IPMI & Member News
How frontline employees make a difference, and how parking, transportation, and mobility organizations serve their communities.
Vancouver, Canada – PayByPhone, one of the fastest growing mobile parking payments companies in the world, has planted 6,528 trees with reforestation projects in Kenya, in the name of its partnering North American clients. The trees are being planted following the success of its Green December initiative, where one tree was planted for every 50 parking transactions completed during December in participating locations across California, Kentucky and Massachusetts. Green December is PayByPhone’s annual initiative that supports reforestation to combat climate change, and is run in partnership with veritree, an organisation that connects businesses with verified tree planting projects to elevate global reforestation. Carmen Donnell, Managing Director NA for PayByPhone, says, “To be able to plant so many trees is incredibly exciting for us. This year’s campaign goal was to plant 5,500 trees, and thanks to our participating clients, we’ve far exceeded that target. We greatly value our community of loyal partners who support our efforts to create a greener future and would like to thank The City of Glendale, CA, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, the City of San Mateo, CA, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), and the Parking Authority River City (PARC), Louisville, KY, for their support of Green December.” This is the second year that Green December has run in North America, bringing the total number of trees planted to over 12,000. PayByPhone has seen great success from the initiative, which initially started in the UK in 2019, and has planted over 312,000 trees to date globally in Southwest France, Madagascar and Kenya. PayByPhone is dedicated to supporting the global push to restore natural landscapes affected by deforestation. Donnell explains: “Reforestation is essential to safeguard our ecosystems and combat climate change and Green December is our way of giving back.” For more information about Green December please visit https://www.paybyphone.com/green-december. About PayByPhone PayByPhone is more than just parking. We simplify the journeys for millions of people through our smart, intuitive technology and exciting features. We are one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies in the world, processing over 200 million payment transactions in 2023. To discover how our innovative services can elevate drivers’ experience, please visit www.paybyphone.com. Contact: Sarah Claridge Communications Consultant Indaba sarah.claridge@weareindaba.com (+44) 207 692 4964
As many of you all know the City of Charleston, South Carolina is a coastal city. Hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th. Hurricane season can provide many challenges for Charleston County. Parking Operations is a division under the Facilities Department, all parking employees are required to assist in preparation and recovery after a storm. In addition, we have employees that assist the Emergency Operations Center with the Citizen Information Line. We have three different operating levels at Charleston County- Opcon 1 – Normal Daily Operations Opcon 2 – Enhanced Awareness Opcon 3 – Full Alert At each Opcon Level, the Parking Division is required to take certain action. This includes securing signage and trash cans, installing flood panels, parking gate removal, securing pay machines, sandbagging, system backups, drain cleaning, shutting down elevators etc. In addition, as storms approach, City of Charleston and the County of Charleston offer free parking within the garages for residents and visitors during storms. Parking is limited to cars only. As everyone knows people don’t always follow the rules, we’ve had boats, grills, golf carts, trailers, everything but the kitchen sink. Cars must be out of the garages on specific days and times, if not customers will pay the prevailing rate after the day and time has passed. From a customer service aspect, we do take into consideration people that evacuated and cannot get back in time to remove their car as to whether to require payment. This is conducted on a case-by-case basis. Paul Whetzel, CAPP is the Parking Operations Manager for the County of Charleston, SC. Paul can be reached at PWhetzel@charlestoncounty.org.
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When we look at impacting communities versus just serving them—that, friends, is where we make positive change.
Positive, Measurable Change
Through Innovation and Public Service
Veterans in the Parking Industry
Suicide deterrence is important both from a moral standpoint and also to minimize trauma to parking professionals and other witnesses or bystanders. If a suicide or attempted suicide does occur in one of our garages, how do we handle the situation? IPMI has gathered information from a number of experts as well as members of the parking industry itself, with the goal of providing assistance, direction, and resources.