ASK
THE
EXPERTS Circling for parking creates congestion and frustrates both drivers and parking and mobility professionals. What step or steps do you think can be taken to reduce the phenomenon and help people find parking without the circles?
Keith Hutchings Director, Municipal Parking Department City of Detroit
The City of Detroit redeployed its “ParkDetroit” application in December 2021 to provide the consumer with awareness of public and private parking availability and pricing. The service promotes the ability to purchase or reserve parking sessions with a single platform. Mobility options will be added in early 2022. The application is scaled to expand inclusion of multiple municipalities in the metropolitan Detroit region, including the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
Tiffany Peebles Director Parking Authority of River City, Ky.
Technology is our best friend to navigate the challenges of finding parking. Developing websites, apps, or partnerships with wayfinding solutions can assist parkers in improving their chances of locating available spaces as they arrive to their destinations.
Ben Wesley, CAPP Market President, Nashville Premium Parking
Simple solutions are most often the best solutions. Circling decreases when the public are given a venue and event webpage that shows the closest parking locations and occupancy, which syncs with a native payment app, which gives directions and real-time occupancy/availability, measured by sensor and/ or crowdsourced feedback. Street-level signage for additional transparency into occupancy/availability aids in guiding the car to rest in the stall and getting the parker on their way to enjoy the real reason for their trip.
Larry J. Cohen, CAPP
Casey Jones, CAPP, PMP
Operations and technology will continue to play a critical role in reducing vehicles circling the block looking for space. For operations, follow best practices and try to maintain 20 percent availability per block at all times. This can be done through effective on- and off-street pricing strategies. Mobile apps, sensors, navigation platforms, and in-car guidance systems are moving toward not only providing available garage space but on-street space based in real time.
Cities are getting smarter— consumers are tech savvy but parking is still too often an afterthought. Mobile parking reservations, for example, will go a long way in improving the predictability parkers want while reducing endless searching for parking that needlessly exacerbates congestion.
Executive Director Lancaster Parking Authority
Director, Customer Success FLASH
/ HAVE A QUESTION? Send it to editor@parking-mobility.org and watch this space for answers from the experts.
The opinions and thoughts expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions and viewpoints of the International Parking & Mobility Institute or official policies of IPMI.
14 PARKING & MOBILITY / JANUARY 2022 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG
