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PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE

canadianparking.ca

Unique requirements Changing demands Parking solutions for a digital world Leaders in smart parking. Scheidt & Bachmann’s future proof systems help you improve your operation and maximize revenues. Let’s talk. PLEASE CONTACT:

parkingsales@scheidt-bachmann-usa.com Blanden.James@scheidt-bachmann-usa.com (781) 272-1664 Iles.Chris@scheidt-bachmann-usa.com

IN THIS ISSUE

3RD QUARTER 2021

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE

13 Welcome & Sponsors | 14-15 Planner | 16-19 Presentations | 20-23 Exhibiting Companies

7 The Importance of Operational Optimization and Flexibility

24 Preparing for Parking’s Electric Future By Dave Rich and John Abraam

By Nicole Chinea

27 Welcoming Members to the CPA and New Member Profile

10 Bringing Artificial Intelligence to Parking Guidance

28 Compassionate Management of Homeless Persons in Parking Structures By Mike Fenton

31 The Canadian Parking Association’s Management Training and Certification

By Chris Scheppmann

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT

TREASURER

DIRECTORS

Janice Legace City of Fredericton legacej@yahoo.ca

Brett Bain Edmonton Airports bbain@flyeia.com

Nigel Bullers EasyPark nigel@easypark.ca

VICE PRESIDENT

PAST PRESIDENT

Alex MacIsaac University of Toronto a.macisaac@utoronto.ca

Daniel Germain Indigo Park Canada Inc. daniel.germain@parkindigo.com

SECRETARY

Ralph Bond BA Consulting Group Ltd. bond@bagroup.com

Frank Cavaliere RJC Engineers fcavaliere@rjc.ca Sam Cusick AIMS (EDC) Corp. sam@aimsparking.com

Sharon Lewinson ACT Canada info@actcanada.com Anna Marie O’Connell City of Guelph annamarie.oconnell@guelph.ca Randy Topolniski Winnipeg Parking Authority randytopolniski@winnipeg.ca

Nick Spensieri City of Vaughan Reachel Knight nick.spensieri@vaughan.ca Calgary Parking Authority Reachel.knight@calgaryparking.com

CPA STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Carole Whitehorne 613 727 0700 x 10 carole@canadianparking.ca MEMBERSHIP & EVENTS COORDINATOR

Patty Kettles 613 727 0700 x 12 patty@canadianparking.ca DESIGN & COMMUNICATIONS

Brenda Hanna 613 727 0700 x 15 brenda@canadianparking.ca

OpinionsandrecommendationsprovidedbycontributorstoPARKERarenotnecessarilythoseoftheCanadianParkingAssociation.TheCanadianParkingAssociationdoesnotendorseorassumeanyresponsibility fordamagesarisingfromtheuseorapplicationofanyoftheequipment,services,technology,oropinionsexpressed,discussedoradvertisedinPARKER.TheCanadianParkingAssociationassumesno responsibility for errors or omissions in materials submitted for publication by vendors or authors of articles. LesopinionsetrecommandationsfourniesparlescollaborateursduPARKERnesontpasnécessairementcellesdel’AssociationCanadienneduStationnement.L’AssociationCanadienneduStationnement n’endossepasetn’assumeaucuneresponsabilitépourdesdommagesquirésulteraientdel’utilisationoudel’applicationdetoutéquipement,service,toutetechnologieouopinionexprimés,discutésouannoncés dansLEPARKER.L’AssociationCanadienneduStationnementn’assumeaucuneresponsabilitépourdeserreursouomissionsdanslesmatériauxsoumispourpublicationparlesmarchandsouauteursd’articles. PublicationsMailAgreementNo.40026129|ReturnUndeliverableCanadianAddressesto:CanadianParkingAssociation,350–2255St.LaurentBlvd.,Ottawa,ONK1G4K3|email:info@canadianparking.ca

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

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FROM THE EDITOR CAROLE WHITEHORNE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

ell, it is finally here. The CPA’s in-person conference and trade show will roll out in a few days and I’m so thankful for everyone who pushed through with us to make this event happen. Suppliers have been anxious to see clients from the industry after such a long time away, and as fate would have it, many of our members will not be able to join us in Vancouver this year due to lingering travel bans, tight budgets that reflect the hit to the parking business over the past twenty-or-so months, and understandable reluctance to join group events while COVID-19 continues to influence our daily lives. But the show must go on. So, with the encouragement from the Board of Directors and support from the Exhibiting companies, we have produced a show for those who are able to attend and are pushing into the next phase of this pandemic where we will all learn to live, work, and get back into the swing of things, pandemic be damned! That said, don’t think that we haven’t taken every precaution to be vigilant while on site at the event. There are many rules and regulations that will be necessary to make sure we all return home healthy and safe from the virus. If you are attending, you might grow weary of hearing me tell you to wash your hands! The CPA staff have been troopers over the past two years – not to say they didn’t always work diligently to keep the association running – but these past months have been a test of endurance, patience, and persistence as the two of them kept all the CPA balls in the air. Thank you, Brenda Hanna, and Patty Kettles, for all your hard work and dedication so we could get the job done and done well.

I regret that we all won’t be together for the second CPA conference since the pandemic started, but rest assured, we will blow the lid off in Quebec City in 2022. To those who can’t join us, thank you for your support at past events, and I look forward to activities over the coming months where we can network. And for those who will be in Vancouver, well… let the games begin! As we near the end of the year, our President, Janice Legace will be leaving the board as she retires with her husband Jeff – off into the sunset as they say. Congratulations! I can’t say enough about Janice’s contributions to the CPA over the many years that she has been involved and supported the association through membership, chairing Atlantic regional events with her partner in crime, Richard Smith, and serving on the Board of Directors. If memory serves, it was at one of the Atlantic events that I first met Janice, sometime in the early 1990’s. It may have been in a hospitality suite! Janice took her role as CPA President very seriously and brought her organizing and people skills to the table. We all benefited from her experience, and I will miss her very sincere nature and the odd private chuckle we shared (and those blue fuzzy slippers!) Cheers Janice. n All the best,

There are many rules and regulations that will be necessary to make sure we all return home healthy and safe from the virus. If you are attending, you might grow weary of hearing me tell you to wash your hands!

Carole Whitehorne, Executive Director

CPA Associate Partner

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

FROM THE PRESIDENT JANICE LEGACE, PRESIDENT

Farewell message from the President

las my two-year term is up, and it has been a most unusual one at that. We were so oblivious in October 2019 to how things would change in an instant and it had nothing to do with the federal election. I’d like to go back to that person and say, “get really good at running virtual meetings”, “move to cashless faster because people will soon be afraid to touch money “, “have more get-togethers now because soon we won’t be getting together”, and “maybe you should get a big supply of toilet paper because there are “crappy times” ahead.

We owe a debt of gratitude to all our provincial Chief Medical officers for taking care of us. Can you imagine how hard it will be for them to disconnect?

The conference theme two years ago was “Evolve with Us.” To evolve is to develop gradually into a better more advanced state. I have been a member of the CPA since 1997 and I want you to know that I did “Evolve --- with You ”. I’ve recently retired, and I’ve had time to look back at my career as a parking professional and all the lessons that went into making me a more evolved manager. The hard lessons were at the hands of the citizens, but the best lessons were guided by those generous and knowing folks in the industry and I met so many of you through the CPA. The CPA is all about building those connections and for me, it did a wonderful job at that. That first year was exhilarating, especially after the conference. I had met kindred spirits; I had seen so many new parking products and I asked for and got some much-needed advice to help me with decision-making. I faxed surveys to those folks I had just met to get even more information – I really did that. I have always looked forward to our

PARKER

EDITOR Carole Whitehorne carole@canadianparking.ca | 613-727-0700 x 10

STAY CONNECTED WITH THE CPA

ADMINISTRATION patty@canadianparking.ca | 613-727-0700 x 12

www.canadianparking.ca/contact

DESIGN AND MARKETING brenda@canadianparking.ca | 613-727-0700 x 15

6 SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

annual conference. To me, it was a great perk of the job. Back then, we also had more Maritime Chapter meetings and I can say that was entirely because of Richard Smith. My dearest friend and cohort loved to get us all together. I want everyone to know, there are great parking folks in the Maritimes and hopefully, they will get together again when things are more settled. I would like to acknowledge our Executive Director, Carole Whitehorne. She, along with the Board of Directors and her staff, has been working diligently to keep the association going. I have seen her in action and trust her instincts. I especially admire her optimism and gumption but my goodness, I do hope for everyone’s sake that things return to normal soon. We have more learning and networking to do, and our vendors need to show you that next remarkable thing you need to be considering. I would like to extend best wishes to Alex McIsaac, your President Elect. Prepare for a great adventure. Finally, the Canadian Parking Association is not some cold entity, it’s the people. I would like to say a big thank you to all the absolutely wonderful people that I have met. I consider you dear friends and I will miss you all. n

Janice Legace

Distribution: 2,000

RESERVE YOUR ADVERTISING SPACE TODAY! Call 613-727-0700 Ext. 12 for more details

THE IMPORTANCE OF

Operational Optimization and Flexibility By Nicole Chinea, CAPP & Benjamin Sands, CPP

The Covid-19 crisis has been devastating to most public and private parking operations. The pandemic-driven shutdowns, school closures, and corporate moves to remote work, coupled with curtailing of business travel, reduced parking demand by as much as 90% across not only Canada, but the entire global community. The crisis didn’t simply decimate parking revenues; it wrought societal changes that may be with us for years to come. While we are starting to embrace our “new normal” and see an upswing compared to where we were a year ago, it still may take many months, or even years, for parking demand return to pre-Covid peaks. What are parking owners and operators to do? How can they respond to, and take advantage of, changing market conditions if people require less parking? How can they adapt their parking facilities and operations to be as productive as possible during this period, and prepare for whatever future demand holds?

FLEXIBILITY IS KEY For many parking operations, the answer is found in operational optimization, resiliency planning, and designed flexibility. Operational Optimization is essentially the efficiency of doing more with less. Parking operations are likely to be working with dramatically fewer parkers and staff, and less revenue — at least for the foreseeable future. >

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

OPERATIONAL OPTIMIZATION is essentially the efficiency of doing more with less.

ne option is scaling the operation to meet current needs. If demand has diminished by 80%, there is no need to maintain and keep available 100% of the inventory during this period. Where possible, parking operations, process, and spaces available for use should be consolidated to minimize expense and liability (e.g., closing satellite locations to consolidate parking use to central locations, closing vehicle access to unused levels, automating cashiered operations, changing operating process, etc.). Alternative approaches to facility use and revenue generation such as converting parkade levels to work-out facilities, using parking areas for “drive-in” movies and entertainment, providing space for pop-up retail or farmer’s markets, or staging areas for restaurant take-out and food deliveries, are a few examples of innovative ways parking operations adapted during the pandemic. Flexibility is essential in today’s parking world, and that begins with facility design. Contemporary parking design should revolve around creating parking facilities that are adaptable to new uses. Typically, this requires a three-phase approach. First, parking planners and designers need to determine what individual uses need to be accommodated in different parking areas of the parkade. Next, a study should be completed to determine how the overall parking area, and individual areas within the parking facility, can be fully utilized; finally, a flexible design should be created that maximizes utilization, while being adaptable to meet future needs. Different uses require different load-bearing standards and it’s important to anticipate potential future uses and build in the necessary standards into each floor of the parking structure.

STAFFING UP Flexibility extends beyond the parkade’s design, though. The way you manage staff also makes a huge difference. Cross-training staff for a range of responsibilities provides redundancies for traditional roles. For instance, cross-training or retraining a booth attendant to provide in-lane customer assistance, perform maintenance and custodial roles, or answer intercom calls from multiple sites, will offer you flexibility in how you manage staff. It will also allow you to better adapt to changes that may occur within the facility. For instance, in periods of low occupancy or inactivity staff can be moved from an underutilized function to another role that meets the operation’s immediate needs. This can also be an effective cost-saving strategy by allowing parking facilities to operate with fewer staff and may also permit owners and operators to rely on less costly part-time staff. In fact, periods of lower than usual utilization offer other administrative benefits as well. For instance, preventative maintenance and capital improvement projects are often delayed and/or ignored because they would disrupt ongoing parking operations. This period of low occupancy provides an expanded opportunity to perform any previously delayed preventative maintenance or capital projects that may have been too logistically challenging prior to the pandemic. Of course, it may be challenging to undertake capital projects after a year of decreased parking demand —

8 SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

and lower parking revenues. But if the necessary financial resources are available, periods of lower demand can permit completion of maintenance and capital projects without impacting parking operations. If the parking industry uses the law of supply and demand to justify rate increases, the same ethic cannot be ignored when the matrix justifies rate reductions based on curtailing demand. Adjusting the Parking Rates and/or Payment Processes or augmenting current offerings with lower-cost options where reductions are not possible, will ensure that parking rates are not an impediment to reopening. In some instances, this may require pausing or re-justifying fee-based parking programs. The pre-pandemic parking operations conventional wisdom will not simply revert into the post-pandemic operating reality. Adjusting payment procedures to streamline and/or sanitize operations (e.g., removing cash/coin, introducing gateless operations, or pay-by-plate, etc.) are other viable options for enhancing the parking process. Another operational improvement that can benefit the bottom line is implementing dynamic pricing. The idea behind dynamic pricing is for parking rates to adjust to occupancy levels. The fuller the parkade or lot is, the higher the hourly rate. And if occupancy drops, so do prices. As rates drop, that parking asset becomes more attractive to transient parkers, and thus more competitive.

THE PERPETUAL EVOLUTION OF OPERATIONS Parking, and the needs of parking owners, are always evolving. The Covid-19 crisis brought changes, both foreseeable and unforeseeable, more quickly than we are used to, but the trends we see today were already starting to occur. As we emerge from the pandemic, change will continue to be the order of the day. The advent of the smart city age; the evolution of mobility; new urban planning approaches that improve upon recent innovations like Complete Streets and new Urbanism; new design approaches that build upon mixed-use development — all these factors will continue to push parking design and operations forward into the future. That is why it is essential for parking owners to make flexibility a cornerstone of their approaches. Flexible, scalable parking operations need to be put in place, helping owners get the most of their parking lots and garages in good times and bad — and parkades themselves must be designed for adaptability and new future uses. n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nicole Chinea, CAPP is a senior project manager at WGI Inc. She can be reached at Nicole.chinea@WGInc.com.

Management agreements, policies, allocations, and concessions that predate the pandemic may no longer serve their purposes as originally developed. They were based on pre-pandemic revenues, occupancies, and trends and may now be obsolete. Owners and operators should Re- assess Existing Policies and Agreements, making hard decisions about their practicality, present and future. The adage says, “...prepare for the worst, hope for the best...” And it has possibly never been more applicable to parking owners and operators than today. As parking operations anticipate re-openings, with “definitive uncertainty” about how many people are coming back and when, what’s most important to our industry is how many people are driving and parking. With the pandemic-inspired aversions to shared spaces and the focus on hygiene, the return to “normal” for traditional transportation demand management (tdm) resources (e.g., transit systems, carpools, ride-shares, etc.) may take longer than people or businesses are willing to wait. This could dramatically increase parking demand during the initial re-opening phases, even beyond pre-pandemic levels. Parking owners and operators must take this possibility into account and plan for it. Through proactive communication and coordination between employers, communities, leadership, and users about their intended re-opening plans, the re-opening can be choreographed to work within the constraints of parking supply. But failure to plan could result in parking being an impediment to an effective re-opening.

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

Bringing Artificial Intelligence To Parking Guidance By Chris Scheppmann

When we visualize artificial intelligence (AI), we often think of robots learning how to think, so they can perform human tasks. And of course, those of us who are science fiction fans probably envision apocalyptic acts committed by hordes of out-of-control robots. Thankfully, the reality is much safer and more useful than robots learning how to kick a soccer ball. This is particularly true when it comes to parking.

One of the most important recent breakthroughs in parking guidance technology is Machine Learning. Through Machine Learning, parking guidance has become highly accurate and useful, both for helping manage parking inventory and when it comes to providing parking operations with business intelligence to make better informed decisions. But, to understand the role that Machine Learning is playing in parking guidance, it is first necessary to understanding what Machine Learning is.

What is Machine Learning? Machine Learning is a type of AI. Equipment paired with Machine Learning is able to modify itself when exposed to more data. It is dynamic and does not require human programmers or designers to manually make changes and the Machine Learning models can continually improve its understanding of an environment where it is being used. As Arthur Samuel, a pioneer of the field stated in 1959, Machine Learning “gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.” As an example, Machine Learning is like a child who is born without having any knowledge and adjusts (knowledge improves) its understanding of the world in response to experience (receives new data). As that baby continues to

10 SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

be exposed to similar and new experiences, its ability to make connections and decisions improves. Over time, a child can differentiate between a spotted dog and a cow or a brown-haired dog and a horse. Machine Learning uses algorithms that predict certain outcomes and minimize errors in those predictions. They rely on neural networks, to keep measuring errors and modifying the program to minimize— and hopefully eliminate—those errors. These neural networks, which are modeled loosely on the human brain, allow the technology to learn to perform a task by analyzing training examples. An object recognition system, for instance, might be fed thousands of labeled images of cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses, etc., so it can find visual patterns in the images that consistently correlate with particular labels. In short, it learns how to differentiate between objects by analyzing the shapes of different objects.

Machine Learning in Parking Guidance That is exactly how Machine Learning improves parking guidance systems. The technology is programmed into parking guidance equipment, not just to process the video frames, but also to make decisions based on the frames. This is done with a neural network. This type of approach typically demands extra and specialized processing resources and because of that, Machine Learning has only started to become a possibility in parking guidance in the last few years. With Machine Learning, you typically provide the neural network with many sample images to train the network. The system then “learns” to recognize the trained objects in images. This is a much more accurate and precise approach when you need detailed information about what is in an image. For example, a Machine Learning system that is trained to recognize vehicles, will take an image, and look for all instances of the items it was trained to look for and then let the system know how many of those objects it found and where they are in the image. It can even provide a confidence score associated with the objects. When it comes to identifying different vehicles, the neural network will learn the dominant identifying features of various kinds of vehicles, such as cars, motorcycles and scooters, and delivery trucks and look for those features as cars enter the parkade and travel through individual sections of the facility.

An additional benefit to Machine Learning is the confidence score. If an object is detected but has a low score, it is still detected. While the guidance may not include it as an object of interest initially, it can later evaluate all the objects with a low score to see why the score was low. Taking advantage of this allows the system to recover from low scores and continually train the network’s intelligence over time. It is an important element that allows the system to continually improve itself.

Why Machine Learning Matters The primary advantage of machine learning is accuracy. The benefits of continuously improving a system’s accuracy are obvious. The more accurate a guidance system is at reading what type of vehicles are in the parking facility, the better able the system is to offer accurate occupancy information. How big of a difference does it make? The traditional benchmark for single space guidance systems has traditionally been 99%. Single space guidance providers have relied on this increased accuracy to entice owners and institutions into spending upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars for single space systems. With the emergence of machine learning, intelligent cameras that perform zone and level counting have reshaped the reliability and accuracy expected and achieved with these systems. The watermark traditionally has always been 99% per counting node, which few systems actually ever achieved. Now with some purpose-built vision-based technologies, each node can consistently achieve mid to high 99%. This is possible through continuous learning with machine learning.

THE PRIMARY ADVANTAGE OF MACHINE LEARNING IS ACCURACY.

That is particularly important at a time when parking lots and parkades are being expected to provide service in addition to parking vehicles. For instance, many parkades and lots offer space for delivery vehicles. At a time when curb management is a key to mobility, a parking guidance system’s ability to recognize distinct types of vehicles is essential, both for quantifying occupancy and space availability and better managing the curb. Improving accuracy through Machine Learning also offers significant cost benefits to parking owners and operators. In the past, owners and operators needed to install single space guidance technology to enjoy sufficient accuracy. The problem was it

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

could cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per space for a single space system. So, for a parkade with just five hundred parking spaces, the cost of installing a reliable guidance system would run around $250,000 and could run as high as $500,000. And that is just the initial installation cost. There’s also maintenance, service, and other costs to factor in. This is particularly important for owners who are considering retrofitting parking facilities with parking guidance technology. Owners can now enjoy extraordinary parking guidance accuracy without having to install expensive and intrusive infrastructure. With a camera-based system, installation and on-going costs are reduced significantly while providing the same accuracy levels associated with single space systems. And, since a camera-based system is continuously learning, it can easily detect parking violators where a single space system will only tell you if the spot is occupied or not. As a result, accurate guidance and valuable asset utilization data can be achieved for a fraction of the cost of traditional systems.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chris Scheppmann is managing member of EnSight Technologies, a leading parking guidance provider. He can be reached at chris@ensight-technologies.com.

CPA 2021 Half Page Ad.pdf

The Future of Parking Guidance Machine Learning represents the future of parking guidance. And when it comes to parking and AI, the future is not nearly as scary as science fiction authors would have you believe. In fact, through the AI elements of Machine Learning, parking guidance has become much more efficient and cost-effective, and can play a much more significant role in promoting mobility through curb management. n

2021-09-21

11:30 AM

CMY

12 SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

WELCOME TO Canadian Parking Association's

38TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE & TRADE SHOW

CONFERENCE SPONSORS

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

C O NF ERE NC E P LANNER SUNDAY

OCTOBER 3

Noon - 4:30 pm

10:45 am – 11:50 am

EDUCATIONAL BREAKOUT SESSIONS Session A

Registration 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Cocktail Reception 6:30 pm

Unscheduled Evening

Precast Double Tee Parking Garage Deterioration: Things that go “Bump-Bump” Michael Pond, RJC Engineers

Session B

Do more with less: How robotics is primed to transform the parking industry Pouya Shayan Arani, Guardamate Ashley Meehan, Genesis Security

MONDAY

OCTOBER 4

7:30 am

Registration Open 7:45 am – 8:30 am

Breakfast 8:30 am – 9:45 am

Sector Round Table Meetings Municipalities - Regency A Room Universities/Colleges - Regency B Room Airports - Windsor Room 9:45 am – 10:35 am

Main Stage Lessons in New Urban Design Concepts

Case Study: Calgary’s Platform Innovation Centre & Parkade Reachel Knight, Calgary Parking Authority Ralph Bond, BA Consulting Group Chris Davis, RJC Engineers

12:00 pm – 1:15 pm

Awards Luncheon 1:15 pm – 4:00 pm

TRADE SHOW EXHIBITION 4:00 pm – 4:50 pm

EDUCATIONAL BREAKOUT SESSIONS Session A

A Brave New (Convenience-driven) World: Touch-Free Parking Payments that Go Beyond the APP Brian Jones, University of British Columbia Kacey Siskind, HONK

Session B

Flattening the Curve on Indoor Pollution in Parking Garages Kae Shummoogum, Gasonic Group Ltd. Kam Hammad, U Technology 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Cocktails 6:00 pm

Unscheduled Evening

14 SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

CONFERENCE PLANNER TUESDAY

OCTOBER 5

8:00 am

Registration Open 7:45 am – 8:30 am

Breakfast 8:00 am

Annual General Meeting 8:30 am – 9:30 am

Main Stage EV Charging in the Parking Industry David Rehimi, ChargePoint 9:30 am – 1.45 pm

FINAL TRADE SHOW 11:45 am – 12:30 pm

Lunch

3:00 pm – 3:50 pm

EDUCATIONAL BREAKOUT SESSIONS Session A

Making the Most of Your Curbside and Parking Data Jacob Malleau, IBI Group

Session B

No More Hardware Upgrades

Nathan Armstrong, HotSpot Parking Inc. 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Main Stage

Use Your Parking Data to Identify Cost-saving Opportunities Nigel Bullers, EasyPark Wen Sang, Smarking Anoush Razavian, Smarking 5:00 pm – 5:15 pm

Closing Remarks

2:00 pm – 2:50 pm

EDUCATIONAL BREAKOUT SESSIONS Session A

What COVID-19 Taught Us About Managing Parking Sang Hwang, PaybyPhone

Session B

Upcoming Changes to CSA S413 – The Canadian Parking Standard Bob Matich, Master Builders Solutions Canada Roger Steers, RJC Engineers

6:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Celebrating Success Social Event Time to ditch your pajama pants and come out from behind that zoom screen! It's time to up your style and join us for a taste of the Mediterranean. The venue: Hydra Vancouver Estiatorio Mediterranean A beautiful restaurant whose name comes from the culinary hotspot in the Aegean Sea, the chef-driven Hydra Estiatorio Mediterranean & Bar is an up-market dining destination that goes far above and beyond your typical taverna. Featuring: Erica Sigurdson, who will help us close the event in style! Wristband Required.

ONLINE CONFERENCE PLANNER canadianparking.ca/planner2021

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

P R E S ENTATIONS

Lessons in New Urban Design Concepts Case Study: Calgary’s Platform Innovation Centre & Parkade

Precast Double Tee Parking Garage Deterioration: Things that go “Bump-Bump”

Michael Pond, RJC Engineers Reachel Knight, Calgary Parking Authority Ralph Bond, BA Consulting Group Precast double tees – synonymous with parking structure Chris Davis, RJC Engineers Platform Parkade is part of Calgary's revitalized East Village urban mosaic. The creation of Platform Parkade allowed key East Village projects, including the Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre and Central Library, to be created without standalone parking space. Platform Parkade was designed, developed, and built to address the evolving parking and transportation needs of the neighbourhood. Join this panel discussion to review the project and expand on the various concepts of new urban design that embrace and incorporate parking requirements.

Do more with less: How robotics is primed to transform the parking industry

design – have a number of strengths and advantages including improved quality control, efficient designs, reduced site time for erection, and parking-friendly configurations; however, owners also need to be aware of the operational needs of these structures as they are subjected to loading, road salts, water penetration, and other aggressive environmental exposures over time. This discussion acknowledges that, as is the case with all concrete structures subjected to the exterior environment, the deterioration of precast double tee parking structures has been well documented for decades, and – with a trained and experienced eye – is generally able to be identified through conventional non-destructive testing. There are, however, other more elusive concealed conditions – things that go “bump-bump” – not readily identifiable through visual review and acoustical testing. We will explore all these, as well as proactive and reactive restoration strategies that are available for repair and protection and table a discussion on whether there is a point-of-no-return for the service life of a precast parking structure. Finally, we will explore capital investment needs in reactive vs. proactive strategies using select case studies in several nationwide examples.

Pouya Shayan Arani, Guardamate Ashley Meehan, Genesis Security At Guardamate, we've used the pandemic as an opportunity to develop a robotic solution that aims to transform the way we work. We'll play a demo of our robot Guardamate in action and explain to you just how the latest in AI and technology are paving the way forward for innovation in the parking industry.

16 SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

PR ESENTATION S

A Brave New (Convenience-driven) World: Touch-Free Parking Payments that Go Beyond the APP

Flattening the Curve on Indoor Pollution in Parking Garages Kae Shummoogum, Gasonic Group Ltd. Kam Hammad, U Technology

Brian Jones, University of British Columbia Kacey Siskind, HONK The world of payments has changed dramatically since March 2020. According to Mastercard, 75% of consumers prefer using contactless over other forms of payment — a trend which is expected to continue post pandemic. Why? Quite simply, the old ways of paying now seem very grimy to say the least. New consumer behaviours were born out of the necessity of having to really think about how we were paying for everyday goods and services and how clean (or not) these methods happened to be. This ‘new normal’ accelerated the push towards frictionless, touch-free ways to pay. Not to mention yet another consumer expectation that is a direct effect of the pandemic: convenience like we’ve never seen before — due, in large part, to COVID-related health and safety guards, as well as a desire to save time and cut down on effort. The physical and virtual have merged like never before. And from this, a brave new (digital, convenience-driven) world emerged. Digital convenience is no longer wishful thinking; it’s a necessity. In this session, we will take a deep dive into industry trends and tools available to share how we can all meet the moment to deliver drivers touch-free, convenient ways to pay for parking that also make your business processes more efficient. We’ll showcase real life scenarios of how our technologies have been adopted – highlighting the University of British Columbia’s contactless parking and EV charging strategy that embodies safety and convenience.

The pandemic has underscored the quality of the air we breathe although most Canadians feel that we are among the top of the world for clean air. However, we spend 90% of our time indoors and the pandemic has conﬁned us even more to our homes. In Canada, we park more cars indoors compared to the rest of the world and Indoor Air Quality should be our concern as the level of indoor pollution is several times higher than outdoor air and even higher in parkades. This presentation will discuss the typical level of pollution in parking garages and ways to 'Flatten the Curve'. Research conducted in collaboration with the Air Quality Branch of Health Canada (pending) will be presented. A live demonstration of a passive technology to destroy pollution indoors just like a 'Vaccine" for air pollution will be the highlight.

QUEBEC CITY 2022 The call for Presentation Abstracts for the 2022 Conference to be held in Quebec City, October 15-18, 2022 will be available soon.

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

P R E S ENTATIONS

EV Charging in the Parking Industry David Rehimi, ChargePoint Canada is among the global leaders in the EV Industry from a policy, adoption, and per-capita penetration standpoint. Quebec is one of the top states/provinces in the world for number of EV’s on the road, and BC is consistently topping the charts in terms of percentage of new vehicle sales being electric. With aggressive Zero Emission Vehicle mandates announced federally, and auto manufacturers announcing cool, innovative EV’s seemingly on a weekly basis, it’s safe to assume you will be seeing more and more EV’s in your parking lots in the coming years. David Rehimi has been ingrained in the EV Charging industry for over 5 years as the Western Canadian Representative for ChargePoint. ChargePoint is a publicly listed EV Charging Hardware, Software, and Support provider with over 82 Million Charging sessions delivered, and someone plugging into a ChargePoint station every 2 seconds. Suffice it to say, David and the experts at ChargePoint have always been on the leading edge of EV Charging, including in public and private parkades. Join David in a presentation about the basics of EV Charging and what you need to know about providing charging to your customers in Canada including technology, infrastructure, business model, integration capabilities, and more. David will also speak about various funding mechanisms available by different orders of government which can help subsidize current and future EV Charging deployments, and any other regulatory updates across the various provinces as well as federally. Time to get charged!

What COVID-19 Taught Us About Managing Parking Sang Hwang, PaybyPhone The Covid-19 Pandemic had far-reaching consequences for all parking operations, but it also provided unanticipated opportunities that, if handled properly, could offer long-term benefits. The most significant opportunity revolved around evaluating existing parking assets. With parkades, lots, and on-street spaces operating well below capacity, parking administrators and their planning and technology partners have had more freedom to evaluate the assets, the technology that is being utilized to manage those assets, and the parking plans themselves and how those plans support the overall urban plan. In this presentation Sang Hwang will discuss the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on cities. He will offer a case study of how one major government parking owner took advantage of the pandemic to assess all of its technology equipment and replace underperforming equipment without impacting parking operations. He will demonstrate how focusing on areas where cities have direct influence and control can help them sustain and achieve their business objectives. Finally, Sang will examine all the potential technology solutions available to streamline operations while improving the parking experience; maximize assets, including capital, personnel, and infrastructure; and how to create a thoughtful, strategic technology implementation plan.

CONFERENCE PLANNER Available Online canadianparking.ca/planner2021

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PR ESENTATION S

Upcoming Changes to CSA S413 – The Canadian Parking Standard

Making the Most of Your Curbside and Parking Data

Bob Matich, Master Builders Solutions Canada Roger Steers, RJC Engineers

Jacob Malleau, IBI Group

The CSA S413 standard specifies the minimum design, construction, and maintenance requirements necessary for the structural durability of new parking structures, storage garages, parts of buildings subject to vehicular traffic or used for parking, and pedestrian areas adjoining to or contained within parking structures. This presentation will be important to all owners, designers and specifiers to learn of the code changes that are intended to improve the durability of parking structures.

Similar to other sectors emerging into the age of “connectivity” and “big data”, parking and curbside management is experiencing an information insurgence with useful data sources appearing everywhere, from smart parking meters to digitized curb inventories. However, city operations don’t suddenly improve overnight by having access to more information; the proper tools and processes are needed to effectively utilize this data, and this is often where municipalities get stuck. Fortunately, steps can be taken to ensure that curbside and parking data is being used to its upmost potential. Visualizing, managing, and analyzing data can help city planners create better curbside and parking management strategies. Using public facing maps and customizable APIs to disseminate relevant information can turn chaos at the curb into a cohesive, well managed environment. Making the most of parking and curbside data now can ensure a better experience for municipalities, mobility companies, and all other users in the future.

Everyone's talking 'big data' - but it's not about having big data, it's about making it actionable and easy to use for dayto-day operations. With their parking data, EasyPark was able to identify $562,000 worth of cost-cutting opportunities amid COVID-19, which helped them stay cash ﬂow positive throughout 2020. Pandemic or not - a data-driven parking operation is the future of parking. In this session, you'll gain best practices on how to:

Use Your Parking Data to Identify Cost-saving Opportunities Nigel Bullers, EasyPark Wen Sang, Smarking Anoush Razavian, Smarking

• Use your parking data to identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising service • Identify revenue opportunities and see how to efﬁciently monitor your locations remotely • Leverage your data to make demand-driven resource and stafﬁng decisions • Recognize patterns within your data in order to identify areas that need your attention

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

E X HI B ITING C OMPANIES Visit the exhibiting companies to view the latest in parking and mobility innovation

AIMS-EDC Corporation

Carlo Gavazzi (Canada) Inc

Our Automated Issuance Management System provides a comprehensive parking management system in one package. AIMS functionality includes permit management, ticket management, tow management, events management, license plate recognition and pay by phone. AIMSWeb provides an e-commerce solution for clients to utilize any browser, smartphone, or tablet to view their parking history, register vehicles, pay or appeal tickets, purchase parking permits, and more. AIMS LPR provides automated in-vehicle enforcement utilizing advanced License Plate Recognition technology that integrates seamlessly to AIMS. AIMS Mobile Enforcement provides real-time parking ticket issuance, real-time lookups and integration to AIMS as well as third party systems including; Pay-by-Phone, Pay-by-Plate and Pay-by-Space vendors for ease of enforcement.

Carlo Gavazzi manufactures, markets, and sells a broad range of products for industrial automation, energy and renewable energy, and building automation.

BOOTH 18

www.aimsparking.com

Akasha Technology Inc. BOOTH 21

Akasha Technology is currently a software development company with experience in developing application uses with LiDAR sensors. Our new project ParkLite aims to use LiDAR to solve parking management issues. Our LiDAR devices are a more sustainable and cost-effective solution as they can run on Solar Power, and also provide stall-based monitoring and tracking without buying ground sensors for every stall. 3 ParkLite devices can cover a parking lot of 200-300 spaces, and accurately track per spot usage, parking entry/exit as well as parking infractions. These can be combined with our parking app to help people do virtual payment, spot booking and navigation to the nearest available space. www.akashatech.com

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BOOTH 13

We will be featuring our latest "Parking Guidance System" (PGS3) for below and above ground parking facilities. Of course we will also have some key supplimental products used by parking customers globally: - Loop Detectors, Photo Sensors, reflectors, - IO-Link Inductive Sensors and a variety of other Sensors and Sensor Demos from our line. Some of our product part numbers you will be able to see exhibited by us are: PMP12RI, PC50CNP06RP, LDP1PA2DU24, LDD1PA2DU24, ER100, ER5080, ER4, ER4060, ER42182.

Canada Ticket Inc. BOOTH 17

Specializing in ticket printing since 1979, Canada Ticket is one of North America’s most diverse speciality printers. Our flexibility allows us to customize our products to meet your needs and equipment specifications: thermal rolls/fan-folded, season-tickets, barcoded/variable imaging, magnetic-striped, spitter/machine-dispensed, and a whole lot more. www.canadaticket.com

EXH IBITING COM PANI ES EasyPark

HotSpot Parking Inc.

At EasyPark, our mission is to provide safe, clean, friendly, convenient and affordable parking to the Greater Vancouver community. EasyPark has a service history of over 70 years in parking management and excellence within the City of Vancouver. EasyPark’s operations have grown to encompass more than 125 parking facilities in over 60 diverse client accounts.

HotSpot Parking Transit Taxi is an industry leading software service that helps Cities, Public Institutions and Private Operators, gradually adapt to the commuter of today’s digital transportation needs.HotSpot Parking Transit Taxi is a full digital transportation solution with products like Mobile Pay, Digital Parking Permits, Fast Tap Signs (for no app download), Digital Gate Access, Merchant Validation, License Plate Recognition, and Enforcement solutions. HotSpot Parking helps lowers the costs of parking infrastructure and parking revenue collection. Agencies can rely less on traditional hardware and O&M budgets so that they can reinvest that money into other projects throughout the city.

BOOTH 8

www.easypark.ca

Genetec BOOTH 9

Genetec develops open-platform software, hardware, and cloud-based services for the parking, security and public safety industries. Our automatic license plate recognition technology allows you to increase parking enforcement efficiency and improve parking officer safety by identifying violations and scofflaws simultaneously, guiding parking officers, and reducing ticketing disputes. www.genetec.com

gtechna BOOTH 15

BOOTH 7

www.htsp.ca

J.J. MacKay Canada Limited BOOTH 5

Incorporated in 1960, J.J. MacKay Canada Limited (MacKay Meters) is a recognized world leader in the parking control business. The MacKay product line includes single-space parking meters, featuring the mkBeacon™ and the MacKay Guardian™ X Series mechanisms, the MacKay Tango™ pay stations, and Sentinel™ Meter Management System. Additionally, MacKay manufactures its own line of parking meter housings, locks and decorative poles.

gtechna develops smart parking software solutions, including eCitation and permit management, to help governments and parking operators better serve its citizens. Twenty years of successful collaborations with leading cities, such as Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, PA, Minneapolis, MN, Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, BC have led to the company’s expansion into international markets, including Australia, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. Continued high demand for gtechna’s enforcement solutions by world-class cities has positioned the firm at the forefront of the parking industry.

www.mackaymeters.com

www.gtechna.com

www.master-builders-solutions.com

HONK

Offstreet Technology

HONK is North America’s leading provider of contactless payments for the parking industry. We provide game changing technology for on-demand parking, permits & reservations while reducing costs, increasing compliance & user satisfaction. HonkTAP, the industry's first scan-to-park solution, will change your world - users can pay for parking with a simple tap of their phone!

Offstreet helps organizations self-manage their visitor, customer, and employee parking. We build license platebased complimentary parking management software. This allows locations to convert to a fully digital and decal-less environment.

BOOTH 12

Master Builders Solutions BOOTH 19

Master Builders Solutions is a global manufacturer of traffic deck coatings, expansion joints, sealants, concrete repair, light reflective coatings & water repellants used in the construction and repair of parking structures.

BOOTH 2

www.joinoffstreet.com

www.honkmobile.com

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

E X HI B ITING C OMPANIES PayByPhone

SpotHero

PayByPhone leverages decades of experience in mobile payments for parking to enable municipalities, higher education, and private lot operators to deliver a better parking experience.

SpotHero is the digital parking leader and only independent off-street parking marketplace in North America. Millions of drivers use SpotHero’s mobile apps and website to find, book and access off-street parking in over 7,500 locations across 300 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Leading operator partners leverage SpotHero’s AI-powered dynamic pricing platform SpotHero IQ to power data-driven decisions. For more information, visit SpotHero.com/Sell-Parking.

BOOTH 20

www.paybyphone.com

Precise ParkLink Inc. BOOTH 1

EV charging stations; Artificial Intelligence; Pay-on-Foot systems; multi-space meters. www.preciseparklink.com

Sika Canada Inc. BOOTH 14

For the Parking industry, Sika Canada construction products enable facility owners to effectively preserve their concrete structures, reduce operational costs and help ensure that users have a safe and positive experience. Sika products protect concrete structures from the costly risks associated with the damaging effects of aging and vehicular traffic demands. Sika is a single-source manufacturer offering a comprehensive package of waterproof traffic membranes, surface treatments, concrete repair products, structural strengthening materials, corrosion mitigation solutions and expansion joint seals. Sika products are specified by Owners, Property Managers, Engineering Consultants and are installed by experienced contractors for new construction and refurbishment works www.sika.ca

Southland Printing Company, Inc. BOOTH 11

Southland Printing provides all Brand/MODELS of Machine and Hand-Issued tickets. Our products include Mag Stripe, Bar Code and RFID enabled products, Validation/Scrip Books, Hang Tags, Decals, Airline Boarding Passes, Baggage Tags, and Every Ticket Imaginable! Southland offers … over 150 STOCKED items ready for 24-hour shipment … 20 WORKING DAY TURNAROUND on all products … worry free ORDERING via Phone, Fax, Email, or our Web Site. We can supply what you need when you need it! www.southlandprinting.com

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BOOTH3

www.spothero.com

T2 Systems BOOTH 10

T2 is the largest parking technology provider in the country, with more than 27 years in the parking industry. Its open technology and processes are used to manage more than 200 million parking transactions for over 2 billion dollars annually across all 50 states and nine provinces in Canada. www.t2systems.com

Tannery Creek Systems Inc. BOOTH 4

Available in fixed camera for Parkades and mobile LPR for street, autoChalk offers Digital Chalking, Pay-By-Plate, Pay-by-Space, Plates as Permits and Scofflaw. Enhanced with autoChalk's sophisticated machine vision, it recognizes vehicles with snow covered, missing or deliberately distorted plates. Tannery's autoChalk features offer triple productivity, superb ease of use, tough and durable, powerful back office, comprehensive customer support and award winning technology! www.tannerycreeksystems.com

TIBA Parking Systems BOOTH 16

TIBA Parking Systems is the leader of reliable, and userfriendly Parking revenue management and mobility solutions. TIBA is committed to an “Engaged Parking Experience” through superior product, flexible solutions, and first-rate customer success partnerships. TIBA enables customers to capitalize on technology to unlock new revenue opportunity. www.tibaparking.com to learn more. www.tibaparking.com

EXH IBITING COM PANI ES Trecan Combustion BOOTH 6

Trecan is a specialty manufacturing company, based in Atlantic Canada, that has been designing and manufacturing stationary and portable Snowmelters for over 35 years. To date, the company has delivered over 800 units’ worldwide for use at parking structures, secure military facilities, airports, cities, property owners and snow contractors. Trecan Snowmelters offer many advantages including: highest efficiency in industry (98%), cost effective snow removal, reduced handling, safer alternative for snow removal, reduced traffic flow to secure facilities, increased savings over trucking, remote communications, and long life of equipment. www.trecan.com

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

PREPARING FOR PARKING’S ELECTRIC FUTURE By Dave Rich and John Abraam

Canada’s automobile future is electric. In recent months both General Motors and Ford have announced their intention to begin transitioning to electric cars and trucks, with GM aiming to produce only EVs by 2035 and Ford and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler) setting a goal of 40% of their vehicles being electric by 2030. Other automakers are even more ambitious. For instance, Volvo plans to go all-electric by 2030. The anticipated evolution of Ford and GM cars and trucks from gas power to electric will have enormous implications. Of course, the ultimate goal is to be more sustainable. Eliminating exhaust from millions of cars and trucks could have enormous implications for the environment and the health of Canadians. The transition won’t come without challenges. The change-over will have an enormous impact on individuals and businesses alike. For instance, it takes longer to recharge an electric vehicle than a gas

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one; how will that impact people who must drive distances beyond the battery’s range? How will Canada develop sufficient recharging infrastructure? What will happen to gas stations; will they become “juice bars”? These issues will sort themselves out over time, but the answers won’t come without hurdles. Parking, in particular, will feel the impact. Parking facilities will be the most important charging location, aside from the driver’s home. After all, where else do people leave their vehicles for long enough periods of time to fully charge an electric car or truck? And parking owners aren’t ready. Most owners of parkades and complexes with parking assets don’t have the infrastructure in place to provide widespread EV charging. Even those that do offer charging usually only have a handful of EV charging stations on hand. That may be sufficient today, when a relatively small percentage of people drive electric cars, but it will fall woefully short when Canada’s vehicles are primarily electric.

PLANNING FOR TOMORROW, TODAY 2035 may seem like it’s far away, but when it comes to facility planning it’s right around the corner. Parking facilities that are being designed today will be in service for 40 or 50 years—perhaps until 2071. That’s why it’s imperative that institutions, developers, and owners include widespread EV charging into their designs right now. In fact, some cities are already pushing owners in that direction by updating their code requirements to mandate that 25 or 30 percent of any new parkade or surface lot be EV capable or ready. Of course, this is just a starting point. In 15 years, most parkades and surface lots will need to significantly exceed that 30 percent number.

This process is particularly challenging with existing structures because you are introducing an entirely new network of infrastructure into a concrete building that wasn’t designed to accommodate EV charging technology. It requires coring directly into the concrete so you can run the necessary piping and wiring from outside into the structure and then into individual spaces. In some cases, it may be necessary to run the wiring and conduits under a garage’s exposed beams, attached to the ceiling of the floor below, in order to avoid damaging the concreate and steel in the floor itself. This may not be the most elegant solution, but it could provide a safer one.

The big issue facing owners is infrastructure. You can’t just drop an EV station into a parking space. EV charging requires power supplied by a local utility (unless you have a self-sufficient solar or turbine system); wiring to convey that power; conduit to house the wires; and of course, charging stations. That’s a lot of infrastructure to add to the multitude of design elements that already go into designing and building a parking facility.

Mistakes can undermine the integrity of the structure, so it’s essential to have the planning and design managed by an experienced parking design consultant. It also makes sense to have the construction performed by a company that understands parking construction and restoration.

Integrating all of this into the structure poses significant challenges because you need to be sure that the addition of all these elements doesn’t undermine the structural integrity of the parking facility. Multi-story parkades serve hundreds—often thousands—of vehicles weighing thousands of pounds; structural damage, particularly to a facility’s floors or support beams, can be disastrous.

The process is simpler with new construction, but it still requires careful planning. It’s easier to accommodate EV infrastructure with precast structures because the precast elements can be specifically designed and constructed to accommodate the conduit and wiring. With cast-in-place post tension structures, the construction team needs to carefully introduce the conduit that will protect the wires as they are pouring the concrete.

WHAT AND WHEN While these engineering issues are crucial, they are only part of the equation. There are also the questions of what and when: what type of charging technology to install and when to install it. There are three basic types of charging equipment. Level 1 is more of an entry level charger. It uses a normal 120-volt connection, similar to a standard household outlet. It’s the slowest charging option available and tends to be more suited to overnight charging. For parkade owners who plan to monetize their EV technology, level 1 may be underpowered because it takes so long to fully charge a vehicle that vehicles may monopolize spaces that owners would rather turn over frequently. However, for long-term parking facilities, such as at airports, level 1 may be sufficient. These units typically cost between $300 and $2,500 each. Level 2, the most common charging station, is 240-volt technology that can fully charge a vehicle in about three hours. Level 2 stations cost between $6,000 and $20,000 and average out to around $6,000 each. A level 2 station can typically fully charge a vehicle in eight hours or less. Level 3 charging stations are by far the fastest and most expensive. They operate at 480-volts and can provide an 80% charge in about 30 minutes. The average cost of a fully installed level 3 EV charging station is around $63,000 and may require a utility company to install a transformer.

The decision about which level charging doesn’t revolve around the types of vehicles that are being charged. Each manufacturer has its own pin configuration (and Tesla, perhaps the best-known electric vehicle manufacturer, operates in a universe of its own), but adapters are widely available to allow vehicles to charge at most stations. The decisions should be based on cost and how the parking owner

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

wants the charging station to impact the use of parking spaces. If more frequent turnover is desired, levels 2 or 3 may be desirable; if long-term or overnight charging will be the norm, level 1 may suffice. Another consideration is timing. Every parking owner will eventually need to achieve a significant level of conversion to EV parking spaces, but it doesn’t have to happen overnight. The auto industry plans to be largely (if not completely) electric over the next 15 years, but even then, there will be millions of traditional gas-powered vehicles on the road for another ten to 15 years. Many Canadians drive their cars until they are no longer serviceable—the average car on the road today is 9 1/2 years old—and that trend will continue even after the auto industry completes the conversion to all-electric vehicle production. Creating a timeline requires careful strategic planning. Owners don’t want to find themselves with too few EV charging spaces to meet demand because they’ll lose parking customers to competitors who can meet demand. For the same reason, they don’t want to have dozens or hundreds of spaces with EV charging stations that go unused. The equipment is expensive, and owners don’t want to invest valuable capital before it’s necessary. Plus, as with any new technology, it’s reasonable to assume that the cost will drop significantly as new manufacturers enter the market. Why spend $6,000 per space today when the same technology may cost $1,000 or less in a few years? Owners should work closely with their parking consultants to estimate what demand is going to be over the next 15 years and how that demand will grow from year to year. Then they can make an informed decision about how many EV units to install each year.

autoChalk

Fixed Stationary LPR Mobile Vehicle Mounted LPR Flexible Solutions Digital Chalking

 Pay-By-Space

 Permits

Access Control

 Pay-By-Plate

 Scofflaw

Triple Productivity in All Weather Tough and Reliable Superb Ease of Use Powerful Back Office Exceptional Customer Support Award Winning Technology! Tannery Creek Systems Inc sales@autoChalk.com www.autochalk.com 1.905.738.1406

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LOOKING TO THE FUTURE The automobile industry’s electric future is right around the corner, and it will have an especially significant impact on parking owners, developers of complexes with parking assets, and institutions like airports and universities with an abundance of parking. Because vehicles tend to be parked for relatively long periods of times in parking facilities and lots, they will be the primary locations for drivers to recharge their vehicles, outside their homes. Now is the time for parking owners to plan for this transition. The addition of new charging technology throughout parkades and lots will be expensive and time-consuming, and owners should be strategic to assure that they are investing in the right equipment and creating a timeline that best meets their needs. If owners plan to monetize their charging resources to recoup some of the cost of installing and operating the equipment, or even to earn new revenue, now is the time to begin planning for that as well. n

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: David Rich is Vice President of Rich & Associates, Inc. Parking Consultants. He can be reached at dnrich@richassoc.com. John Abraam is a principal at Strategic Energy Solutions Inc. He can be reached at jabraam@sesnet.com.

WELCOMING MEMBERS TO THE CPA We welcome the following new members to the Canadian Parking Association. Some are new to the industry, and some familiar names have been a part of the industry for several years, and are now included in the CPA membership. Thanks to all members for your support.

City of Saskatoon Carey Baker Parking Services, 222 3rd Ave., N Saskatoon SK S7K 0J5

IBI Group Yuval Fogelson 7th Floor - 55 St. Clair Ave., W. Toronto ON M4V 2Y7

R. F. Binnie & Associates Ltd. Julian Cheung Suite 3004940 Canada Way Burnaby BC V5G 4K6

Concord Parking Steven Sall 3001 Wayburne DriveUnit 201 Burnaby BC V5G 4W3

Offstreet Technology Melanie Lehrer Kyle Smyth 2 - 2375 College Avenue Regina SK S4P 0S8

Solutions Hesion Canada Inc Geoffrey Garnier 880, rue Roy Est.Suite 300 Montreal QC H2L 1E6

GENETEC Inc. Beverly Wilks #400, 2280 Alfred-Nobel Blvd. St-Laurent QC H4S 2A4

Offstreet Technology Emma Ulmer 2 - 2375 College Avenue Regina SK S4P 0S8

TranSafe Consulting Ltd. Raheem Dilger 109 - 3588 Sawmill Crescent Vancouver BC V5S 0H5

Tellext Inc. Pouya Shayan Arani 1359 Chamberlain Drive North Vancouver, BC V7K 1P4

THE CANADIAN PARKING ASSOCIATION

NEW MEMBER PROFILE

Hesion is the result of a merger of two companies – one that specializes in air quality and ventilation management and the other one in License Plate Reading. Today, Hesion has developed an international footprint with a headquarters in France and two subsidiaries in Switzerland and Canada. Specializing in Smart Parking Solutions, Hesion provides its customers with advice and support in their transition with customized solutions. With a presence in Canada for over ten years, Hesion has developed intelligent parking management solutions for customers such as Pearson International Airport, Billy Bishop Airport, and the University of Toronto. With unprecedented changes arising from COVID-19, Hesion’s goal to drive forward deploying new initiatives in Canada, continues to be their focus. Geoffrey Garnier recently joined Hesion Canada located in Montreal, QC and is responsible for all Canadian sales. To find out more about Hesion Canada, visit https://hesion-park.com/en/

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

Compassionate Management of Homeless Persons in Parking Structures

By Mike Fenton CPP, PSP

During the months of April, June and July 2021, City of Toronto staff moved 6,333 homeless persons out of encampments to safer city-managed or provided accommodations. Another 1,858 persons in shelters were referred to city-provided “inside” accommodations such as leased hotels. The highly regarded Fred Victor Mission advises that on any given night 10,000 persons in Toronto are sleeping “rough”.

It is worth noting that homeless persons who do not want to sleep in shelters do so because they are afraid of being assaulted by other residents or because they feel their meagre possessions may be stolen. Another unfortunate reality is that homeless persons who “sleep rough” sometimes carry rudimentary weapons such as homemade knives or clubs. When being admitted to government run shelters these weapons are typically removed from the homeless person and not returned to them. Given the size of the homeless population and the ineffective access controls on some parking garages it is not surprising that some homeless persons end up sleeping under the stairs in garage stairwells (especially if they are heated), little-used elevator

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lobbies and the unsecured area at the top of most residential and commercial building stairwells. This year at GardaWorld about 25% of our consulting quotations are related to homeless persons sleeping in parking areas, under open loading docks and/or investigating allegations of thefts from mostly unlocked parked vehicles and/or of bicycle thefts, the victim believes were stolen by homeless persons.

Prevention WARNING SIGNAGE: The first step in preventing homeless persons from stealing items from parked vehicles is to erect large easy to

read signage through out your parking facility with messages such as: Lock your Vehicle, Take Your Keys, and Keep Valuables Out of Sight. Where good internet and cell phone coverage is present, emergency contact numbers could be added if there is 24-hour security on site. ABANDONED VEHICLES: Remove abandoned vehicles from your parking garage. Homeless persons may be sleeping in them and in some cases, the car may even belong to the homeless person. It is recommended to post warnings on the subject vehicle for at least three days before having it towed away. Make sure that you keep accurate records of the tow company and where the vehicle can be retrieved. The problem of homeless persons sleeping in vehicles is so bad in Chicago that there is a bylaw that requires parking lots to remove them after 5 days.

An APP for the Homeless An App called Chalmers was developed by software company Ample Labs as a public service. From your location, the App shows the nearest available shelter bed and where the nearest free meal can be found. Supplying this app to security teams provides a tool that will offer options, so security officers are not simply evicting the homeless person to an unknown fate. Be aware of the names and phone numbers of nearby shelters and local homeless person street patrols. Keep them on hand as a resource when homeless persons are encountered in your garage. It is much safer and compassionate to call a local street patrol to come and pick up a homeless person in cold weather than to simply evict them.

In our experience homeless persons are far more likely to co-operate with shelter workers than security or even the police, so keep an open line of communication with your local shelters.

Educate Employees Another way to improve your homeless person situation is to educate employees or residents about steps they can take to avoid attracting homeless persons onto the property.

Controlling Access AUTOMATIC OVERHEAD DOORS WITH NO ACCESS CONTROL: Some commercial and residential parking garages have overhead doors equipped with motion sensors, but no access control equipment such as card readers and vehicle detection loops. An unauthorized person can activate the door by simply walking up to it. The addition of parking access and control equipment will limit access to unauthorized persons. EXCESSIVELY LONG OPEN CYCLE: Overhead garage doors can remain open for up to 90 seconds or longer after a vehicle enters. This length of time reduces the potential for the overhead door to close on a vehicle but also makes it easy for a homeless person to enter after a vehicle has passed. Tests should be conducted to determine an appropriate length of time for the door to open and close after the vehicle. This will vary

SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

depending on the location of the access control equipment and the physical aspects of the ramp. In Calgary, some garages have dealt with this situation by installing a second photo beam that becomes activate when the door is open or opening. It is connected to an audible alarm that sounds when someone attempts to walk, ride a bicycle, or drive a vehicle into the garage while the Overhead door is activated. INFECTIVE VIDEO SURVEILLANCE COVERAGE: Often, the overhead door is not monitored properly by the video surveillance system. The overhead door camera may be grouped on a single monitor with multiple cameras being displayed, making it difficult to see suspicious persons entering on foot via the overhead door. A more effective system is to equip the camera covering the overhead door with video motion detection and interface it to a large monitor at the security desk. Activity at the overhead door will set off the motion detector and activate the camera. Images appear on a full screen that is quickly observed by security personnel who can dispatch officers to the area. SLEEPING AREAS: Unsecured areas at the base of stairwells should be secured with appropriate fencing to prevent people from sleeping

in these areas. Watch for signs such as layers of cardboard, bubble pack or old blankets in obscure areas of the parking garage – a sure indication of homeless people making camp in your parking facility. TIPS FOR RESIDENTS: Offering food to homeless people is a noble gesture, however, this may attract more homeless persons. If you have food to donate, take it to a nearby shelter, or a local Church, Mosque or Synagogue where it can be properly distributed. TIPS FOR MANAGEMENT: Ensure that garbage and recycling items are kept inside until shortly before the time they are to be picked up. Also keep the recycling room secure. To prevent unauthorized persons from breaking in, consider a quality dead bolt lock and suitable strike cover plate for the garbage and recycling room doors. n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mike Fenton CPP, PSP is GardaWorld’s Regional Security Consultant for Ontario and Atlantic Canada, and he can be reached at michael. fenton@garda.com

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30 SPECIAL CONFERENCE ISSUE | PARKER 3RD QUARTER 2021

rjc.ca

The Canadian Parking Association’s Management Training and Certification. The Parking Management Certification program (PMC) addresses the training needs of management teams and front-line supervisors who oversee parking operations. This program sets performance and service standards at the point where the parking operation, technology, mobility, and the customer meet. The PMC credential is the standard by which performance can be measured.

Standards

The Examination

Recognized as the benchmark for supervisory and management level employees in the Canadian parking industry, the program offers candidates a comprehensive study program that includes relevant and essential aspects of a standard parking operation.

The computerized PMC examination is composed of 150 four-option multiple-choice questions and is administered during a 3-hour testing session held in close proximity to the candidate’s home or workplace.

The course is designed for quality and fairness in assessing the skill set for the industry and may be used by employers to evaluate candidates during the hiring processes.

Former CCPFM Graduates

Development Of The Certification Program The study materials and examination outline contain information fundamental to the defined roles and responsibilities of parking managers. Content has been compiled from a cross-section of parking professionals from Canada and has been updated to include current information relative to today’s parking industry.

Holders of current CCPFM designation will be offered a discounted fee to study the revised materials and retake the examination. If certification has lapsed, full fees will apply.

Parking Industry Credential The Canadian Parking Association, as the national authority for the industry in Canada, has the authority to grant or rescind the use of the professional designation of Parking Management Certification “PMC” to candidates who successfully complete the program.

Course Content OPERATIONS: Types, Design, Regulations, Loss Prevention, Equipment/Systems/Technology, Safety REVENUE CONTROL: Accounting, Auditing MOBILITY MANAGEMENT (TDM) CUSTOMER SERVICE MARKETING/ADMINISTRATION MAINTENANCE HUMAN RESOURCES

Training Course Registration & Information canadianparking.ca/pmc/