference
This may be the year to arrive on site early, as there are several pre-Conference sessions and events planned. Those start with the five-day UVA Business Management class that kicks off Saturday, June 27, and the four-day Parking Operations and Management Immersion class that starts Sunday, June 28. Both offer CAPP points and CEUs and require advance registration.

Golfers will want to pack their clubs and arrive in Las Vegas by Sunday, June 28, for the 22nd Annual CAPP Classic Golf Tournament at the Bali Hai Golf Club. Designed by Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley in 2000, the par-71 course offers spectacular views of the Las Vegas Strip, along with seven acres of water features, more than 4,000 trees, and drama and thrills that build as the course progresses. Golf Digest named the club one of its top 50 resort courses, and it’s the perfect spot for a day of fun with parking industry friends and colleagues. Advance registration is required.

On Sunday and Monday, the Green Parking Council (GPC, an affiliate of IPI) will offer both the Green Garage Assessor Training and Green Garage Certification Workshop, preparing parking professionals, consultants, and others to green the industry by making facilities more sustainable. These courses will prepare participants to assess garages as part of the new Green Garage Certification program and get garage owners ready to certify their facilities. Advance registration is required.

The Expo: Unlimited Opportunity
If you’ve been to an IPI Expo before, you already know: There’s nothing on earth quite like it. This is the place new products and technologies are introduced, where parking professionals touch and try the things that make their businesses run smoothly, and where shaking hands and saying hello while perusing the aisles can lead to career-enhancing relationships that boost everyone’s productivity.

This year’s Expo will be bigger than ever, with more than 225 exhibitors showing off products, services, technologies, and the things you don’t even know you need until you see them, including a new Pre-Cast Pavilion on the show floor. A full-featured Conference iPhone and Android app and the printed program guide make it easy to plan time to see every exhibitor on your list, and the online Attendee Service Center at IPIConference.parking.org includes a Navigate the Expo tool to pinpoint exhibitors who have the products and services you’re already looking for.

Also on the Expo floor are PowerPitch forums, which are Q&A sessions focusing on problem-solving technologies, products, and developments to take home and put to use right away.

A complete list of exhibitors starts on p. 36; it’s a great guide to tear out and share with everyone in the office so they can all plan their time at this year’s
show.

Education and Professional Development
With more than 60 sessions spread out through four days (including several popular, high-energy Ignite sessions), the education offered at the IPI Conference & Expo is second to none—if it’s on your mind, it’s here! Sessions will cover the latest technology and industry trends, plus new information and case studies that can be translated to specific companies and situations and put to work back at home.

IPI has partnered with the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) to offer more professional credits than ever before! As a result, our quality education programs offer Learning Units (LU) to architects and Professional Development Hours (PDH) to engineers. This track is also a provider of education with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Council of Examiners of Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES).

In addition we are accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). In obtaining this accreditation, IPI is authorized to offer IACET CEUs for our four- and five-day management courses.

This year’s education program is divided into six specific tracks, designed to be taken as mini-curricula or in a mix-and-match format that offers a broad overview of the industry. The tracks are:

Building & Construction Management: Learn how parking structure aesthetics have changed, including precast concrete, site planning, functional design considerations, structural systems, mixed-use, and cost considerations. Case studies will be presented to highlight the concepts presented, and AIA credits are available to participants.

Customer Service: What parking organization couldn’t use more ideas and strategies to keep more customers happy? This track will explore how to remove barriers that detract from the visitor experience and replace them with high-engaging experiences that contribute to a positive impression.

Finance: Explore ways to improve revenue opportunities with the changing dynamics of parking. Learn about holistic transportation management, including bike valet services, pedestrian wayfinding, and support of transit options, along with municipal case studies, opportunities, and models.

Organizational Improvement: Learn about the benefits and important of accreditation, Complete Streets, and best-in-practice strategies that can be put to work just about anywhere. Gain a broad knowledge of external influences that shape and influence the direction of the parking industry.

Sustainability: Going green has never been more relevant, and this track offers the technologies, trends, and management practices that make a difference to the industry and its customers and communities. This track includes effective ways to best invest in sustainability and the future of parking through smart growth, along with the Certified Green Garage program and how international parking departments are embracing sustainability with great results.

Technology: The world and the parking industry are changing faster than ever. This track examines how the parking industry is getting ahead, including payment technology, license plate recognition, and case studies that illustrate how new advances have made the industry and individual operations leaner, more efficient, and better able to meet the needs of their customers.

Grab a cup of coffee and join us Thursday morning July 2, 8 – 9:30 a.m., for our first education session wrap-up. This will provide time to ask questions of peers, industry experts, and the presenters about various things you learned after the sessions. It’s a great way to catch up on sessions you couldn’t attend or get more information on some you found particularly fascinating.

Make time as well to visit this year’s Poster Session, with visual displays of ideas, technologies, and case studies in an easy-to-digest format. And don’t forget a wide array of sector-specific ShopTalks, including several new offerings.

Keynotes
Along with industry-specific education, the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo offers the outstanding, energizing, and informative keynotes attendees love. This year’s three general sessions are no exception:

Ten Transcendent Trends Reshaping the Future of Parking. John Martin, CEO and co-founder of GenerationMatters and CEO and co-founder of the Southern Institute of Research joins IPI to explore demographic, cultural, and technological trends that are having a profound influence on the parking industry. How will different cohorts use parking? How will technology change the way we operate? How can you develop your organization into a purposeful brand? This lively presentation will include actionable steps you must take to secure a competitive edge across generations.

What I Learned from Las Vegas (and Other Lessons from our Disruptive Times). Join Gordon Price, director of the city program at Simon Fraser University, for this illustrated look at how tidal forces of change are altering urban areas and how this will affect parking. Las Vegas makes an exceptional case study, thriving as it does on change, and its mismatch between walkers and space; influx of millennials, and different business models make for excellent lessons. Get ready—this is just the beginning.

Slicing Through the Noise: Powerful Communication for Leadership and Professional Success. Barry Maher, author of Filling the Glass, joins IPI for an energetic session on communication: how to communicate to diplomatically and tactfully get whatever you want. You’ve read about him in USA Today, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times—this is a great opportunity to hear him live and learn his lessons for parking departments.

Also highly anticipated at this year’s general sessions are presentations of this year’s Awards of Excellence, Professional Recognition Program awards, and the Parking Matters® Marketing & Communications Awards, along with the graduation of the largest CAPP class in IPI history and first Certified Green Garages.

Be sure to attend the closing lunch on Thursday for great information and a performance by Nashville band Striking Matches—you’ve seen them on TV, and it’s a great chance to see these up-and-comers live!

Swimming with the Sharks at Park Tank
Ready to have some fun and get in on the latest and greatest parking ideas? Make sure to attend IPI Park TankSM, sponsored by IPI’s Smart Parking Alliance, where ideas for parking-related products and services will be floated in front of a panel of parking experts for feedback, criticism, and some fantastic prizes.

Modeled after the hit television show “Shark Tank,” Park Tank will be held Monday, June 29, and give participants a limited amount of time to present their break-out ideas to our panel of judges. Audience participation will be open to all, and it’s sure to weed out those who can swim with the sharks from those who aren’t quite ready to leave the fishbowl. You won’t want to miss this exciting and entertaining interactive session!

Facility Tours
There’s no town like Las Vegas to offer a first-person look at different parking facilities and how they’ve implemented technologies, policies, and practices to keep people moving. IPI’s facility tours give an up-close-and- personal experience, offering key takeaways that can be implemented almost anywhere.

This year’s tours include:

University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), focusing on the campus area near the Las Vegas Strip. Including two garages, along with signage, maintenance, and lighting, the tour will be conducted by Tad McDowell, director of parking and transportation services at UNLV, and Casey Jones, CAPP, vice president of institutional services, SP+.
McCarran International Airport, a 1.5-hour bus tour of parking facilities at the ninth busiest airport in North America. This includes the new $2.4 billion Terminal 3.
City of Las Vegas, a partial walking tour that includes the main facility for SHIFT, which features all electric vehicles and bicycles. Also included are the Neonopolis Parking Garage, built as part of a public-private partnership, and the downtown Fremont East Entertainment District.
Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino and its guest-first valet service operation. Led by LAZ Parking, this is one of the newest hotel/casinos in town and parks more than 500 cars per day with a team of more than 50 employees. Includes a demonstration of this facility’s interactive valet technology and ends with happy hour at the Grand’s rooftop pool.

Get Social
It wouldn’t be an IPI Conference & Expo without the social and networking events that bring together old and new friends for fun and invaluable networking, and Las Vegas is the perfect city for it.

Start off with the Meet & Mingle: Wise Guys and the Fremont Experience on Monday, July 29. Board one of our comfortable shuttles and be whisked away to the Mob Museum for a private evening of fun, relaxing, and networking with other attendees. After the reception, shuttles will run to and from the Fremont District for on-your-own exploration and fun.

Start Monday morning with a 5K fun run—a great way to get to know other parking professionals from around the world. Special receptions for first-time attendees and attendees from outside the U.S. also offer terrific networking and social opportunities. Tickets are required for some events.

There’s plenty of time for independent fun in Las Vegas—visit IPIConference.parking.org for more information on Explore the Area tours.

Register
All in all, the 2015 IPI Conference & Expo is a not-to-miss event that’s sure to energize, educate, and inspire everyone in a parking organization, from the new frontline employee to the seasoned executive. With more than 3,000 attendees from all over the world, this is the place to make connections that count.

Time’s running out—register and reserve your hotel room today. Visit IPIConference.parking.org for more information and to save your spot. See you in Las Vegas!

Kim Fernandez is editor of The Parking Professional. She can be reached at fernandez@parking.org.

TPP-2015-05-Viva Las Vegas!

Management & Human Resources, Parking & Mobility Article, Recognition & Awards, Resources

Emotional Leadership

January 26, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR

Each year, more than 2,000 books are published about leadership. What that says to me is that no one has it exactly right and/or people realize that there’s gold in them there hills and they want to mine their share. I contend there is a lack of leadership in our society, and as a result, we are in the midst of one of this nation’s greatest crises; it has nothing to do with politics or the economy but with the way we connect and engage with one another. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the workplace.

Before you go all scientific on me and say there’s no connection between a happy (i.e., more engaged) worker and a more productive worker, let me point you to the old remedy that many of our grandmothers used to treat a cold: chicken soup. For years, people debated whether chicken soup really had a positive effect on a cold. A study was commissioned and paid for with taxpayer dollars, and it proved chicken soup was beneficial in treating a cold.

I think the real benefits of our grandmothers and mothers providing us with chicken soup to address our colds wasn’t the act of making soup but the love and concern they put into supporting us through being ill. This is where the idea of emotional leadership comes into play. I believe we have workplaces that are both ill and ill-suited to serve the needs of their constituencies because a lack of engagement and connection with workers. So the question becomes how can we rectify the ills that plague our workplaces and set ourselves on a course of recovery?

Lessons
My dear friend, Janice Collier is without a doubt one of the best people I have ever met, and she’s phenomenal in this area. The following is a small list of the things she does that make her so special, and they are lessons we can all use to begin the process of healing and advancement in our organizations.

Self-Awareness: Each of us needs to understand what others bring to the table in any exchange, but before we can really identify that area for others, we have to identify it for ourselves. Being self-aware allows you to correctly identify and appropriately value what you bring to the table and how it can affect others. Additionally, being self-aware places you in the best position to understand how you feel prior to heading into any interaction with others, helping you make needed corrections as they arise.

Self-Monitoring: This allows you to properly behave on a consistent basis. You are in touch with your standards, values, and modes of operation. This also has implications for the way you display your attitude and professionalism in myriad situations.

Self-Motivation: One of my favorite sayings is that you can-not push a rope up a ladder. You cannot motivate anyone from the outside; motivation has to come from within.

Inclusive Behavior: Janice makes the people around her feel special by emphasizing inclusive language that makes everyone feel like an integral part of the process. Always treat people as if they matter—they do!.

Social Graces: The ability to move seamlessly among various individuals while being able to connect with all of them is essential to making them feel a part of the process. Then, they’ll provide you with the extra effort needed to take us from a transaction way of doing things to a transformational one.

Putting these ideas into practice helps develop emotional leadership. Doing it with people at work gives us and our organizations the best chance to change and grow while doing the same for others.

Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR, is founder and principal of the mpr group and author of BRAND: YOU Personal Branding for Success in Life and Business. He can be reached at jrhodes@mprgroup.info or 773.548.8037.

TPP-2015-05-Emotional Leadership

Parking & Mobility Article, Regulatory Environment, Research, Resources, Sustainability

What’s Going On with Electric Vehicles

January 26, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By Michelle Wendler, AIA

By 2025, it’s anticipated that there will be seven to 23 times the number of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) in use around the world than are on the road today. As parking professionals, we should be prepared for the increased demand for charging stations.

In the past three years of market availability, plug-in vehicles have outpaced the first three years of hybrid vehicle sales by a factor of three to one. Individual models have also seen higher initial sales than the Toyota Prius.

What’s the Difference Between Charging Stations?
There are currently three kinds of charging stations:

AC Level 1: Two to five miles of range per hour of charging,.AC Level 1 is typically used for charging when there is only a 120 V outlet available but can easily provide all of a driver’s needs.

AC Level 2: 10 to 20 miles of range per hour of charging, offers charging through 240 V (typical in residential applications) or 208 V (typical in commercial applications) electrical service.

DC Fast Charging (sometimes called DC Level 2): 60 to 80 miles of range in 20 minutes of charging, (typically 208/480 V AC three-phase input), enables rapid charging along heavy traffic corridors and at public stations. EVs equipped with either a CHAdeMO or SAE DC fast charge receptacle can add 50 to 70 miles of range in about 20 minutes.

Is There Money in EV Charging?
According to a new report from Navigant Research, worldwide annual revenue from charging services is expected to grow from $152.6 million in 2015 to $2.9 billion by 2023. This revenue represents fees paid for use of public charging units, network membership fees, subscription fees, and maintenance or service contracts. Maintenance and service contracts will become standard across all segments of the commercial charging space, and public charging will continue to shift from a free to a paid service.

Where is EV Charging Making the Biggest Headway?
The Deloitte report “Plugged In” states, “To date, the vast majority of the public charging infrastructure in the United States has been installed in projected high-EV adoption cities. Many of these were target launch cities for the three major EV manufacturers, Ford, GM, and Nissan, in 2011. Several of these cities were also identified by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) as having the potential for high EV adoption due to socioeconomic factors, such as a large number of hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) early adopters, high population density, and a large percentage of high-income consumers.”

Join the EV Everywhere Workplace Charging Challenge
The DOE’s EV Everywhere Workplace Charging Challenge is open to employers of all sizes and industry types in the U.S. whose charging stations are primarily for employee use. Taking the challenge offers benefits to employers who are considering installing charging, as well as for those who have successfully launched workplace charging programs. IPI is a partner with the DOE in this program.
In addition to the employee benefit of installing workplace charging, joining the challenge enables employers to receive:

Informational resources and technical assistance.
Assistance with assessing whether workplace charging is right for your organization.
Access to an information sharing network and their best practices.
Peer-to-peer exchange at workplace charging events.
Support from challenge ambassador organizations.
Recognition of successes.

Michelle Wendler, AIA, is principal with Watry Design, Inc., and a member of IPI’s Sustainability Committee. She can be reached at mwendler@watrydesign.com or 408.392.7900.

TPP-2015-05-What’s Going On with Electric Vehicles

Management & Human Resources, Parking & Mobility Article, Recognition & Awards, Resources

Time to Celebrate

January 26, 2016 Eric Conrad Leave a comment

By Mark Santos, PE

If you’ve watched the Super Bowl, your evening might have included a gathering with friends, excessive amounts of food, laughter, and tears during the variety of commercials, and maybe even a glance or two at the actual football game. I enjoy watching football and have for a long time. Big defensive stances, amazing Hail Mary passes, and unique play calling make for an intensely exciting viewing experience. You can see that the players and the team feel that excitement, and they show it in the form of a high-five, a rehearsed touchdown dance, or even a team hug.

The point is, they celebrate—little victories and big ones. Can it get excessive? Sure. We’ve all seen those moments we could do without, watching a grown man pounding his chest, pointing at the heavens, and shouting in his opponent’s face. But celebration in moderation should be commended.

Celebration is the result of a job well done. It is a way of elevating our team members, recognizing quality work, and giving a well-deserved pat on the back. As a parking consultant, I believe there is something that can be learned from this type of celebration and camaraderie among team members.

Our days are filled with meetings, site visits, conference calls, lots of emails, and of course, producing deliverables, from reports to construction documents. We devote our days (probably some nights and weekends too) to producing high-quality work for our current projects and the acquisition of future projects as well. It’s only natural to be reactive and deal with what’s presented in front of us, and it can be challenging to see the bigger picture. But if we take a step back, we can see that together with clients, we form a team. Clients are the team members responsible for initiating the project, along with procuring our services. Without the client, there is no project. Internally, I hope that we do enough to celebrate hard work and effort. Team lunches and staff recognition go a long way for morale. But do we do enough to elevate our clients?

Celebrating Clients
During a project, didn’t clients and consultants work as a team to achieve a common goal? Weren’t countless hours poured into designs, drawings, presentations, and meetings? Isn’t the end result something new, impressive, and exciting? The appropriate form of celebration is recognition. To ensure your client is recognized for their role, consider an award nomination as an important finale.

We have all worked with clients in the parking arena who are well aware of the awards and accolades available to superior work within the industry. But what about those clients who don’t come from parking backgrounds? It is our job to educate them about these potential awards.

When partnering with a shopping mall owner and a multi-campus college, both clients were pleasantly surprised to learn about the award programs for parking projects and initiatives when we submitted our work to the state parking association. They were extremely grateful when they received state association parking awards and have each shared the news of their accomplishments within their organizations. The shopping mall owner will feature an account of their award in their internal corporate newsletter, and the college’s executive leadership provided praise and accolades to the campus’ management staff. Yes, as teams, we had produced work we were proud of. We celebrated among ourselves—high-fives and chest bumps all around. However, elevating clients was in itself a personal reward.

Perhaps professional sports can teach us a little something about teamwork. In short, celebrate more—our projects, our team members, our clients. Hoist your client on your shoulders and let him feel a sense of pride in choosing your firm for their project. Award nominations are an extremely successful way to generate multiple levels of recognition for all involved. After all, I’m unaware of any penalty for excessive project and client celebrations.

Mark Santos, PE, is a parking practice builder with Kimley-Horn and a member of IPI’s Consultants Committee. He can be reached at mark.santos@kimley-horn.com or 305.535.7705.

TPP-2015-05-Time to Celebrate