Mid-South Transportation and Parking Association (MSTPA): Annual Conference and Tradeshow 2024
May 6-9, 2024
Chatanooga, TN
May 6-9, 2024
Chatanooga, TN
Sarasota, FL – New micro-mobility transportation options will soon be available to residents and visitors of Sarasota after the City Commission on Monday approved an agreement with an e-scooter and bike sharing provider.
Veo, a nationwide company based in Chicago, was selected as the exclusive operator in designated areas across Sarasota. About 350-400 scooters (both seated and stand-up) and 50-75 bicycles (traditional and pedal-assisted) will initially be available for rent, with the company having the option to increase the rental fleet if usage requirements are met.
City staff will now be assessing areas of the City where scooter and bike corrals may be operated via geofencing and establishing parking corrals. The service is expected to be available in about 45 days.
Rental costs for scooters will be $1 to unlock them via a mobile app, and 37 cents per minute. Bike rentals will be 50 cents per half hour. Through its Veo Access program, the company also offers discounted rates to low-income users who qualify.
The City will receive a share of the company’s revenues as part of the two-year agreement.
“We’re very excited to be bringing these convenient, safe and cost-effective transportation options to Sarasota,” said Mayor Erik Arroyo. “Having a micro-mobility program will help fill in the gaps in our transportation network for first-mile and last-mile trips to help our citizens get where they want and need to go. I’m looking forward to a long and successful partnership with Veo.”
As part of the agreement, the company has committed to employing locally based staff who will be available to repair and replace vehicles, return misplaced scooters and bikes to parking corrals and respond to any issues.
“Many of the industry’s biggest companies responded to the City’s call for vendors, but we were most impressed with Veo’s plan to make this a true partnership and serve the unique needs of our community,” said Parking Division General Manager Mark Lyons.
Veo operates in more than 35 cities across the country, including St. Petersburg and Gainesville here in Florida.
For more information, visit veoride.com or contact the City of Sarasota Parking Division at 941-263-6475.
About the City of Sarasota: Distinguished by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top 10 Best Places to Live in the U.S., the City of Sarasota is a diverse and inclusive community located on Florida’s Suncoast with 56,000 year-round residents, several internationally recognized cultural arts venues, stunning sunsets along Lido Beach and Major League spring training baseball with the Baltimore Orioles. Learn more about us at www.SarasotaFL.Gov
By Kathryn Hebert
Transportation systems produce the largest percentage of greenhouse emissions in the US (more than 28 percent). President Biden is committed to addressing environmental issues through his multi trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal.
Last December, the governors of 13 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, plus the District of Columbia, signed an historic multi-jurisdictional memorandum of understanding called the Transportation Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P), which commits each state and identifies policies that advance environmental programs to improve quality of life, create jobs, and maintain critical mobility sources. The goal is to decrease greenhouse carbon emissions by 26 percent in 10 years and increase investments in an equitable, cleaner, and more resilient transportation system.
The TCI-P will cap carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline and on-road diesel fuel and require suppliers to purchase allowances for carbon emissions produced by fuel covered by the cap. It is expected that the cap will decline over time, which will translate into reduced emissions.
What does this have to do with parking? Parking is critical to the implementation of many environmental programs and projects and will continue to play a major role. During the pandemic, we all learned to pivot, adjust, repurpose, and leverage parking assets to create economic activity and opportunity. There is a huge opportunity for the parking industry to step up and be part of the process, the program, and the future. Vehicles are already transitioning to hybrid and electric and soon thereafter, autonomous vehicles will become mainstream. All these vehicles still need to be parked somewhere.
There are technical, infrastructure, and parking management opportunities everywhere. We are all now talking about curb management and mobility hubs that will safely and equitably manage all mobility sectors. Let’s get together and think outside the box! Read more here.
Kathryn Hebert is president and CEO of TPMConnect and a member of IPMI’s Board of Directors.
Moderated by Casey Jones, CAPP, FLASH
Join IPMI for our next online Shoptalk addressing the parking, transportation, and mobility industry’s response and recovery planning. Open to all, join us for discussions centered on best practices, next steps, and the challenges ahead.
Join IPMI for our next online Shoptalk addressing the parking, transportation, and mobility industry’s response and recovery planning. Open to all, join us for discussions centered on best practices, next steps, and the challenges ahead.
Curbside management continued its leap to prominence even as COVID-19 decimated traditional parking demand. From deliveries to passenger pick-up and drop-off to restaurant and retail curbside service, on-street dining, public transit and beyond, managing who uses the curb, for how long, and sometimes for how much—and how drivers can plan for it—is a big priority in cities and operations around the world. Join us for real-world case studies from Columbus, Ohio, and Las Vegas, Nev., including great ideas that worked, the technology coming to the forefront, lessons learned, and beyond.
As Assistant Director for Parking Services, Robert Ferrin oversees the administration, enforcement, operations, and management of public parking for the City of Columbus, Ohio. In June 2019, he was elected to the International Parking and Mobility Institute (IPMI) Board of Directors. Robert moved to Columbus in late 2017 from Colorado, where he spent nearly seven years working in various parking leadership roles with the City and County of Denver as their Manager of On-Street Programs and the City of Aurora as their Parking & Mobility Manager. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geography.
Brandy Stanley, CAPP, has served as the Parking Services Manager for the city of Las Vegas since 2011 and has been in parking for almost 30 years. In this role, she oversees all aspects of the city’s parking system including the operation of parking meters, enforcement, collections, off-street facility management, and contract negotiations. She is also responsible for technology evaluation and implementation, supporting new development with parking expertise, and setting the direction and mission for how the parking system can best support the city’s economic development goals. Brandy earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Free to all industry professionals.
Join IPMI for our next online Shoptalk addressing the parking, transportation, and mobility industry’s response and recovery planning. Open to all, join us for discussions centered on best practices, next steps, and the challenges ahead.
With COVID-19 vaccines becoming more widely available and life—and travel—returning to something resembling normal, airports are seeing more traffic, which means more people parking and using mobility options. Recovery is in sight.
Join us to talk about how airport parking and transportation operations are recovering: What’s going back to “normal,” and what new technologies, practices, and ways of doing things will stay permanent. Bring your challenges, solutions so far, questions, and observations for an open roundtable discussion.
Submit your questions and thoughts for the discussion on the registration page.
Matt Sherwood is a revenue strategy program manager for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, whose mission is to develop, promote, and safely operate Reagan National and Dulles International airports. He has been in the parking and ground transportation industry for 15 years. Matt is part of the team that is responsible for managing the airports’ commercial parking portfolio and his primary focus is consumer strategy, enhancing the customer experience, revenue optimization, and pricing.
He is actively involved in the industry and is currently serving on IPMI’s Technology Committee and Awards of Excellence Committee.