Parking & Mobility — 2023 Roundup

INTERNATIONAL PARKING & MOBILITY INSTITUTE 2023 ROUND UP

A Y EA R OF T H E

B E S T

O F

2 0 2 3

INTERNATIONAL PARKING & MOBILITY INSTITUTE DECEMBER 2023

BREAKING BOUNDARIES Stories of Innovation

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MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

It’s a Beautiful Day

A

S I WAS CHECKING OUT OF MY HOTEL ROOM this past June in

Shawn D. Conrad, CAE

CEO, International Parking & Mobility Institute

By Shawn D. Conrad, CAEat the IPMI Fort Worth, Texas, following four days of comradery Conference & Expo, I heard U2’s song “Beautiful Day.” It was a popular hit for the Irish band, and a favorite of mine. The song’s message has different meanings to many, but the overall theme is of finding joy in the small things in life. It was a perfect time to hear this tune and it conjured up many feelings as I thought about all that had transpired the past several days, and more so, the past few years. A time that I relished the small stuff.

After four rather difficult years, our IPMI community was back and back in big numbers. The mood throughout the conference was upbeat, the Expo Hall was full of potential customers seeking to have conversations with nearly 200 exhibitors. The Conference’s education program opened with keynote speaker Drew Dudley, who inspired people with his stories. Attendees filled more than 45 education and training sessions. By most measures, everyone left with a great feeling and people genuinely were happy to be back together.

Throughout 2023, I have been reminded that managing and operating parking, mobility, or transportation services requires a tremendous amount of expertise to be successful. It can be challenging work, and at times not everyone appreciates what you do nor recognizes the full value you bring to your community. But this industry is focused on the customer and is innovating and piloting efforts that fully utilize your parking assets. IPMI is proud to showcase many of these projects in this Best of 2023 issue. It’s great to see that many are modernizing processes and planning for 2024 and beyond. I am happy to report that at IPMI, the same is true.

IPMI committees and our dedicated volunteers have been collaborating on projects and initiatives that will improve and shape the future of parking. These efforts include: ● Improved techniques for parking and mobility management. ● Revenue growth and planning. ● EV readiness, infrastructures, and structures. ● Data utilization. ● Maximizing curb assets. ● Sustainable operations and facilities. ● Parking’s role in the future of Smart Cities. ● Accessibility for everyone.

Developing future managers and industry leaders.

Growing the marketplace and our collective voice.

These are just a few of our efforts that will be turned into white papers, presentations, blogs, and talking points shared with both our community and those outside our industry, who are not transportation professionals but whose decisions impact parking and mobility. We need to educate these decision-makers.

For those that wish to stand out and learn from the best our industry has to offer, consider taking the steps to become a CAPP professional, the parking and mobility industry’s most respected certification. I am told repeatedly how CAPP certification has had a positive impact on one’s career. Becoming a CAPP professional gives you instant credibility.

For those organizations looking for a guidebook on how to meet or exceed industry operational standards, turn to the Accredited Parking Organization (APO) Accreditation, or go higher and achieve APO with Distinction. Even if you at first don’t qualify for an APO, the APO matrix alone will make you a more efficient and better run organization. Many of your peers have experienced this impact.

In 2024, IPMI’s Board, professional staff, and thousands of volunteers will strengthen our message of parking as a vital component of a thriving local municipality, university, airport, medical center, and commercial ecosystem.

IPMI is proud of the sharing and amazing industry professionals dedicated to shaping the future of transportation.

Together, we are transforming parking from a necessity into a cornerstone of smart, connected communities.

I’ll go a bit bigger than U2 - it’s been a Beautiful Year and 2024 will be even better! ◆ ● ●

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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

Setting the Stage for an Outstanding 2024

W

By Gary A. Means, CAPP

HAT A YEAR 2023 HAS BEEN! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing

many friends and colleagues and making new friends at the IPMI 2023 Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. I cannot wait to see all of you in Columbus, Ohio, for the exciting 2024 Conference! There is so much going on at IPMI and I thank the IPMI staff and all of you who volunteer, giving of your time and talent to advance our industry.

2024 holds so much to be excited about. Below are just a few of the highlights on my radar: Staying Connected: We have so many ways to stay connected from virtual roundtables to webinars and Frontline training we have offered them all and knowing that people are super busy we have spaced these out to battle the congestion of content we are all experiencing. We know many folks enjoy connecting this way.

Supporting the State and Regional Associations (SRAs): It has been my pleasure to attend several of the SRAs during my tenure as Board Chair, however there is almost always IPMI leadership participation at the SRAs, from IPMI committee presentations to board member involvement to the amazing IPMI in-person training by our very own Cindy Campbell and others.

Updating the Accessible Parking Coalition (APC): The great volunteers on our APC are working on parking guidelines and incorporating the ever-evolving changes that we see in the marketplace, like the uptick in deliveries/freight, more competition for the curb, and utilizing parking technology to better serve all customers.

The Formation of the Allyship & Equity Advisory Group: Near and dear to my heart has been the launch

Gary A. Means, CAPP

Chair, IPMI Board of Directors

of the Allyship & Equity Advisory Group, charged to work both internally and externally to promote opportunities for traditionally underrepresented voices to be heard and amplified. The focus will be on providing education and tools for IPMI, its member organizations, and the broader parking, mobility, and transportation community to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future. I look forward to seeing what this amazing group of diverse professionals comes up with in 2024.

IPMI Board of Directors: I couldn’t be prouder of our IPMI Board of Directors. This amazing group of leaders are constantly volunteering, committee co-chairing, moderating discussions, and serving as industry sounding boards to stay current on issues impacting our community. I want to personally thank them for the work they put in in 2023, and for all they will accomplish in 2024.

As we continue to take great strides in putting the pandemic behind us as an industry and organization, I couldn’t be more excited about the long-awaited return of IPMI’s Leadership Summit, this February 27-29, 2024, in Jacksonville, Florida. This is a great event focused on developing our future industry leaders.

I can’t wait to see you all at our next gathering! ◆

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INTERNATIONAL PARKING & MOBILITY INSTITUTE 2023 ROUND UP VOL. 5 / N0. 13

FEATURES 8 The Evolution of a Parking Professional

A story in upskilling, determination, and a drive to succeed

By Adrienne L.M. Tucker, CAPP

58 Hawaii's Two-Tiered System for Disability Parking

By Bryan K. Mick

68 How Much Parking Do You Need An individualized approach to parking minimums.

14 Parking Management in a PostPandemic World

By Jeffrey Elsey, CAPP, PE, LEED AP, Jeremy Greenwald, AICP, TDM-CP, and Jeshua Pringle, CAPP, AICP

26 Flipping the Script

Sustainable Curbsides Communicate Our Values

By Haley Peckett, AICP

By Rob McConnell, PE, SE, LEED Green Associate

72 Advancing Smart Transportation What does the future hold for Smart Cities?

By Casey Jones, CAPP, and Maria Irshad, CAPP

76 Easy as A,B,C

Creating and Implementing a University Mobility Master Plan

32 Defragmenting Parking Technology A Practical Guide to Streamlining & Optimizing Your Ecosystem Without Adding Complexity

By Christopher Perry, Sarah Becherer, and Michelle McDonald on behalf of the IPMI Technology Committee

By Debbie Lollar, CAPP, M.S.

82 Understanding the Complexities of Healthcare Parking A Q & A with Healthcare Design Experts and More

By Gordon Knowles

38 V2G

How Vehicle-to-Grid Technology Creates Passive Income and Eases the Burden of EV Regulations

96 IPMI 2023 Awards of Excellence Industry leading judges identify the most exceptional projects of the past year.

By Robert Ferrin, CAPP, Jeffrey Sallee, PE, John Wheeler, and Brian Zelis

44 Data and Parking

The Evolution of theTraditional Parking Operation

By Dorothy J. Verdon, CPSM

100 2023 IPMI Professional Recognition Awards T he professionals that are shaping the future of parking and mobility

By George J. Mclean, CAPP, DBA

50 Making Parking More Accessible Planning, Curb Management, Design, and Operations

102 IPMI Presents the 2023–2024 Boards

By Ben Henderson, PE, SE, Kevin White, CAPP, AICP, and Jon Shisler

4 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

M eet the members of the 2023–2024 Board of Directors, CAPP Certification Board, and APO Board

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COLUMNS 2 Message from the CEO It’s a Beautiful Day

FROM THE EDITOR

By Melissa Rysak

By Shawn D. Conrad, CAE

3 Message from the Board Chair Setting the Stage for an Outstanding 2024

By Gary A. Means, CAPP

5 From the Editor 12 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

E-Mobility Access in Environmental Justice Communities

By Kate Kruk

24 Innovation & Technology Game Changer

Digitized Event Parking on Campus

By Mark Frumar

30 HR Perspective

Fueling Growth Through Feedback

By Andy Santos

64 Leadership Moment A Spot for Everyone

by Maggie Vercoe

2023 HAS BEEN CALLED a “year of recovery.” Well, I

say forget recovery. 2023 was a year of resurgence.

We got back together in person again. We started feeling optimistic again. We started seeing revenue return, parkers return, normalcy return.

And then we hit the gas.

We did not just sprint back to the starting line; we soared past it. Your parking and mobility community rose to the occasion, integrating new technology and advanced protocols to the betterment of our customers and the industry.

This special issue of Parking & Mobility takes us from January to December 2023, revisiting some of the most impactful and actionable articles published this year. There were so many game-changing articles published in 2023, and I wish we could have included them all. I hope you had a chance to read each one over the course of the year; if not, no worries! We have you covered on our interactive platform, https://parking-mobility-magazine.org/. Log in today and check out all the past issues from this year and catch up on your reading any time.

As we recap 2023, there are great things behind us. And the best news of all—it just gets better from here. Thank you as always for spending some time with us. On behalf of the whole team at IPMI, we look forward to being your partner as we jump headlong into the year to come.

88 The Green Impact

Overcoming the Electrification Challenge on Campus

By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE

92 Ask the Experts 106 IPMI Calendar

Melissa Rysak, editor rysak@parking-mobility.org

108 IPMI Calendar 108 State & Regional Calendar

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 5

PUBLISHER

Shawn Conrad, CAE s.conrad@parking-mobility.org EDITOR

Melissa Rysak, CPSM rysak@parking-mobility.org TECHNICAL EDITOR

Rachel Yoka, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C yoka@parking-mobility.org ADVERTISING SALES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

Tina Altman taltman@parking-mobility.org PUBLICATION DESIGN

BonoTom Studio

Parking & Mobility (ISSN 0896-2324 & USPS 001436) is published monthly by the International Parking & Mobility Institute.

P.O. Box 3787 Fredericksburg, VA 22402 Phone: 888.IPMI.NOW Fax: 703.566.2267 Email: info@parking-mobility.org Website: parking-mobility.org Send address changes promptly to: Parking & Mobility or submit online at parking-mobility.org.

P.O. Box 3787 Fredericksburg, VA 22402 Interactive electronic version of Parking & Mobility for members and subscribers only at parkingmobility.org/magazine.

info@bonotom.com

Copyright © International Parking & Mobility Institute, 2024.Statements of fact and opinion expressed in articles contained if Parking & Mobility are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent an official expression of policy or opinion on the part of officers or the members of IPMI. Manuscripts, correspondence, articles, product releases, and all contributed materials are welcomed

by Parking & Mobility; however, publication is subject to editing, if deemed necessary to conform to standards of publication.

The subscription rate is included in IPMI annual dues.

Subscription rate for non-members of IPMI is $120 per year (U.S. currency) in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. All other countries, $150. Back issues, $10.

For subscription changes, contact Tina Altman, taltman@parking-mobility.org or 888.IPMI.NOW.

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6 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

“IPMI has been integral in connecting me with a community of my peers.

Sharing experiences and expertise with other members has been immeasurably helpful to me in my career.”

Since our founding in 1962, these three tenets have been at the core of everything IPMI does. Much has changed in the last 60 years, but our mission – to cultivate a community of parking, transportation, and mobility professionals and help them reach their goals – has not wavered.

Our members agree. IPMI’s programs, conferences, initiatives, and communications began as (and still are) vehicles for supporting our members’ desire to connect and learn from each other.

And when people do that, they can’t help but grow.

How can we help you grow?

Visit www.parking-mobility.org to learn more.

Contact us at membership@parking-mobility.com.

Joseph Madison Kennesaw State University

“ Their comprehensive education programs have increased my knowledge and helped me succeed in my career.”

Maria Tamayo-Soto, CAPP City of Las Vegas

“Volunteering on IPMI committees – as a member and a chair – has not only broadened my knowledge of the industry, but it’s also helped me make new connections and made me a better leader.”

Kevin White, CAPP, AICP Walker Consulting

“The connections, relationships, and knowledge I’ve gained through the CAPP experience helped me create a career in this industry that I couldn’t have fathomed a decade ago.”

Brett Wood, CAPP, PE Wood Solutions Group

“Writing for IPMI has given me an authentic platform to share the challenges, issues and trends I am seeing across the parking industry. It’s opened a lot of doors for me and helped our company gain clients and grow revenue.”

Kathleen Laney, Laney Solutions

Originally published in January 2023

The Evolution of a Parking The Professional

Evolution Parking Professional A story in upskilling, determination, and a drive to succeed

of aBy Adrienne L.M. Tucker, CAPP

A story in upskilling, determination, and a drive to succeed

The Evolution of a Parking Professional

M

Y FIRST FORAY INTO PARKING WAS AN UNEXPECTED ONE. It was 2003, and I was

employed as a security guard at a medical facility in Tacoma, Washington. The company I worked for at the time also had a valet division, and they invited me to apply for an Assistant Operations Manager position, overseeing the valet parking of up to 500 cars daily. Valet? I had management experience, so I thought, “Sure, ok. How hard can this be?” Very hard, as is turns out! I was very unhappy in the role, and after three years I left the position to return to school full time to finally get my bachelor’s degree—because I was never going work in parking again! Fast forward 18 years and here I am: 1,800 miles from where I started, developing a new parking program for a city I have come to love.

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By Adrienne L.M. Tucker, CAPP

So how did I get here?

How do you explain to people what you do for a living? Two of the most popular questions I get are, “You park cars for a living?” and “Parking is a thing?” I am not ashamed to admit that I will talk about what I do for a living any chance I get, because I truly love what I do. In our world, no two days are the same. We operate under any and every condition imaginable. We work in an environment where there are dozens (if not hundreds) of seeming disparate pieces of information presented to us and we must make sense of it all. We must organize it into an effective and efficient operation and do so in a landscape that is always evolving—all while reporting to multiple stakeholders.

As my parking career evolved, I have had the privilege of working in some of the most beautiful and luxurious hotels in our country. I’ve worked on task forces opening new locations in new markets. I’ve been able to develop processes and programs on an organizational level. I haven’t always been successful; anyone who tells you that their journey in parking has been without bumps or bruises is either lying or they have not pushed themselves. Anyone who has spent any length of time in our industry knows there is always that one account, that one client, market, or organization that was not a fit.

But that is okay. Our industry is multi-faceted, and you will find a place where you belong. And there is always room to grow, to learn, to flourish.

Customer service, specifically in hospitality, is where I excelled. There was nothing more rewarding than successfully executing back-to-back events: the ones where you parked hundreds of vehicles in the matter of a mere half hour; the ones where you finally arrive home at 2:00 AM exhausted but still high on the adrenaline rush of success. And then there were the days where you failed spectacularly and made the evening news for

causing an “unprecedented” traffic back up in your city (or so I have been told). It happens to the best of us.

But you keep going, you keep learning, you keep doing better because you chase that euphoric feeling of mastering the chaos. I only stepped away when I did because I started a family. But it was not too long before I started to reminisce about the good times and people I met along the way. Soon, I found myself looking for parking positions online.

Thankfully, Jeff Barnes CAPP, Director of Parking and Transportation at Kansas State University (K-State) took a chance and hired me to be the Assistant Director of his department. He had been at K-State for over 20 years, and he knew what he was looking for and what he needed in a Number Two. I will admit, university parking was a different beast. I was able to utilize my customer service background and approach enforcement not from a punitive lens, but from a customer centric perspective. I learned the ins and outs of lot and garage maintenance. Jeff also taught me the art of listening, to sit in a room full of people with competing ideas and just listen and observe. That is how wellinformed decisions are made. Sounds simple enough, but anyone who has ever spent any length of time with me knows I can be a bull in a china shop. I will forever be grateful for Jeff and his leadership during my time there.

However, it wasn’t until I became a member of IPMI, and I began to work toward my CAPP certification, that I realized just how much more I had to learn. I took online courses from IPMI and made connections with other industry professionals. Not only was earning my CAPP certification a goal on my performance review, but it was a personal goal of mine as well. And I failed my first test. As most who have taken the CAPP exam will attest to, is not easy. Standardized tests are not my forte.

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THE EVOLUTION OF A PARKING PROFESSIONAL

However, after some additional studying and a better understanding of how the test was formatted, I easily secured my certification the second time around.

The CAPP certification is not just a piece of paper.

The letters at the end of your name are not just a designation or outward symbol of attained knowledge.

They represent the commitment you have made to your career. When you earn that designation, you commit to the process of continually learning and growing within your field.

That commitment led me to the position I have today.

I currently serve as the Parking Services Manager for the City of Manhattan, Kansas. This is a newly created position, and I am helping to shape it. In fact, I helped write the job description for it while I was at K-State.

My work with the City of Manhattan in the previous months landed me the opportunity of a lifetime. I get to build a brand-new parking and mobility division for the City of Manhattan. As I write this, I have two

Our industry is multi-faceted, and you will find a place where you belong. And there is always room to grow, to learn, to flourish.

parking enforcement officers and a new garage that just opened. Over the next nine months I will hire a parking management company, hire and train more enforcement officers and office staff, develop training programs, start a permit program, review and develop parking ordinances, and create an operating budget to span the next five years. And I’m not including all the little tasks we as parking operators do on a daily and weekly basis.

And I am loving every minute of it.

To help me succeed I will be using the Accredited Parking Organization (APO) matrix as my guide. In a first ever program of its kind, I will build my department using the 14 categories and 130 individual criteria listed to ensure that everything we do is executed to the highest standard in our industry. From our site manuals to our officer and customer service training programs, all

will be designed with the intention that we will operate at the highest level and earn our APO accreditation within our first year.

To do this, every week my staff and I will meet to review, prioritize, and implement a different category on the matrix. We will check in regularly with our evaluation team and speak with other APO accredited parking organizations about their successes and failures. My staff will also work towards their CAPP certifications and take classes through IPMI and training opportunities as they arise. I know, it is a lot to take on. But if you know me, you know that I accomplish whatever I put my mind to.

None of this would be possible without the buy-in and support of my well-seasoned, 20-year parking enforcement veteran, Heath Romine. As I type this, he is working on our new officer training manual and making notes of ordinances that need to be updated. It truly is a collaborative effort; one where we shout ideas at each other from across the hall. These ideas then fill the white board, color-coded dividers and documents are being added to binders, timelines are being created. A potential contractor said our office was reminiscent of a startup company, and I guess to some degree he was correct; except for the fact that we have the guidance and support of IPMI and a brilliantly laid out matrix which all but assures us that we will succeed in our efforts.

I am sure we will be challenged in the coming weeks and months. I am sure we will have days where it feels like too many pieces of information are coming at us, and deadlines appear unexpectedly or without warning.

However, with the backing and support of IPMI I have no doubt that we will rise to the occasion. I believe in my experience and my capabilities but more importantly, I believe in my team and the organization that I work for. I believe in our mission statement which says, “We put the well-being of people at the heart of everything we do.” So long as we continue to move forward with our mission in our hearts and our work, we will create an amazing program. One in which other organizations can look to as an example of what it means to be best in class. ◆

10 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

ADRIENNE L.M. TUCKER, CAPP, is Parking Services Manager for the City of Manhattan, Kansas. She can be reached at adrienne.tucker@cityofmhk.com.

For millions of Americans with mobility disabilities, the inability to park near destinations can be a frequent occurrence that profoundly affects their ability to lead independent lives.

Scan the QR code above and take the survey to help us change that.

Share your insight and experience on accessibility in parking, transportation, and mobility operations and programs.

Open to everyone. Closes January 26.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION Originally published in February 2023

E-Mobility Access in Environmental Justice Communities

By Kate Kruk

E

LECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) SALES have seen a monumental rise in the past few years due

to increased availability and financial incentives. In response to this shift, developers and parking lot owners are putting more effort toward providing EV charging stations for their patrons, allowing them to access the future of transportation and mobility. This is exemplified in the recent surge in electric vehicle charging installations in major hubs across the country.

The unfortunate reality of this is that for many communities across the U.S., referred to as Environmental Justice (EJ) communities, charging station installation deployments have lagged, becoming another barrier to entry for their citizens. As such, it is necessary for governments and utility providers to recognize these inequities and act on them as quickly as possible.

Environmental Justice communities are regions in the United States which are exposed to higher levels of pollution and disproportionate amounts of environmental hazards, and thus experience a lower quality of life. Their residents generally—though not always—live below the poverty line and have statistically higher rates of health issues, which are often directly related to their physical environment.

Conditions like heart disease, stroke, chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer, and acute lower respiratory infections can all be linked to air pollution in these areas. These overburdened regions, specified as Disadvantaged Communities (DACs), carry the ever-growing weight of both the hazardous environment around them and socioeconomic stressors amplified by their surroundings.

These EJ communities can be found across the United States. Obvious examples are neighborhoods situated near an inner-city highway or an industrial complex. However, surprisingly, you might live or work in an Environmental Justice community and not even realize it. Areas may also qualify if there are chemical remnants from retired industrial practices, links to heavy agricultural runoff, or other forms of environmental hazards that seem inconsequential but can cause damage over time. These regions and

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The unfortunate reality of this is that for many communities across the U.S., referred to as Environmental Justice (EJ) communities, charging station installation deployments have lagged, becoming another barrier to entry for their citizens.

their inhabitants can be subject to widespread pollutants, from their place of employment to the air in their homes and the water used by their families. For this reason, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with other federal, state, and local organizations have put programs in place to identify these regions, promote the visibility of the issues they encounter, and address these inequities by creating more opportunities for ecoaccessibility and e-mobility.

Statistically speaking, inhabitants of DACs are most often those who live in rental properties and frequently utilize public transportation, making it difficult for them to influence whether they could transition to electrically fueled vehicles in the first place. Currently, nearly 80% of EV drivers who own their vehicle charge it at home. Since many people in EJ communities do not own their homes, it increases their reliance on public infrastructures such as parking lots and garages to make parking and charging available to them. For those who do not own their own vehicle and rely on public transportation every day, it is additionally challenging for them to control their exposure to harmful transportation-related pollutants. This becomes especially relevant when you take into consideration the fact that the EPA has cited transportation as the largest national contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Many local delivery and at-home social service suppliers and their fleets are currently producing additional emissions in the very communities that they serve. Without the accessibility to EV fueling stations, organizations offering disability services, Meals on Wheels, and medical bussing are limited to traditional methods of transportation which expose their clients to further pollutants.

With these issues in mind, various utility providers nationwide have created incentives to increase access to EVs and EV charging in EJ community spaces. Thanks to this funding, multiunit dwelling owners will now be able to install EV charging stations in their apartment parking lots or garages with minimal investment. There are additional incentives that can enable public transit companies with the ability to switch their bus fleets to electric more easily. This specific benefit is two-fold; it not only serves to modernize the technologies available to these communities but also reduces air pollution in the process, which affects their residents at a disproportionate rate. It has been estimated by the Environment America Research and Policy Center that electrifying fleet vehicles like buses could

prevent up to two million tons of pollution each year. Utilizing these programs could serve as the next step in benefitting these underrepresented cities and reducing the pollutants that they are regularly exposed to.

Encouraging examples of financial incentive plans can already be seen in steps taken by the U.S. government to create programs like the Justice 40 Initiative, which allocates funding for DACs, public transit, and multi-unit dwellings (MUDs), enabling them to acquire electric vehicle charging stations.

Many states have also begun opting to create programs for EV charging incentives. The Multi-Unit Dwelling (MUD) Electric Vehicle Program, which began in July 2022 in New Jersey, is a great example of a program that works to ensure funding for the hardware aspects of level 2 EV charger installations in disadvantaged communities. In other programs such as the PECO Make-Ready Program in Pennsylvania, up to 75% of utility upgrade and connection costs are covered in these regions, compared to 50% in non-EJ communities. Shedding light on the needs of these areas creates more visibility to issues of inequality and gives these communities access to more sustainable transportation alternatives.

These initiatives will benefit EJ communities by setting them up for the future, lessening the environmental hazards, and providing opportunities to access cleaner, cheaper energy alternatives. In addition, community programs that residents rely on, such as their local mail delivery services, emergency response vehicles, social service providers, and many others, could benefit from seeing their vehicles transitioned to electric, saving their cities money and the risks from harmful pollutants in the long run. The key to ensuring that EJ communities can reap the benefits of electric vehicles in their regions is accessibility.

The more accessible these services are to disadvantaged communities, the faster they will have opportunities to move into future technologies that will improve their quality of life.

EJ community-based incentive programs are how we can work to fight these inequities and ensure accessibility for a better tomorrow. ◆ KATE KRUK is the Director of Community Engagement for Livingston Energy Group. She can be reached at kkruk@solution.energy.

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Originally published in March 2023

Parking Management in a Post-Pandemic World

Parking Management

By Jeffrey Elsey, CAPP, PE, LEED AP, Jeremy Greenwald, AICP, TDM-CP, and Jeshua Pringle, CAPP, AICP

in a Post-Pandemic World

By Jeffrey Elsey, CAPP, PE, LEED AP, Jeremy Greenwald, AICP, TDM-CP, and Jeshua Pringle, CAPP, AICP

14 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

F

OR NEARLY TWO YEARS, we have shared an experience that has reshaped life as we

know it. From the initial stay-at-home orders that brought the parking industry to a crawl to the “new normal” of hybrid schedules and routinely working from home, we’ve

experienced a significant shift in travel behavior. Throughout this process, changes have occurred that affect expectations of how to interact with the parking options provided by healthcare and higher education campuses. The pandemic has brought about a shift in the parking management strategies of universities and hospitals throughout the United States. The following article explores the expectations of a new dynamic world of flexible parking options that are likely here to stay.

Background and Parking System Basics

Kimley-Horn conducted a nationwide survey of universities and hospitals representing the interest of nearly 800,000 parkers. Institutions from 21 states and the District of Columbia are represented in the survey (Figure 1). On average, each campus has more than 15,000 parking spaces. Figure 2 illustrates the distribution of users.

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PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 15

PARKING MANAGEMENT IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

Figure 1—Twenty-One States and 800,000 Parkers are Represented in the Survey

1% Other Medical 20% Employees 50%

University 15% Employees

14%

Figure 2—Permit Holders from Medical and University Settings

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Graduate Students

Undergraduate Students

Most of our country’s large institutions charge for parking by issuing traditional monthly or annual parking permits for employees and students. The primary reason cited for this method is that it is easily managed by the institution. This permitting model typically allows unlimited parking on the campus and encourages people to drive and park. Bulk purchasing of parking requires parkers to pay the monthly or annual permit rate, regardless of their frequency of use.

This permitting practice results in a sunk cost for those that park on campus less frequently. Additionally, in the event of cancelations or adjustments to the semester or work schedule, pre-purchasing parking can result in costly reimbursements by parking offices, which many institutions experienced during the early stages of the pandemic.

Another crucial component of managing large parking inventories is assigning permitted users. The approach to assigning permits varies among universities and hospitals. Before the pandemic, 61% of respondents offered monthly or annual permits that assigned users to a designated parking facility. Only 14% had open campuses that required parkers to search for parking. Most campuses have several permit assignment methods applied to various user groups, as shown in Figure 3. As indicated, restricting

access to smaller zones or facilities is commonplace in an institutional setting. ● Designated Facility—each permitted employee has access to a single parking facility and cannot park in any other facility ● Multiple Location Access—each permitted employee has access to several facilities on campus ● Zone-Based—each permitted employee has access to a parking zone, which may be categorized by price or location. Each zone may include multiple facilities. ● Hunting License—employees are given a general permit that provides access to all parking on campus. This restricts nonemployees from parking but has no other restrictions. ● No Permits—the campus is open access, with no restrictions between employees, visitors, students, etc.

As shown in Figure 4, cost-effectiveness, proximity, and availability/reliability of parking are the primary customer experience attributes. Each plays an essential role in user satisfaction. Typically, users desire parking that comes at a low cost, is near their destination, and is consistently available. It is challenging to balance these attributes, especially on campuses

64% 61%

39% 32%

14% 7% 4%

Hourly/Time Restricted/ Unpermitted Parking

Facility-Based

Multiple Facility Access

Zone-Based

Hunting License

Other (please specify)

No Permits

Figure 3—Permit Types Offered by Respondents

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Co st E

ity im ox Pr

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es s

PARKING MANAGEMENT IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

Availability/Reliability

Figure 4—Desired Attributes of a Parking Environment

Low User Satisfaction

that are near capacity. In environments where peak parking demand is >80 to 90% of the capacity, parkers must choose between two of these three attributes.

Because users want all three attributes in an ideal

parking environment, institutions are seeking ways to increase user satisfaction in a dynamic real-world scenario. In addition, many institutions find themselves competing for workforce talent, especially after the staffing shortages brought on by the pandemic, further reinforcing the need to provide an exceptional customer experience.

Typically, user satisfaction is tied to the ease of finding a parking space in the desired location.

The survey results support the hypothesis that user satisfaction drops as parking availability becomes limited. Figure 5 illustrates this by comparing the parking demands (X-axis) to the user experience (Y-axis). Institutions should strive to remain in the green or yellow zones, which is influenced by the type of permit allocation structure deployed.

Figure 6 shows customer satisfaction levels by permit type per the survey results. The highest levels of satisfaction stem from location-specific permit allocation models. Compared to less specific permitting methods, location-specific permitting enables easier tracking

its

erm

P No

ing t n u

High User Satisfaction

H

e

ns ice

L

cat

Lo litple

Mu

ss

cce A n io

nment

ig sed Ass a B e n Zo

Facility-Specific Assignment Ample Parking (<50% Full)

Figure 5—Parking Occupancy, User Satisfaction, and Permit Type

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At Capacity (100% Full)

Level of User Satisfaction

No Permits

Other (Unspecified)

Hunting License

Zone-Based

High User Satisfaction

Multiple Locations

Designated Facility

Low User Satisfaction

Figure 6—User Satisfaction by Permit Type

and management of parking behaviors, which provides a sense of reliability and consistency for users. This is particularly true as overall parking demand increases.

While traditional parking permitting practices have been successful for years, the pandemic has flipped the script. Students and employees are traveling to campus less often as hybrid schedules prevail. The future undoubtedly will include some level of reliance on virtual meetings to augment in-person gatherings. Parking permit holders recognize that long-term permits have an associated sunk cost, and they want flexibility in their parking options. A shift to daily parking significantly impacts parking pricing and allocation models, and intentional decision-making is needed to ensure financial and experiential success within institutional environments.

Developing a Flexible Parking System In a post-pandemic world, the travel behavior of employees and students is still unknown; however, we are beginning to understand that customers desire more permanent flexibility in their schedules. Most universities and hospitals began operating at pre-pandemic levels in Fall 2021 but coming to the office and class full-time five days per week will likely never return.

In 2019, Kimley-Horn coordinated with Vanderbilt University to assess commuter travel behavior. This 20-day study revealed that students and employees only parked on campus for an average of 14 out of 20 days. Increased opportunities to work from home will likely decrease the number of days commuters park on campus.

Furthermore, healthcare shift workers can work as little as 10 to 12

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Originally published in March 2023

PARKING MANAGEMENT IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

Monthly Permit Rate

$20.00

Available Parking Days

20

Traditional Daily Rate Strategy: $20/20 days =

Actual Number of Days Parked

.00 $1 per day

14

Actual Daily Rate by Usage: $20/14 =

.43 $1 per day

Daily Revenue Generated by Traditional Daily Rate Strategy =

.00 $1 per day

14 days = $14 not $20 Figure 7—Daily Parking Miscalculation

days per month. According to the survey, because of the pandemic, 75% of the respondents are interested in identifying strategies to implement flexible permitting options, such as daily parking permits.

One flexible model is a daily parking program. Daily parking eliminates the sunk cost associated with longer-term permits and requires users to make a daily commuting decision. Three different ways to operationalize a daily parking program are 1) pay-as-yougo, 2) daily self-selection, and 3) pre-arrival reservation.

A pay-as-you-go daily parking program provides access to facilities on an as-needed basis. Each parking session is based on the user’s decision regarding their daily needs. Customers can pay for each parking session directly or receive a bill for the number of parking sessions over a calendar month. Payment can be deducted from the customer’s payroll, enabling the use of pre-tax dollars, or paid directly by the user in the form of a credit card. In

a pay-as-you-go program, parkers are often assigned to a specific facility, and their use is tracked using a mobile app or Parking Access and Revenue Control Systems (PARCS) equipment.

A daily self-selection parking program provides the opportunity to park at multiple facilities. Commuters make a daily decision to park at the facility of their choice. This version of daily parking uses a “hunting license” model to enable users to pick their parking spot. Real-time occupancy information facilitates the ease of navigating a daily self-selection parking model and provides availability information to users before entering a facility. This model also pairs nicely with varied pricing by facility depending on demand, better balancing campus-wide parking demand.

A pre-arrival reservation program requires customers to select their preferred parking location and pre-purchase daily parking before arriving on campus. Reservations use real-time

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Define the Objectives • Do our current permit practices offer different parking options to users?

• Does the campus parking occupancy align with how parking is designated to users?

• Are users satisfied with their current parking experiences?

Revenue Philosophy Determine how parking revenue is viewed in the context of the total program budget as daily parking is introduced.

• Revenue should stay consistent, or • Revenue should increase to support program expenses, or • Revenue can decrease as annual permits are replaced with daily parking.

Pricing Strategy Conduct an internal pricing exercise based on the revenue philosophy.

• What is the price elasticity and value of increased user flexibility?

• How do current annual permit prices compare to the potential daily rates?

• What is the projected program uptake of the campus population?

Equity Considerations • Does the program disproportionately burden lower income staff?

• Does the program disproportionately burden staff who are required to be on campus more often?

• Consider salary banded pricing or monthly pricing caps.

Implementation & Enforcement Consider technology integrations needed to support the program implementation.

• Payroll deduction • Mobile applications • LPR cameras

Figure 8—Daily Parking Program Implementation

occupancy information and parking analytics to determine the number of spaces available at a particular facility. Users are charged for pre-arrival reservations at the time of purchase rather than at the start of their parking session. This allows customers to reserve a parking spot at the desired location, prevents the

potential of overselling parking spaces, and prevents operators from losing revenue for reserved spaces.

Program Elements Introducing a daily parking program requires a blend of tracking, information distribution, and enforcement.

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PARKING MANAGEMENT IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

Tracking Tracking daily parking transactions can be performed using a mobile app that offers an all-in-one commuter platform or

by PARCS equipment connected to a permit database. Each transaction is recorded to assess facility occupancy and to frequently evaluate parking.

Information Distribution Real-time occupancy information is essential for user satisfaction.

For daily self-selection and pre-arrival reservations, occupancy information ensures commuters have a parking spot when they arrive.

The occupancy information can be communicated using a mobile app or a daily permit purchasing web portal. As parking operations integrate with connected vehicles, parking occupancy information can be pushed to in-vehicle dashboards and navigation systems.

Enforcement Enforcement officers monitor the use of daily parking facilities and ensure commuters have the appropriate parking rights. For open facilities, enforcement officers can use mobile license plate recognition (LPR) technology to verify that vehicles are properly registered. Enforcement officers also play a crucial role in baselining parking occupancy to calibrate real-time occupancy information.

In a post-pandemic world, parking operators must prepare to accommodate varying parking demand levels. Developing flexible options lets commuters choose the frequency of their parking sessions and avoid the sunken cost associated with monthly and annual permits. Additionally, daily parking programs provide operators with an understanding of users’ travel behaviors, including occupancy, duration, and frequency. This knowledge can provide permitting operators the opportunity to optimize parking assets usage and identify areas where demand can be consolidated.

Financial Resiliency COVID-19 has profoundly impacted the revenue streams of universities and hospitals. More than 50% of survey respondents reported reduced revenues, ranging from $100,000 to $10,500,000. Furthermore, parking operators had to issue refunds for permits purchased before the pandemic. COVID-19 revealed that traditional financial streams for institutions are brittle. Relying on monthly or annual permit sales can leave institutions ill-prepared for shocks to the parking system. To build a financially resilient parking system, operators should develop a funding reserve to use in unexpected circumstances.

As a part of developing a daily parking program, operators should conduct a pricing study to determine the appropriate daily rate. When introducing a daily parking program, institutions often determine the daily rate by dividing the monthly rate by the number of available parking days in a month. This method

is flawed because it doesn’t consider the actual frequency of a commuter parking on campus or their willingness to pay for a daily session. Additionally, dividing the cost of a monthly permit by the number of available parking days can result in decreased revenues if commuters park less. This daily parking rate miscalculation is provided below: While a $1.00/day rate may seem like a customer benefit, it generates less revenue than a traditional monthly permit. To resolve this, operators should compare their operational expenses to the amount of revenue required to maintain a self-sustaining parking operation. Determining a daily parking rate should be based on an accurate understanding of the value of daily parking and the financial resiliency of the system.

Daily Parking Program Implementation Transitioning from traditional permitting practices to a more flexible, resilient program takes thoughtful implementation and strategic decision-making. With several interconnected elements to consider, each decision point critically impacts the overall sustainability and user satisfaction associated with the program.

The pandemic has had a profound and lasting impact on our day-to-day lives. Post-pandemic life has shown us that healthcare and education remain integral elements sewn into the fabric of our society, as does the desire to drive and park. COVID-19 has revealed a desire for flexibility in our institutional environments, and organizations nationwide are shifting away from charging for parking solely by the month or year as the needs and priorities of patrons have changed. Daily parking programs can provide increased user satisfaction and flexibility to accommodate various levels of parking demand. Institutions operating in a post-pandemic world should embrace the changing priorities and invest in flexible parking programs. Proactive and strategic decision-making around how we view parking can have substantial positive impacts on recruitment, retention, and financial resiliency within institutions. ◆ JEFFREY ELSEY, CAPP, PE, LEED AP, is Vice President at Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at jeffrey. elsey@kimley-horn.com.

JEREMY GREENWALD, AICP, TDM-CP, is a Parking & Mobility Strategy Consultant at Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at jeremy.greenwald@kimley-horn.com.

JESHUA PRINGLE, CAPP, AICP, is a Parking Planner at Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at jeshua.pringle@ kimley-horn.com.

22 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

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INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY Originally published in March 2023

Game Changer Digitized Event Parking on Campus

By Mark Frumar

F

OR DECADES, event parking has been a logistical nightmare for universities. As student enrollments

and campuses grow, so do the challenges—especially for event parking. There is no denying the hours, months, and years of planning and strategizing over the logistics of event parking on campuses. However, there comes a time (thanks to the push of a global pandemic and the parking industry evolving in leaps and bounds) when Parking and Transportation departments turn their focus towards future technologies that are quite literally ‘changing the game’ of the traditional parking experience.

Seven Game Changing Event Parking Insights 1. Arrival Experience The arrival experience is the first impression that attendees have of the event itself, with the experience beginning before the attendee even leaves their home, and continuing until they finally get to their seat.

Although multiple departments plan and collaborate prior to an event—parking planning, event operators, facilities management, police and safety, transport, ticketing and more—in many cases the overall arrival experience for the customers can often be an afterthought. While event and transportation departments always manage to make it work, this problem is not limited to campuses. Even professional sports stadiums raise this as being their greatest area for improvement.

2. Communication with the Attendees One of the most common grievances from frustrated event attendees is a lack of communication. People can be forgiving to a point when their arrival is slowed down, as long as they understand why and are kept informed. This communication can begin well before they arrive at the campus. Attendees want to understand how they are getting there, the best entry to take, the best time to depart, and what they can expect once they get to campus. To date, the correct tools to act as this communication medium have either not existed or not been used properly. Parking and mobility digitization is here to solve this. By putting the information in the hands of the attendees well before the event, they can now make informed decisions about their arrival, ensuring they make it to their seat on time.

3. Operators Managing Parking from Single Source of Information On the day of the event, parking conditions and occupancy can change quickly, and parking operators need to provide guidance based on real-time availability. To achieve this, all operators (including administrators, police and public safety) require a single system unifying data from multiple sources, including ticketing, digital signage, utilization tracking, police, parking, and more. Via the digitization of parking and unification of live parking data into a single interface, operators can access up-tothe-minute guidance information in their hands, ensuring that drivers are being guided only to their preferred/open parking location for their entitlements. This, in turn, helps to reduce congestion and improves the arrival experience by getting them to their parking space as quickly and easily as possible.

4. Integrations with Event Systems Key to this process is consistency across all forms of guidance— whether it be operators providing advice, digital signage guiding drivers to available parking lots, or mobile parking guidance delivered to the phone. To ensure consistency, there must be a single system that acts as the hub, unifying the existing data from all event-related systems and pushing the information to each of the guidance methods. This capability already exists, and smart event administrators are taking steps to digitize their operations to achieve this goal of consistency in guidance and adjusting their event planning with the parking utilization data collected during each event.

5. Route Guidance & Live-Site Information A common issue raised by event planners is that of route guidance on entry and directions to parking. While most

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Game Changer (noun) = “an event, idea, or procedure that effects a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something.” campuses have multiple points of entry, without guidance on the smoothest point to enter for specific parking locations, drivers tend to clog popular entry points leading to campuses needing to open parking up to six hours ahead of the event. In this case, destination guidance solutions such as Google Maps can serve as a hindrance rather than a benefit, as they guide drivers to the campus but don’t advise them on how best to enter based on the real-time parking conditions. Road closures must also be considered in how they will affect the movement of traffic.

By having preset route guidance to the ideal entrance for the attendee, the arrival time can be minimized, and overall congestion can be drastically reduced. Up-to-the-minute information is vital and via integrations with live data feeds from utilization tracking solutions, triggers can also be set to alter the guidance based on the live conditions such as when lots hit capacity. Once a lot hits capacity, drivers can be guided to the next best available place to park and the ideal point of entry, ensuring they don’t clog traffic re-routing for parking on arrival.

6. Purchasing Parking and Tailgating Options to purchase parking also have a direct effect on the flow of traffic on event day. While smaller events can be managed by incorporating nearby lots and entry points, large events can be an entirely different hurdle. Not only do administrators need to provide parking reservation options ahead of time, but they must also cater for a huge influx of attendees driving to the campus with a plan to find and purchase parking on arrival. We must not forget the donors and season ticket holders that want to select specific spaces near the stadium. By digitizing the parking options down to the level of individual bays, as well as

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providing the administrators the ability to set event-specific parking templates, administrators can publish the parking set up and inform the attendees of their specific options via a visual dashboard, at the time of purchasing their tickets.

Tailgating is one of college and professional sports favorite pastimes. Using digital parking reservations, those looking to tailgate can select the exact space they want by viewing the available options and cost for each. They can be guided to the precise location on the day of the game, and provided easy directions for friends to meet up at their spot. Administrators can incorporate a tiered pricing model for the preferred locations, or leverage dynamic pricing based on demand for the event.

7. Encourage Alternative Transport Options That said, optimizing the arrival experience should not exclusively be dedicated to improving parking access alone. Administrators should be focused on communicating all options to access the campus, helping attendees make informed transport decisions ahead of the event. An ideal plan incorporates parking, public transportation, rideshare, bus shuttles, and even micromobility in the last mile where possible. By presenting all these options within a single interface, the arrival experience can be personalized to the user seeking information on the best way to access the event. ◆

MARK FRUMAR is President of North America at Modii.

He can be reached at mark@modii.co.

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Originally published in April 2023

Flipping the Script

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

Sustainable Curbsides Communicate Our Values

By Haley Peckett, AICP

Sustainable Curbsides Communicate Our Values

By Haley Peckett, AICP

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T

hrough moveDC, the District of Columbia’s long-range transportation plan, District Department of Transportation (DDOT) elevates sustainability as a core goal to drive operations, project delivery, and internal business processes for the next few decades. The plan calls for a robust urban tree canopy, electrification of our transit fleet, and climate-resilient or “green” infrastructure. Most importantly, moveDC challenges all DDOT staff to think holistically about incorporating goals and policies into day-to-day work by explicitly recognizing that our goals are interrelated: a transportation network that provides safe, reliable multimodal transportation choices that also emphasize equity, reduce congestion, and cut down emissions.

The integrative, multimodal, system-based thinking introduced in moveDC was already happening at the curbside. In 2021, the DDOT group formerly known as Parking and Ground Transportation changed its name to Curbside Management in recognition that vehicle storage is not always the highest and best use of public space.

The interdisciplinary team in the Curbside Management Division not only manages the regulation of parking, but also ensures access for pedestrians, goods, transit vehicles, shared mobility, as well as people-focused spaces like parklets and streateries. Formally defined: DDOT’s Curbside Management Division manages and regulates the District’s curbside. Our mission is to create safe and reliable access to the curbside for people and goods. We ensure that access is sustainable and equitable.

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Sustainability is at the core of everything we do.

Mayor Muriel Bowser demonstrates the District’s commitment to sustainability, not only through goals in moveDC but also through multi-agency efforts like Sustainable DC 2.0 and Clean Energy DC. For curbside management, sustainability’s added value is greater than the sum of its parts. Sustainable curbside programs and policies keep our most vulnerable residents safer, they promote economic opportunities, and make everything operate more efficiently. The most impactful tools the District currently uses to improve sustainability are safety for multimodal users, expanded use of pricing, and setting priorities by context.

Safety For most of the 20th century, Washington, D.C. (like most U.S. cities) heavily invested in infrastructure that made private vehicle travel the fastest way to get around. Increased growth in the last two decades came with increased traffic and congestion in the District, while city leaders also recognized their role in cutting vehicle miles traveled to avert global climate change.

When DDOT became an independent agency in 2002, it focused on two key challenges related to sustainable transportation modes: pedestrian safety and mode shift. Pedestrian safety is critical, as all trips start with them. Pedestrians are the slowest moving, least protected, and least visible;

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FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

they also accounted for 43% of DC traffic fatalities in 2021. To increase mode shift to sustainable modes, DDOT must make these modes safe, reliable, and efficient. Increasing reliability and travel speeds for transit, while focusing on safety for all modes, is critical to getting more people out of their cars for more trips, and that’s why Mayor Bowser has budgeted more than $317 million in fiscal year 2023 towards modernizing the District’s mobility.

Curbsides are the low-hanging fruit of pedestrian safety.

To improve visibility for pedestrians in crosswalks, DDOT is daylighting more intersections by setting back parking at least 25 feet from the crosswalk. Other safety intersection treatments include using paint and flexposts to create inexpensive bulb-outs and starting an Art in the Right of Way program in slip lanes and near crosswalks. DDOT has also installed mid-block crosswalks and bulb-outs near schools and parks. These improvements shorten the distance for pedestrians to cross, force drivers to slow down at intersections, and increase visibility—especially of children or people using wheelchairs or other mobility devices that may not be in a driver’s line of sight if a parked vehicle is in the way. The safety improvements come at the expense of vehicle storage at each intersection, but they also visibly communicate the importance of protecting vulnerable roadway users.

The District is growing its bus and bike lane network ambitiously. Since 2020, DDOT has added more than 10 miles of red-painted bus lanes, 20 miles of protected bike lanes, and 20 queue jumps for buses. Each of these improvements requires planning, design, and community engagement to ensure the bus and bike lanes are reliable and safe. As any parking professional knows, the negotiation of parking and curbside impacts can make or break these projects. DDOT’s curbside planners meet at least weekly with engineers and planners to collaborate on design, prioritize and relocate impacted curbside uses, and communicate impacts and mitigations to stakeholders. Curbside planners and technicians have conducted hundreds of site visits and community meetings to understand the unique operations on a block or corridor and propose targeted solutions. Over the last few years, DDOT has improved offset bus lanes and bike lanes protected by curbs and a lane of parked cars, as well as tactics like signage placement and roadway hatching to improve compliance. While planners may think big picture, it’s Curbside Management’s job to solve for the errant vehicles that threaten the safety and compliance of bus and bike lanes. The better we do, the safer and more sustainable our transportation system becomes.

Pricing Another way to frame the tradeoff between parking spaces and safety improvements is by ascribing value to each. At an agency

level, DDOT does that through stating its goals in moveDC and implementing pedestrian and bicycle safety, as well as bus reliability strategies to meet these goals. But behavioral shift relies on similar decision-making and value tradeoffs by the millions of people who live in or travel to the District every year. The travel choices of these individuals will ultimately shape how sustainable our transportation system is, and the physical infrastructure can only go so far in terms of shaping behavior.

This is where curbside pricing is a critical level for sustainability, and in Washington, D.C., it is closely tied to equity.

Like many cities, the District prices metered parking on its commercial blocks and has implemented several performance parking zones where prices fluctuate based on demand. These meters, however, are not just the traditional workhorses to induce turnover and recover costs of maintaining public infrastructure.

They also signal the monetary value of public spaces, streateries, and other curbside uses; they help rational humans make tradeoffs.

At a policy level, DDOT relies on the D.C. Council, the District’s legislative body, to set pricing for meters, commercial vehicle loading, and permit parking in residential zones. The pricing policies are sensitive to long-term District residents who want to remain in the District and rely on affordable parking near their homes, accessibility for individuals with disabilities, and policies that can be applied equitably across a city of wealth extremes.

However, these policies are universally communicating that our curbsides are a finite and valuable resource. Through charging for the use of an annual permit or 30 minutes of loading, the District demonstrates that curbside space is a public good and that private use comes at a cost (both monetary and opportunity).

Curbside and policy staff developed processes for school staff and contractors to purchase digital permits to park in residential zones. On the horizon is greater utilization of license plate

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A cyclist rides in a bike lane in DC’s NoMa neighborhood.

reader technology and digital permitting to enable more targeted use of pricing based on demand. Our management of pricing is most notable in day-to-day operational decisions. Whether it’s enforcing full payment for private shuttles or mandating fees for short-term curbside reservations, DDOT staff work hard to keep curbside pricing consistent, fair, and essential to maintaining functional programming.

A key objective is to provide travelers with user-friendly tools and information that help them understand the value of their choices. The ultimate goal is that that travelers will become more intentional in their choices and all modes can be truly competitive options. For example, a doctor’s visit downtown may take more time by transit than driving but would be cheaper than parking in a garage; drivers also must factor in time spent searching for a legal on-street space, which may or may not be close to the destination.

Similarly, a trip by taxi or rideshare may eliminate the need for parking but could cost more than parking. The District’s curbside pricing policies are moving in the right direction for sustainability, while also maintaining affordable options in residential areas and access for persons with disabilities.

Encouraging Sustainable Modes The curbside policies and practices needed to enact a mode shift signal a mindset shift on the part of DDOT and its peer city transportation departments. We have flipped from the idea of curbsides as “private vehicle storage first” to “consider the context and expand our toolbox.” For example, traditional land use planners wouldn’t place a one-story, single-family home next to a high-rise office building. So why would we put a four-hour parking space in a high-traffic area during times of high transit and loading demand?

DDOT’s 2014 Curbside Management Study sets the foundation of curbside hierarchies based on neighborhood typology and

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establishes a menu of curbside uses (including metered parking).

Since then, we’ve added curbside tools that work well in our evolving neighborhoods, such as programming for transient uses of the curb to support food and small goods delivery and passenger loading. In 2023, DDOT will update its toolkit and typologies to match city changes and consider new tools to meet its larger goals. Updated curbside typologies and tools are meant to help us communicate to residents the not-so-intuitive concept of a multimodal, context-sensitive curbside.

What do curbside typologies and context-based tools have to do with sustainability? By signaling that there are many possible uses for our curbsides—from vehicle-centric to green infrastructure—DDOT moves away from the expectation of curbsides as free public parking. We indicate that our public space can be used for mobility, access, safety, art, commerce, and play. In the next few years, we’re exploring new tools to add to the mix, like electric vehicle charging and automated enforcement to encourage turnover. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to curbside management, but we will consider and prioritize our goals when designing the curb. DDOT staff give voice to the goals of sustainability and its close relationship to equity and access in this process.

Additionally, the District has continued to expand and monitor its motorcoach parking program. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the District saw as many as 1,200 charter/tour buses daily at the peak of summer tourism. In 2023, we expect numbers at or approaching pre-pandemic levels. DDOT manages permitting for dozens of shuttle, sightseeing, and commuter buses. These operators use curbsides in slightly different ways that often overlap and compete with other uses. Finally, DDOT collaborates with sister agencies to manage curbside uses around large entertainment venues and for groups participating in First Amendment activities to provide space for authorized vehicles and safely move pedestrians en masse.

The Curbside Management Division at DDOT continues to flip the script on the use of our curbs. The more we do to encourage shared and sustainable transportation modes, both at the curb and throughout our transportation system, the fewer emissions the transportation sector will produce. This makes our city safer for vulnerable users and better connects our residents and visitors to available opportunities. ◆ HALEY PECKETT, AICP, is Associate Director, Curbside Management Division, for the District Department of Transportation, and is a member of IPMI's Sustainable Mobility Task Force..

She can be reached at haley.peckett@dc.gov.

SUSTAINABLE

MOBILITY TASK FORCE MEMBER

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HR PERSPECTIVE Originally published in May 2023

Fueling Growth Through Feedback

By Andy Santos “How am I doing in my role?”

“What do employees think of our new mentorship program?”

“Is there something I should do differently?”

W

HETHER YOU’RE AN EXPERIENCED MANAGER or a fresh grad who is just starting

out in their career, feedback is and will always be a key element to your personal and professional growth. Everyone experiences challenges, setbacks, and learning curves. And without the help of feedback, we may struggle to move forward because of our blind spots. For organizations, fostering a culture of feedback is essential in boosting workforce performance. According to Gallup, a company that specializes in measuring and understanding human behavior, employees who receive daily feedback from their manager are 3.6 times more likely to strongly agree that they are motivated to do outstanding work compared to employees who only receive annual performance feedback. In essence, consistent and effective feedback loops not only benefit employees but also the performance and growth of the organization.

People managers have an important role in providing feedback to employees to help guide them toward meeting and exceeding their performance goals and career aspirations. Zenger Folkman, a company that develops models that help leaders and organizations succeed, conducted a study about preferences on giving and receiving feedback. In this study, 94% of recipients stated that corrective feedback improves their performance when it’s presented well.

However, feedback is only helpful when it’s meaningful and actionable. In fact, Gallup found that only 26% of employees strongly agree that the feedback they receive helps them do better work. For many managers, providing meaningful feedback is a learned skill that takes practice. So how do people managers ensure that they are providing their employees with meaningful feedback? It starts with knowing what makes feedback meaningful.

Meaningful feedback is: ■ Specific and descriptive. Meaningful feedback lets the person receiving the feedback know specifically what they did that can be improved and when

it happened. It’s also important for the person receiving the feedback to know the impact of what they did.

■ Focused on the behavior, not the person. Providing feedback can sometimes be a difficult conversation to have, especially if the feedback being shared is constructive. To avoid your feedback from coming across as a personal attack, remember to focus on the specific action that needs to be resolved.

■ Helpful and personally owned. Providing meaningful feedback means sharing something actionable that you personally observed, and not what you’ve heard from others.

■ Provided in a timely manner. Don’t wait too long before providing feedback, but at the same time, make sure you are providing feedback at a time that works for the other person. If you can, try not to give feedback to someone when they’re having a rough day or are just not able to focus on the feedback you’re about to share. Schedule a day when the person receiving the feedback can be fully present and actively listen.

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■ A dialogue. A meaningful feedback session includes

listening to the other person’s side of the story. Having a dialogue also allows you to confirm if the other person understands your feedback.

■ Followed up as needed. After an employee moves forward with an understanding of what they need to do and improve, following up on their performance and providing feedback on their progress will help them stay on track.

Giving meaningful feedback is a great way to help others as they progress in their careers. However, we also must think of our own growth and be able to gather meaningful feedback that can help us. A Zenger Folkman research study involving over 50,000 leaders showed that leaders who ask for feedback are perceived more positively than those who simply are good at giving feedback. With this in mind, asking for feedback is also an expertise that we should consider upskilling when we think of our own career growth.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when asking for meaningful feedback: ■ Be specific. Just like when we provide meaningful feedback, we must be specific when asking for feedback and indicate exactly what we would like to get feedback on.

■ On-the-spot feedback vs prepared feedback. Give the person you’re asking for feedback time to prepare and put together their thoughts. If possible, let them know ahead of time if you have a presentation or project

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that you’d like to get feedback on, so they are able to prepare and take notes as needed. Avoid asking people for feedback on-the-spot as they won’t have enough time to provide the most meaningful feedback they can give.

■ Transactional feedback vs relationship-based feedback. Asking someone to provide you feedback just because they are likely to give you positive feedback may not be the best way to uncover your blind spots. This type of feedback ends up being transactional instead of meaningful. Instead, seek out people who are invested in your growth and will provide you with honest and actionable ideas to improve.

By building the skill of effectively providing and asking for meaningful feedback, we promote a feedback-driven environment where employees feel valued and supported.

Meaningful feedback has the power to cultivate growth for both employees and organizations. For employees, it’s an opportunity for them to uncover their blind spots and have a clear understanding of the steps they need to take to advance in their careers. For organizations, meaningful feedback drives performance enablement for their workforce, leading to increased productivity and growth. ◆ ANDY SANTOS is Director of People and Culture at SpotHero and a member of IPMI's Allyship & Equity Advisory Group.. He can be reached at andy.santos@spothero.com.

ALLYSHIP & EQUITY ADVISORY GROUP

MEMBER

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 31

Originally published in May 2023

TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

Parking A Practical Guide to Streamlining & Optimizing Your Ecosystem Without Adding Complexity

Defragmenting Parking Technology A Practical Guide to Streamlining & Optimizing Your Ecosystem Without Adding Complexity

By Christopher Perry, Sarah Becherer, and Michelle McDonald on behalf of the IPMI Technology Committee

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Te c h n o l o g y Parking: An Accelerating Ecosystem

By Christopher Perry, Sarah Becherer, and Michelle McDonald on behalf of the IPMI Technology Committee

The parking industry is ripe with innovation, and new technologies are entering the marketplace faster than infrastructure is being built that enables them to communicate.

Forward-thinking operators are enhancing their tech stacks by the day with the aim of creating operational efficiency and surfacing data insights that will allow them to better focus on their core business (parking cars)—but fragmentation remains a roadblock.

Today our industry is in a position where leaders across all markets and sectors agree that we need to build a solution. We share a vision, we recognize the need, and we’ve rolled up our sleeves. We agree that data is not worth it’s salt unless you can act on it - and that defragmentation is the answer.

By building flexible architecture that allows different systems to interoperate, we can begin to break down barriers that are holding us back from the open exchange of data and the ultimate frictionless customer experience.

“Norming and Forming” Data with Integrations There are myriad technologies on the market.

Parking is a highly competitive landscape.

When a parking manager uses a “build, partner, or buy” framework to assemble their tech stack, the likelihood of it being a carbon copy of the one assembled by the parking manager next door is slim to none.

This ecosystem of disconnected technologies causes friction for everybody: ● For operators—when integrations between the systems in their tech stack don’t exist (which as we’ve mentioned is too often the case), they need to be manually

accomplished. This is an enormous lift for operators and often unsustainable. ● For customers—siloed technology can lead to confusion and frustration because of how that dissonance and inconsistency impact their experience at facilities.

Customers having to manage credentials and payment methods for multiple apps is certainly inconvenient (and not uncommon for parkers in cities where multiple operators are present). But the worst friction occurs when those apps aren’t talking to the technologies nestled at the inflection points that define the customer experience (ex. redemption, entry/ exit, occupancy indication, wayfinding).

Consolidation isn’t the solution being proposed here—in fact, quite the opposite.

The flora and fauna of the parking technology ecosystem must continue to thrive in a hothouse of innovation. That innovation is what makes the need for integration and universal data standards set by the Alliance for Parking Data Standards (APDS) and other regulatory organizations even more urgent.

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DEFRAGMENTING PARKING TECHNOLOGY

Defining Defragmentation Defragmentation is the reorganization of disparate fragments of related data. When we think about this definition applied to parking data, the concept seems sound. ● There exist many data sets from many distinct inflection points. ● These inflection points can be connected to paint a bigger picture. ● With this accomplished, reporting, data analysis, and info-sharing will be more efficient, and the data available will always be up-to-the-minute and accurate.

Basically: knowledge is power; ergo, more information is better.

But data alone is not information. Many parking systems include silos of technology and therefore silos of data. As standalone silos, this data has diminished value.

Until it is viewed as one set, it cannot be considered viable information.

This is demonstrated by the various ways that customers can access and pay for parking at the curb.

Mobile apps and parking meters control most curbside parking transactions with many municipalities leveraging several of each.

Each of these technologies includes its own reporting and administrative platform. The more technologies that are added to the municipality’s ecosystem, the more platforms there are to manage.

So, what happens? ● Operating rhythms become syncopated. ● Time and resources become scarcer. ● The margin for human error increases. ● More opportunities to maximize yield go unnoticed.

There are more places to log in. More credentials to manage. More permissions to set up and more read/write access to grant. More people who need different info in various capacities at specific times. More places to make changes when changes need to be made. More places to pull reports from and more data to manually consolidate.

And if you’re a technology vendor trying to convince your operator prospects your solution isn’t going to pile on more work… well… you better think about your product and positioning in terms of adding unique value without adding complexity. Because as the appeal of and demand for digital mobility solutions increases, so does the stress inflicted by defragmentation.

Defragmentation as a Catalyst for Change Defragmentation can be a catalyst for a more efficient and equitable environment. It’s too often that parking data is viewed as a benefit for administrators and operators and not as something that provides value to the public.

Thinking about curbside activity: ● Occupancy reports help guide enforcement operations and policy changes, but they’re equally helpful to drivers searching for available parking. Integrating occupancy data with wayfinding, navigation, and signage technologies can point customers to available spaces. This cuts down on the amount of time they’re circling the block and reduces emissions. ● Parking limits and tariffs are tools that can be used to accelerate turnover and foster a vibrant curbside.

Drivers use this info to locate parking options in areas they want to visit, which stimulates local commerce (especially beneficial for neighborhoods not easily accessible by public transit or where parking is notoriously difficult to find). ● The concept of equity is fueled by holistic integrated data. Equity is not simply about vehicular access; it includes the individuals inside those vehicles and the businesses they frequent. The curb is a dynamic environment where deliveries are made, vehicles are parked, and businesses are visited. Facilitating access to these methods and locations for all people is essential to serve a community.

Extending these benefits to operators:

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One thing we talk about when we talk about the customer experience is seamlessness during inflection points like transaction, redemption, entry, and exit. We know that customers who experience friction are more likely to churn and less likely to represent a consistent revenue stream. ● The other thing we talk about is acquisition and retention.

Data indicates to operators how to get the biggest bang for their marketing buck. Integrations with third-party aggregators can give operators conversion data (ex. what percentage of people who view in-app end up transacting). Integrations with PARCS illuminate when and for how long parkers park during any given period. ● Real-time occupancy data and reliable predictive forecasting are essential to informing pricing structures. Customers perceive value based on how much they’re paying for the time they need.

Offering more time than is needed for slightly more than the customer is willing to pay can impact conversions. It also keeps the space “occupied” after the customer exits, reducing turnover and yield-per-stall.

And to equipment and software providers: ● Open API integrations unlock opportunities for technology and equipment companies to form profitable and mutually beneficial partnerships and/or co-develop products to keep up with the rabid demand in the market. ● Technology companies can stop competing to win in one of the silos and rather collaborate and share data. ● Defragmentation is critical for the construction of a fully digitized ecosystem that will be the framework for future mobility solutions. Those vendors that participate in building this digital ecosystem will be cornerstones for its framework. ●

Limiting Factors & Roadblocks for Defragmentation It’s critical to recognize that defragmentation and data-sharing require developing the mechanisms to do so. This uses valuable resources that could be earmarked for other initiatives. Looking through this lens, one easily sees how this could be perceived as a cost that outweighs whatever benefit.

This is even more reason for technology companies to form strategic alliances and build solutions that can be integrated into a parking system without increasing complexity.

Another limiting factor of defragmentation efforts is taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach. There isn’t a world where every curb or facility has an identical configuration of technologies— nor should there be. Thinking about the catch-all “best” tech and focusing solely on forming integrations between those is counterproductive and limiting.

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The lack of data standardization is a colossal issue as well.

Organizations like APDS and the Open Mobility Foundation-Curb Data Standards (OMF-CDS) are imposing much-needed rigor in how we refer to and exchange data.

We also need to be thinking ten steps ahead and asking questions like, “What’s coming after smartphones?” The smartphone is so deeply ingrained in today’s parking systems and experiences. But ultimately the future may look like having your electric autonomous vehicle know exactly where to drive and park based on the real-time data it consumes from various systems for parking reservations and guidance.

What will those integrations look like? And how do we create an environment for them?

The Philosophy of Defragmentation There are a few philosophical ideas that inform successful defragmentation efforts in the parking industry. Let’s take a look:

1. Systems Thinking Systems thinking emphasizes the interconnectedness of different parts of a system. This means thinking about parking as part of a broader transportation system and developing an understanding of how parking interacts with other modes of transportation: public transit, walking, biking, and micro-mobility, among others.

2. Customer-Centricity Customer-centricity is a methodology that highlights the needs and experiences of the customer and focuses on solving customer pain. It brings a crucial element into developing technology: empathy. Viewing parking through the lens of the driver is imperative because understanding their frustrations and pain points is how we build parking solutions that are intuitive, userfriendly, and stress-free.

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DEFRAGMENTING PARKING TECHNOLOGY

3. Sustainability All of us are working towards a more sustainable future.

Every year, we’re seeing more and more cities implement sustainable future planning that emphasizes the longterm health and well-being of the environment and society. We can quite literally deliver the blueprint—or “greenprint”, if you will—that communities are looking for by prioritizing the use of sustainable materials, energy-efficient technologies, and green infrastructure.

Future-forward cities like Colorado Springs, Colorado, are investing in their city’s mobility future through the digitization of their infrastructure, curbsides, and off-street parking assets.

Unifying all these technologies and their important data (like payments, occupancy tracking, permitting systems, enforcement, and LPR) into a single unified interface improves traffic flow, reduces congestion, and optimizes the efficiency and yield of existing parking assets.

Everybody benefits!

Roadmap for Defragmentation Like all approaches formulated to tackle deeply ingrained problems, talking about defragmentation is much easier than executing it. But it can be broken down into digestible and executable elements:

Implement systems thinking Think big before you hone in. You may have a specific use case right in front of your face, but it’s critical to consider the impact of establishing an integration in the larger context of your other technologies and customer touchpoints.

Sit down with your team and collect information on all aspects of how the system works before deciding which route to take. These conversations shouldn’t just consider past and current data sets… it’s not a historical process. Look back and look forward and set yourself up for success in the long term.

processes that need to occur so that this merged data can work together.

Take, for instance, a scope of work that includes the reporting of transactional data on a block-face basis.

Are the current datasets structured this way? What if Vendor A reports on a space basis while Vendor B reports on a zone basis?

On the surface, these datasets do not match.

Adjustments or mapping must be done to correct this. A successful scope will include an initial analysis of what this data looks like and which modifications or mapping must occur to make it work.

Set long-term objectives Implementation requires planning and establishing the near-term and long-term objectives for your parking system. These objectives may range from introducing multiple mobile payment options to positioning the system to accommodate autonomous vehicles.

While these examples vary in terms of complexity, both will be advanced by processes that organize data and information.

The former (introducing mobile payment methods) requires data-sharing to make the administration of these applications more efficient.

For example, you can use integrations to surface essential reservation data to customer service reps in real-time so they can more efficiently solve friction for customers who hit the call button with issues related to third-party reservations.

Define the scope We all know that integrating datasets is a highly technical process that creates an environment where more efficient reporting and data analysis can occur. But what this process doesn’t reference is all the other

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The latter (accommodating autonomous vehicles) is heavily reliant on information, as scenarios like autonomous TNCs will require data to function properly.

Can an autonomous transportation network company (TNC) double-park to conduct passenger pickup/drop-off (PUDO)? Likely not. These technologies will need data from all parts of the parking system to navigate safe and approved parking locations.

Build the execution framework After defining your goals in the context of the larger parking system, you can determine which “building blocks” you need and how to procure and manage them.

The building blocks may include in-house talent, tools, software, equipment, or marketing budget.

Recognize that your end goals may be moving targets; that’s normal. Keeping one eye on the future allows you to make short-term decisions about budget and resourcing with the end goals still in sight.

Make decisions about how to organize and store data Parking managers must make decisions about how best to organize and store the data. No easy feat but much simpler to accomplish with the right information and infrastructure in place.

Start asking questions like: ● Are we looking at outsourced solutions or do we have something internal already in place? ● Are these solutions able to provide data, analytics, and reporting? ● Are they built to securely share data with third parties?

Regardless of whether you build, buy, or partner, adhering to data-sharing standards like the APDS and the OMF-CDS will standardize the process of transmitting data to and from external sources.

You can also add contractual terms to ensure that this occurs. Of course, the TNCs must follow a properly communicated scope of work so that all parties are aware of the objectives and developments involved.

Examine past projects to learn how to manage stress points ●

Implementations are seldom (really, never) perfect.

Defragmentation projects include multiple stress points that rely on collaboration to successfully move past. The more fragmented the system, the more stress points we’ll encounter.

In Conclusion Defragmentation is a work in progress and will remain so as long as new technologies continue to enter the market.

What we can do to prepare for and preempt these challenges is: 1. Build solutions from the ground up that can successfully integrate into the larger ecosystem and choose vendors that take this approach.

2. Lead with a systematic, customer-centric, and sustainable philosophy so that we can approach decision-making with long-term goals in mind.

Einstein’s classic statement, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” certainly applies here!

Ongoing iteration, learning from the past, and doing our due diligence when vetting vendors will ensure we’re alchemizing past challenges with defragmentation into future successes. ◆ CHRISTOPHER PERRY is CRO at Umojo and a member of the IPMI Technology Committee. He can be reached at cperry@ umojo.com.

Vet and select vendors Prudent vendor selection and favorable contractual terms are key elements for success. Data integrations can be costly and time-consuming to build and maintain, and your organization may not want to shoulder that complexity.

Technology companies and other vendors that develop solutions with defragmentation and connectivity in mind should be prioritized, as those efforts future-proof them as partners and ensure flexibility on both ends.

SARAH BECHERER is VP of Growth at Ocra and a member of the IPMI Technology Committee. She can be reached at sarah@ getocra.com.

MICHELLE MCDONALD is former Chief of Staff and Business Development Lead at Modii and a former member of the IPMI Technology Committee.

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Originally published in May 2023

V2G How Vehicle-to-Grid Technology Creates Passive Income and Eases the Burden of EV Regulations

By Robert Ferrin, CAPP, Jeffrey Sallee, PE, John Wheeler, and Brian Zelis

How Vehicle-to-Grid Technology Creates Passive Income and Eases the Burden of EV Regulations

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By Robert Ferrin, CAPP, Jeffrey Sallee, PE, John Wheeler, and Brian Zelis

T

he electrification of the transportation system is presenting parking and mobility practitioners with a generational opportunity to impact the communities where they live and work. True to industry patterns over the last decade, technology is continuing to lead the way in how we electrify parking and transportation programs. Asset owners, managers, and operators must understand how quickly technology is changing, and the options available as they investigate how to plan, procure, install, and manage electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in parking facilities.

At its core, practitioners should understand how this EV infrastructure affects the financial bottom line.

Change is coming to the industry. Current and future market forces and policy directives will dramatically impact the parking and mobility industry. Today there are two million EVs on the road, with eight million expected by 2025 and 30 million by 2030. A recent LA Times article revealed that, in California alone, 35% of new 2026 car models sold must be zero-emission, ramping up to 100% by 2035. Furthermore, automobile manufacturers are increasing EV production goals to keep up with changing legislation, green initiatives, and public interest. For example, both Nissan and GM have announced 100% electric fleets by 2035 and 2040, respectively.

Together, these companies sell approximately 6 million vehicles every year.

Meeting Demand What does this mean for the industry? This exponential growth of EVs in the U.S. will drive demand for charging infrastructure, with a need for an estimated 9.6 million new EV charging stations by 2030, according to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. While many of these new charging stations will be installed at home, there will be an increased need for workplace and destination charging. The demand is also driving changes in the regulatory landscape; updated building and zoning codes

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in many states require new construction to install EV charging infrastructure for new buildings and parking garages. These EV-ready provisions have been adopted by many states and major cities around the U.S. Consider the new International Code Council (ICC) guidelines that call for installing electrical panelboards, outlets, and conduits capable of charging at least one full-size EV in a single-family garage overnight.

Multi-family buildings will need two spots, along with more that can be easily retrofitted, a standard known as “EV capable.” The ICC expects building owners to save money in the long haul when implementing EV infrastructure as part of new construction. Retrofitting sites with EV charging equipment can be up to three times the “EV Capable” cost.

With all of these new demands and policy directives, it is not surprising that, for many, the thought of installing EV charging infrastructure comes with large, assumed costs, with little in the way of revenue to offset these new expenses. However, as EV and EV charging technology improves, revenue opportunities exist beyond simply charging users for parking and charging their EVs. Parking asset owners, managers, and operators have a new revenue opportunity with Vehicle-to-Grid technology (V2G).

What is V2G? Put simply, V2G is bidirectional charging—and the benefits differ significantly from unidirectional charging. Most legacy EV charging infrastructure currently in parking lots and garages are unidirectional chargers, which only send power one way: from the utility grid through the charger to the vehicle battery.

This creates more energy load for a utility to manage, thereby generating costly demand charges for parking operators which can raise asset owners’ electric bills.

Bidirectional charging systems can move power to an EV battery but can also pull power from the vehicle’s battery to supply localized building load or the utility-wide grid demand. Bidirectional chargers paired with a V2G software platform can manage both the charging and discharging of the energy stored in EV batteries. This “two-way charging capability” essentially unlocks the value of EV batteries by redefining EVs as dispatchable mobile energy storage that supports grid resilience.

Fermata Energy highlights data published in a BloombergNEF study, that the road-going population of the USA EV fleet, holds greater than ten times the battery capacity of commercially available, deployed stationary storage.

EVs are batteries on wheels and utilities need gigawatts of dispatchable energy to meet energy demand and to help better manage renewable energy (e.g., solar, wind) sources. Traditionally, utilities have relied on stationary storage to meet this need; however, building stationary energy storage assets is expensive. Fermata Energy highlights data published in a BloombergNEF study, that the road-going population of the USA EV

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fleet, holds greater than ten times the battery capacity of commercially available, deployed stationary storage.

This means the potential of EVs as energy storage is virtually untapped across the country.

Benefits: Utilities Pay for Energy As utilities look at the potential demand for electricity— particularly with EVs coming into the market, they are increasingly adding programs that pay EV fleet owners and operators to send energy stored in EV batteries back to the grid when it is needed most, such as during climate shock heatwaves like those felt in New York City last summer. This is particularly important for parking and mobility practitioners that manage fleets that are either planning EV adoption or have already begun fleet electrification efforts.

Depending upon local and regional utility programs, a bidirectional EV charging platform (software and charger) enables EV fleet operators to earn revenue by sending stored energy in an EV battery to the grid (V2G), or save on their electricity bill by discharging EV batteries to send energy to their building (V2B), avoiding costly peak demand charges. See Figure 1.

The concept of selling power back to the grid is not new. Owners of solar energy systems have been selling their excess electricity to utility companies for years.

Like solar panels, EVs are grid-edge resources that can earn a passive income while parked. “People buy an EV to drive, but 95% of the time that vehicle is parked,” says Fermata Energy founder and CEO David Slutzky.

“EVs are batteries on wheels that come free with leather seats and air-conditioning. They are an underutilized, untapped resource.”

FIGURE 1. Bidirectional charging manages the charging and discharging of an EV battery, enabling EV fleet owners to earn revenue from their local utility.

Source: Fermata Energy

Utilities will pay for that dispatchable energy. The difference between the ROI of a unidirectional charger and a bidirectional charging platform is significant. EV fleet owners with a bidirectional charging system can earn enough passive income from their parked EVs to pay for vehicle leases or to cover the costs of the charging infrastructure. The potential earnings (or savings) from utilities depend upon the utility program and whether the EV fleet operator participates in that program. The EV operator always has the choice of whether to drive the vehicle or park it, plug it in, and profit. For example, Figure 2 illustrates a $45,000 swing in value. In fact, the bidirectional charging system can deliver enough profit

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FIGURE 2. Expected profit swing between unidirectional charging and bidirectional charging. Earnings are dependent upon the utility program and may vary depending upon the utility offering and EV utilization.

(either earnings or savings) by year three to pay for the cost of the EV charger. See Figure 2.

For instance, a single EV paired with a bidirectional DC fast charging system at the Burrillville Wastewater Treatment Facility in Rhode Island has earned more than $8,000 over two summers in 2021 and 2022 from the local utility. The fleet EV duty cycle was not impacted because the power peak, both for demand charge management (DCM) and system-wide utility demand response (DR) is typically between 3pm and 8pm. The V2G activity activated well outside the typical fleet vehicle operational use. Ultimately, the number of hours the vehicle was parked and in discharge mode was minimal, as compared to the total time available necessary for driving.

Parking demand profile differs from application to application. Other possible V2G cost avenues to consider are airport shuttles, as well as campus and hospital shared vehicles. Slutzky points to other examples, “School buses are parked during the summer, and city buses run all the time. EVs with a predictable charging schedule work well to maximize revenue.”

The Software in Bidirectional Charging Systems An AI-driven bidirectional charging system manages the state of charge so that an EV’s battery will not

be discharged below an operator selected level. This ensures that an EV can still do the work required of it and that the vehicle is ready when the driver is ready.

Sending power to the grid won’t cause the battery to die, easing “charge anxiety”.

While this may seem counterintuitive, Slutzky suggests that a bidirectional charger will not shorten battery life. “An EV needs to be driven,” he explains. “With a properly managed charger keeping the batteries at a healthy level, you will manage the battery, not degrade it.”

Currently, the Nissan LEAF, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVs, and Phoenix Motorcars use the CHAdeMO charging standard and are the EVs on US roads today that are bidirectionally enabled. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) recognize the value of EV batteries to their customers and utilities.

Many major auto manufacturers have announced plans to add bidirectionally enabled EVs to their lineup within the next few years. Fermata Energy is currently working with charger manufacturers and OEMs to enable EVs with CCS charging systems to be bidirectional.

The importance of battery health matters to EV owners and, of course, to OEMs. The Fermata Energy bidirectional charging platform is the only one approved in the U.S. by Nissan not to impact the battery warranty.

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What does all this mean for the parking & mobility industry?

Current and future market forces and policy directives will create demand from fleets, commercial real estate developers, parking lot operators, consumers, and others for easily accessible, well-managed EV charging stations. These stakeholders will increasingly want EV charging opportunities in parking lots, garages, and on public streets.

Although EV charging is currently seen as an amenity for customers, the availability of EV charging will soon become a market differentiator for parking operators that can drive occupancy and revenue for a facility and program. Implementing an EV charging solution for your facility will look different for each location and industry vertical, whether it be an airport, higher education campus, municipality, or commercial property. The same can be said for operators investigating fleet electrification, whether to meet climate action and sustainability goals, for economic reasons, or both. With all these changes occurring around us, what are some steps that parking and mobility practitioners should consider?

Understand Your Regulatory Landscape Does your organization have sustainability goals that impact your operation? When looking at a fleet replacement, what options and programs are available to go all-electric? Has your local jurisdiction or state updated building or zoning codes required new buildings to include Net-Zero, EV-ready, EV-capable, or EVinstalled infrastructure? Are there incentive programs to help achieve these new goals and requirements? These are all important points to consider. Ensure you have scanned your organization’s regulatory landscape to avoid pitfalls in the approval process or hidden fees in your project or program.

Know Your Parking Demand Profile Having a clear grasp of the parking demand profile of your facility is critical to determining what EV charging infrastructure makes sense to install. Does your tenant require a provision for EV charging to support their employees or guests? Long dwell times may lead you to consider Level I or Level II charging infrastructure. For short stays and quick turnover rates, you may consider Level III/DC Fast charging options

for your customers. Matching your parking demand to your EV charging solutions is an important step in the electrification process.

Charging Station Installation is the Beginning, Not the End Once an EV charging station is installed, it is imperative to understand that uptime and availability of the station are required to make it a beneficial asset. During the planning phase of your EV charging project, determine how you will own, operate, and maintain the station. There are various business models available, such as complete ownership, operation, and maintenance; third-party ownership, operation, and maintenance; and everything in between.

Choose the model appropriate for your operation.

Understand the Worth of Your Asset Each parking stall is an asset. By adding unidirectional charging to a stall, you are adding value to that asset but not generating much, if any revenue, from it. By adding bidirectional charging to a stall, you not only enhance the value of that asset but create a real revenue stream.

Parking managers and owners who also own EV fleets or support a mobile security patrol asset can maximize this revenue stream through V2G and profit while their fleet EVs are parked. ◆ OBERT FERRIN, CAPP, is Mobility & R Parking Senior Project Manager with Kimley-Horn, a member of the IPMI Board of Directors, and Chair of the IPMI Electric Vehicle Readiness Cohort. He can be reached at robert.ferrin@kimley-horn.com.

EV READINESS COHORT

MEMBER

JEFFREY SALLEE, PE, is an Electrical Engineer with Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at jeffrey.sallee@kimley-horn.com.

JOHN WHEELER is Co-founder and Chief Strategy Financial Officer for Fermata Energy.

He can be reached at john@fermataenergy.com.

BRIAN ZELIS formerly of Fermata Energy, is the Vice President, Sales for Atom Power, Inc.

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 43

Online Exclusive published in May 2023

Data andDATA A N D PA R K I N G Parking The Evolution of the Traditional Parking Operation

The Evolution of the Traditional Parking Operation

By George J. Mclean, CAPP, DBA

By George J. Mclean, CAPP, DBA

BIG DATA

is a term that has become ubiquitous between parking and transportation professionals since the prevalence of the coronavirus pandemic. As a parking professional, I can attest that the parking industry was not immune to the challenges presented by the global pandemic, which are still exhibited today: the shuttering of operations, increased employee turnover, and reduced operational revenues globally. In the wake of the pandemic, parking and transportation professionals were forced to turn to new and innovative technologies to emerge from the health crisis and reopen parking operations in a leaner and more efficient manner that mitigated the impact of the virus. This change in the business environment accelerated technology adoption by several years, leading to the rise of Big Data in parking.

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What is Big Data, and How Do We Use It Big Data is a term that can be very perplexing to those outside the tech community but has many meanings in the operational environment. The University of Wisconsin attempts to generalize this term as “the exponential increase and availability of data in our world.” However, Tech Target defines Big Data as “a combination of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data collected by organizations that can be mined for information and used in machine learning projects, predictive modeling, and other advanced analytics applications.” The coronavirus pandemic illuminated the importance of understanding Big Data as parking and transportation professionals increasingly relied on information to make data-driven operational decisions. As the industry recovered from the pandemic, the question arose about how parking professionals operationalize this data in real-time. This became a topic of interest at conferences over the past three years, where professionals held shop talks, webinars, and learning labs to produce the best data management practices.

Digital Transformation of Parking Operations This question has many unknowns, but this article will provide insight into the future of the parking industry and shed light on emerging data management trends.

Since the pandemic, Big Data has been used to manage parking operations, from hiring to curb management.

Plenty of data aggregators have entered the parking space closing the digital divide and bringing a sense of equality in access to Big Data. The change in data use by parking operations, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to the inevitable digital transformation of the traditional parking operation. However, the ambiguity of the term “digital transformation” has led to its misapplication regarding the future of the parking industry. The Harvard Business Review defines “digital transformation” as using digital technologies to create new or improved business processes, products, or services. With this definition in mind, technologies such as license plate reader (LPR) systems, digital payment platforms, parking sensors, artificial intelligence camera systems (SaaS), and other technologies are used to

streamline traditional parking operations.

The integration of these technologies is the catalyst for the transition of the parking industry from the traditional brick-and-mortar model to the digital era.

For example, pre-COVID many parking operations still used physical cashiers, ticket booths, and manual car count systems, leaving room for human error. Although a small demographic of progressive parking agencies had begun to ascend into the digital era, the majority remained in this past time under the guise of providing clients with low overhead operational costs instead of pursuing innovation and technological advancement.

This notion was not only premised on a cost analysis but also from the human capital perspective. Pre-COVID salaries had reminded stagnant for decades, and little was required from field operators in parking agencies; it was considered a “good-ole” blue-collar position that only required explicit knowledge and valued years of specific expertise. Fast forward to post-COVID-19, the challenges presented by the pandemic have forced parking operators to adopt new technology and embrace the importance of Big Data in decision-making. This change in business operations has spurred the question of how parking and transportation professionals can effectively manage and operationalize data sets in the new digital era created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Effectively Managing New Forms of Data Data management is not a term that is taken lightly by any organization inside or outside our beloved parking industry. This has been a topic of conversation for many professionals over the past decade, but only recently has it become a point of concern in the parking industry because of hiring shortages, consumer choice changes, and increased demand. These challenges have changed how firms do business, creating a higher reliance on Big Data. Data is now becoming a lifeline for making operational decisions, driving sales, and improving the customer experience. This has illuminated the importance of shifting the organizational culture from a traditional “hands-on approach” to one that supports the digitalization of processes and decision-making.

There are numerous approaches to facilitate this change that firms have practiced in the public and private sectors. However, a commonality in all the approaches

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DATA AND PARKING: THE EVOLUTION OF THE TRADITIONAL PARKING OPERATION

is that they are premised on what some call the “four major pillars of data management.” Orion Innovation lists these pillars as Strategy and Governance, Data Standards, Integration, and Quality. ● Strategy and Governance are one of the most critical components of embracing a digital transformation. The crux of data-driven decisionmaking is creating a strategy that dictates how a firm collects, cleans, reconciles, and manages its data.

The strategy also governs how the firm will convert the data into analytics that can be used to develop actionable insights. This process should be uniform and consistent across the organization to ensure aggregated results are measurable and repeatable. ● Data Standards are used to describe data and document structures. More specifically, these standards indicate how data should be stored or exchanged across systems. This includes labeling data type, identifiers, format schema, or application

programming interface (API). Producing data according to certain specifications increases accessibility and transparency in data collection.

These standards allow for the reuse of data, reduced redundancy, and enhanced reliability of data sets at a lower cost. ● Data Integration is another critical aspect of data management. Data integration is aggregating multiple data sources into a singular view of the data set.

This can be accomplished using external third-party aggregators or internally using Microsoft BI, Tableau, or other off-the-shelf products. Data integration is vital to retaining a competitive advantage in the digital era.

This holds especially true when managing big data that exhibits a large volume, velocity, and variety. This is an essential step in facilitating a digital transformation because it is the foundation of the interoperability between applications, businesses, and external organizations.

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●

Data Quality is paramount to data management and the success of implementing a data management plan.

Data quality is determined by the degree to which data meets a company’s accuracy, validity, completeness, and consistency expectations. Data quality is fundamental to business leaders making accurate and informed decisions. Designing systems and implementing procedures to maintain data accuracy increases its quality. These processes and controls are the baselines for digitalizing your operation and using data effectively.

Emerging Trends in Technology and Data Utilization by Parking and Transportation Agencies Over the past three years, Big Data has become increasingly prevalent in the parking industry. Smart parking technologies are a growing market designed to automate monotonous tasks using applications such as payment management, valet parking management, occupancy sensor technology, camera-based sensor technology, and LPR systems. Furthermore, this technology enhances security, allowing operators to blacklist and whitelist certain vehicles, capture license plate information, and monitor vehicular traffic without needing a physical presence onsite. This has led to substantial growth in three main core areas of smart parking technology across different segments of the parking industry that provide practitioners access to large amounts of data. ● Smart meters and digital payment platforms are essential components of the parking ecosystems in the urban core of large metropolitans. Smart meters (i.e., pay-by-plate systems) are multifunctional hardware enabling parking operators to track real-time occupancy by integrating payment machines, sensor technology, and mobile applications. Smart meter technology represented 40% of the market in 2022.

Their integration with mobile payment platforms makes them a robust payment solution because it expands their ability to capture and provide vast amounts of data to parking operators in real-time.

Integrated payment solutions are becoming more common in the parking industry, replacing traditional singular dimension coin parking meters across the country at airports and on-street in metered spaces.

These technologies have multiple benefits, which have aided in a rise in use, such as enhanced customer experience, reduced wait times at exit, and higher revenue capture rates or compliance. ● Camera and LPR technologies have emerged as a leading Software as a Service (SaaS), providing frictionless parking experience in gated and nongated parking facilities. Each of these solutions offers a distinct benefit for practitioners that have become increasingly important since the digital transition of parking operations in the post-COVID-19 era. With the evolution of AI models, camera detection systems have become a popular solution for monitoring lot occupancy. In addition to occupancy data, the system is dynamic and can act in the capacity of a security function. Variations of camera systems have been piloted across the parking industry to understand the best method to collect and analyze data remotely.

However, challenges persist in identifying viable power sources for the many cameras needed to provide accurate and robust data. License plate recognition systems have been used to bridge this gap because they require a single location and shared power source for each entrance and exit in the parking facility. LPR systems have the flexibility to act in fixed or mobile capacity increasing enforcement accuracy and providing large volumes of data to practitioners.

This technology turns real-time insights into data visualizations and reporting used to make strategic decisions on pricing and enforcement activities.

Furthermore, it provides a seamless customer experience at your facility and reduces overhead costs eliminating the need for onsite personnel, tickets, etc. ● Parking Guidance and Analytics solutions have also made their way into the digitization movement providing insights into facility occupancy. Parking guidance systems continue to gain traction because of their dual-purpose use in reducing traffic congestion by directing vehicles to available spaces and providing invaluable occupancy data with 90- 98% accuracy. The appeal of this software is the relatively low installation cost and its ability to transmit real-time data to the end user via mobile applications, digital signs, analytic solutions, etc. The different systems produce high volumes of data that can be turned into valuable insights using third parking aggregators. Strategically

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using this data to make decisions is a proven tool that has been used to maximize parking revenue streams and increases site staffing efficiency. Additionally, data analytics programs have grown substantially in the parking industry because of the need to pilot new technologies to solve problems such as curb management, dynamic pricing, targeted enforcement, etc., that currently plague parking organizations.

Future of the Parking Industry The future direction of the parking industry is ambiguous at best. Since the pandemic, parking and transportation professionals have been continuously tasked with developing best practices and piloting new technologies to solve industry problems. This has led to an influx of new technologies being deployed quickly to mitigate the changes in the industry. This has sparked a paradigm shift in the future of the parking industry, leading to in-depth discussions on the changes in the required human capital skillset for front-line employees, strategic application of technology in field operations, and the importance of creating a culture that cultivates data-driven decision-making.

The following section aims to close the gap by presenting a robust set of recommendations to address each point: ● Over the past three years, human capital skill sets have become a focal point of conversations between parking and transportation specialists.

Human capital refers to the economic value of an

employee’s skills and education. This includes assets like education, training, intelligence, skills, health, and other things employers value, such as loyalty and punctuality. Front-line personnel must have the skills to operate complex technology and draw accurate insights to foster better decision-making.

The digital transformation of traditional parking operations continues to reveal the importance of closing the digital divide in the workforce. The role of the front-line worker has evolved, and data has become increasingly important when making decisions regarding parking rates, staffing, occupancy, etc., that impact the efficiency of the operation. Employers should expand employee development programs and re-evaluate position requirements to ensure the workforce is keeping pace with the new trend in technology use by parking organizations. ● A workforce with the appropriate skill set is the fulcrum of the strategic application of technologies in field operations. The strategic application of technology is how businesses integrate and use technology to meet business goals. Investing in LPR, parking guidance systems, camera technologies, etc., provides parking organizations with a competitive advantage in the new business environment. As organizations increasingly focus on efficiency, price optimization, and revenue maximization, technology has become a long-awaited savior providing parking professionals the information necessary to make strategic decisions in real-time from remote locations.

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This is a far cry from the traditional model that depended on physical employees to relay information to leadership and wait for decisions to come down the chain of command to implement. The strategic application of technology has become the lifeline as the industry continues to recover from the immense impact of the pandemic. To stimulate the growth of the digital transformation of parking operations, practitioners should continue to pilot and implement new technology to solve problems. Advanced technology is the foundation of collecting pertinent data vital to changing our decisions in the operational environment. ● Collecting and analyzing data is fundamental to a firm’s digital transformation. It unlocks the parking professional’s ability to make real-time data-driven decisions. Developing internal platforms or using thirdparty aggregators is the key to successfully utilizing data to achieve a competitive advantage in the market. Big Data is highly complex data sets described partly by its sheer volume, velocity, and variety. Parking professionals should identify and implement platforms to transform the data gathered by different technologies into valuable insights that support informed decision-making. Further, practitioners should develop

a company culture that cultivates including data in decisionmaking. This can be accomplished by providing specialized training, developing robust analytics packages, articulating the importance of using analytics, making data readily available, and developing meaningful metrics.

Conclusion In Conclusion, the expansion in technology use and data availability have shed light on the value of data in the operational environment. The sheer size and magnitude of data available should be considered in discussions on the implications of data and technology on the future of the parking industry. As parking and transportation professionals, we must remember how our company manages data, our current human capital capacity, how and when we apply technology, impact the digital transition of our company, and how our employees embrace big data. ◆ EORGE J. MCLEAN, CAPP, DBA, is G Senior Business Analyst for the Miami Parking Authority and a member of IPMI’s Education Development Committee and Accredited Parking Organization Work Group. He can be reached at gmclean@miamiparking.com.

EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEMBER

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Originally published in June 2023

PLANNING, DESIGN, & CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE

Making Parking More Accessible Planning, Curb Management, Design, and Operations

MAKING PARKING MORE ACCESSIBLE

By Ben Henderson, PE, SE, Kevin White, CAPP, AICP, and Jon Shisler

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PLANNING, CURB MANAGEMENT, DESIGN, AND OPERATIONS

By Ben Henderson, PE, SE, Kevin White, CAPP, AICP, and Jon Shisler

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HE LAST DECADE, specifically the last few years, has brought about many

changes that have impacted the transportation industry. The increased and further anticipated increase in the use of electric vehicles and the increased demand for curb space has affected how we design facilities to accommodate the changing transportation landscape. With these changes, further consideration has been required to address the associated impacts on accessibility to provide the best and most appropriate solutions.

We’ve interviewed several experts in the industry to see how organizations are tackling accessibility design challenges associated with the recent changes within our industry.

QUESTION 1: How do cities, campuses, and other parking organizations handle accommodations and programming for ADA/accessible parking? What are some best practices for providing equitable and accessible parking for patrons who need it?

Robert Ferrin, CAPP: Municipalities operating and managing on-street public parking should utilize the Proposed Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) as a starting place when developing ADA parking guidelines for their operations. These guidelines, developed by the U.S. Access Board, address access to sidewalks and streets, crosswalks, curb ramps, pedestrian signals, on-street parking, and other components of public rights-of-way.

Unlike off-street lot and garage ADA requirements, the PROWAG is not a requirement but rather a guideline.

Municipal parking practitioners should utilize the PROWAG when deciding on the overall number of ADA spaces being provided, the location on the block where those ADA spaces are being implemented, and adjacent rightof-way characteristics, including proximity to crosswalks, sidewalk conditions, and overall curb lane management utilization. Parking operations should also consult local and state ordinances, rules, and policies to determine Robert Ferrin, CAPP what requirements may be Senior Project necessary to establish ADA Manager, on-street parking.

Kimley-Horn,

Benito O. Perez, CAPP, AICP, CTP, CPM: From a city perspective that oversees curbside operations, many intricacies exist in providing accessible parking accommodations.

From a residential point of view, in neighborhoods without accessible off-street access, there will be a need to provide dedicated accessible Benito O. Perez, curbside parking. However, there CAPP, AICP, CTP, CPM is a fine line between reserving that Policy Director, Transportation space for that user and blocking for America, other accessibility demands in the benito.perez@ immediate vicinity. This becomes t4america.org an acute issue if there are so many reserved accessible spaces that flood out other users on the block or if new residents needing accessible parking do not get it because current residents have reserved all the curbside parking. Most equitably would be to ensure at the ends of the residential block there is dedicated accessible parking, serving first come, first serve.

In commercial areas with high curb demand, parking metering is the name of the game, but how do you make the program accessible? Early iterations of accessible metered parking in Baltimore and DC involved providing not only an accessible parking space (involves not only

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MAKING PARKING MORE ACCESSIBLE

being close to a maintained accessible curb ramp but a clear zone on the curb and a clear access route from the curb) but a designated single space meter. That helps the person who gets there first, but not other demands.

Operating and maintaining these spaces can be costly, and it is recommended to set aside 4% of all parking spaces for designated accessible spaces.

A recent iteration in DC was to continue to flag accessible spaces but do away with the designated single space meter, deferring to newer multi-space meter assets that meet Public Right of Way Accessibility Guidelines. This helped reinforce “All May Park, All Must Pay” by having a pay station accessible to all, regardless of mobility ability. It also provides more flexibility to create more accessible spaces while lowering operating and maintenance costs.

Brett Munkel CAPP: Involve the actual users in the process. Engaging with a parker who regularly uses ADA/accessible parking to give feedback on the design and implementation costs nothing and can provide significant insight.

Peter Sadowski: We regularly observe two trains of thought across client types when designing a parking facility. Either the ADA components - including parking - are an afterthought, or on the contrary, ADA is considered a crucial integrated design component. Too often, client-driven programming, Peter Sadowski aesthetics, and efficiency take a Director of Quality front seat during design, where Assurance, THA Consulting, Inc. ADA parking is added as a psadowski@tharequired obstacle. With this client consulting.com mindset, the ADA accommodation provided meets the applicable standard minimums for compliance. For example, this would include but is not limited to quantity and locations of ADA spaces closest to the destination or elevators, adhering to specific egress requirements and floor slope limitations. Conversely, an equal percentage of clients consider accessibility a top priority that requires proper planning and forethought in the design process to deliver a successful accommodating design. This often occurs when programming parking for healthcare campuses and government facilities.

The best practice method requires a mindset that identifies opportunities and solutions beyond meeting

a minimum standard. Consideration should be given to how people of varying abilities will experience the environment and create spaces that are not only ADA accommodating but experientially equitable. This includes being at the forefront of incorporating future accessibility considerations and solutions before being mandated. An example is the increased ownership of electric vehicles and how to address it from an ADA perspective. Municipalities that have not yet adopted standards for EV ADA parking requirements should be considered for early adoption on a project-by-project basis applying standards such as the International Building Code 2021, which addresses quantity and sizing requirements, and the ADA accessibility guidance related to Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) draft published by the U.S. Access Board that addresses space design and access best practices. The parking industry should try to shift towards this integrated and forwardthinking approach when considering the accessible design to elevate the quality of experience for all.

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ISTOCK/ MARCOS MARTINEZ SANCHEZ

QUESTION 2: The curb is valuable real estate in high demand, whether at an airport, hospital, or municipality. How have you seen the design of accessible parking at the curb addressed well? What challenges have you seen in the design of accessible parking at the curb, and how have these been addressed (i.e., curbless infrastructure, security at the terminal, etc.)?

Robert Ferrin, CAPP:The curbside is in high demand in our urban areas, and the demand profile is shifting to support short-term vehicular uses (loading, parking), multimodal access (transit and bike), and non-vehicular programming (dining, parklets). On-street ADA parking and loading are essential considerations in areas with limited off-street public and private parking and loading availability. Since many of our cities do not have ADAcompliant sidewalks, curb ramps, and parking lanes, special consideration should be given to where onstreet ADA parking and loading spaces are established.

These spaces should be located near crosswalks and curb ramps at the ends of blocks, on streets with minimal grade change, and, where possible, in locations where the curb can be retrofitted to meet overall ADA requirements. In locations with a parking fee and local and state legislation do not preclude the charging for parking in ADA spaces, special considerations should also be taken in determining the location and type of payment technology being offered to patrons.

Technology, including digital payment options, should be ADA-accessible. Enforcement operations should consider ADA accessibility requirements and encourage ADA parking and loading space compliance.

Brett Munkel, CAPP Vice President, University & Healthcare Services, SP+ bmunkel@spplus. com

Brett Munkel, CAPP: Mobility and access are deeply personal to me. My oldest uses a wheelchair, and I witness his challenges in interacting with the world regularly. The United States is a global leader regarding accessibility, and while the parking and transportation industry is at the forefront, the job is never truly done.

Curb cuts/ramps must be considered whenever accessible parking is provided at the curb. I can think of many instances where ADA/accessible parking has been provided, but my son has had to loop around to a distant curb cut/ramp to get up on the sidewalk.

Benito O. Perez, CAPP, AICP, CTP, CPM: Recent challenges in municipal accessible parking at the curb include integrating multimodal transportation options (i.e., transit, bikes). With the increase in curbside adjacent,

parking-protected bike lanes, previously accessible spaces are made inaccessible, placing ADA customers in the middle of traffic as they try to get to the curb (dodging cars or bikes with a higher speed differential). There have been various tactics to help mitigate this accessibility challenge while still facilitating safer bike accommodations. On the 400 block of K St NW in Washington, DC, the curb and parking-protected bike lane was adjacent to an accessible parking space (more specifically, an accessible passenger load zone). The parking space had an access aisle prepared behind the space, serving as a way for accessible customers to rear disembark a vehicle and have a refuge space immediately adjacent to a crosswalk.

When conditions warrant, the customer can safely cross the street or bike lane from the refuge space via the crosswalk. The other treatment used in several cities is the temporary bus island extension, where a temporary installation is placed to create a sidewalk bulb-out so the bus can stay in the travel lane. At the same time, as one of these crosses a bike lane, there is a bike lane ramp with texture on the ramps to slow the cyclist down and warn them of pedestrian traffic ahead. Likewise, there are treatments for pedestrians with visual impairments to be aware of mixed traffic with cyclists as they cross the bike lane on the bus island to board the bus.

Lastly, moving away from dedicated accessible single-space meters to an accessible pay station for all helps reduce the risk of cyclists using the parking meter as a parking space, creating obstacles for the ADA customer trying to use the single-space meter.

Gerald Schwientek, PE Project Manager, Kimley-Horn, jerry.schwientek@ kimley-horn.com

Gerald Schwientek, PE: Several solutions have been utilized successfully in airport environments and can vary wildly depending on available space. One option is to provide curb bump-outs, where the ADA/accessible vehicle flows in the same traffic lane but is provided opportunities to access a curb that has been modified to allow for an access aisle.

Another option is a continuous access aisle.

This option requires the roadway lane to be widened to include the continuous access aisle and requires substantially more space along

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MAKING PARKING MORE ACCESSIBLE

the curb. A third option is the curbless approach. While very flexible, this option requires continuous protective bollards for pedestrian safety and the protection of adjacent buildings or other infrastructure.

Reachel Knight, CAPP: Understanding that the curbside is valuable real estate, it is essential to gather data on curb usage, including accessible parking. Data can be collected by tracking usage; this data can be used to set design and supply standards and regulations for accessible parking.

accessing places meant for people. Bollards also double as enhanced pedestrian protection for all patrons.

Larger curbless access provides a responsible design helping people with mobility challenges avoid potentially dangerous conditions by navigating to a specific area with a ramp that meets the minimum requirements for ADA compliance.

Kevin Waters, AIA: Providing 0” curb/ blended transitions at access aisles for multiple accessible parking spaces and passenger loading and unloading areas generally works well. Traditional curb ramps Jonathan Shisler: Accessible parking (fan or parallel ramps) work well where a Reachel Knight, accommodations are a challenge to design single access aisle is provided. The design CAPP into typical street parking conditions. challenges with 0” curbs is how best to Leader, Strategic A condition less talked about is curbs at protect pedestrians from moving vehicles Business Planning, storefronts. Whether ADA parking is right and prevent vehicles from encroaching Calgary Parking reachel.knight@ up against a storefront, like a convenience into and blocking pedestrian travel paths. calgaryparking.com store/gas station, or across a drive aisle, Wheel stops or bollards have traditionally like a Target, many of these businesses have provided a barrier at the 0” curb. Creative started incorporating the curbless design. Instead landscaping can provide aesthetic enhancements at the of a curb, facilities are integrating a more inclusive curb while providing necessary pedestrian protection/ design implementing bollards to prevent vehicles from vehicle barriers.

QUESTION 3: What deficiencies in the design and construction of accessible facilities have you most observed? How have these deficiencies been best addressed?

Brett Munkel, CAPP: The deficiency I’ve most observed is a lack of consideration for the journey an ADA parker will make. Rather than meeting code requirements separately for each area, seek to understand the entirety of the trip, from exiting their vehicle to arriving at their destination, and design within that framework.

Reachel Knight, CAPP:I have noticed that there are limited accessibility features in some parking operating systems, and they do not always align with the accessibility infrastructure provided on-site. These deficiencies are generally overcome by providing various payment options and a supportive customer service team to address access and payment issues.

Jonathan Shisler:As parking industry specialists, we, unfortunately, observe design and construction deficiencies relating to ADA compliance far too often.

Most issues result from oversimplifying what ADA compliance means regarding parking facilities. ADA compliance is much more complex than just the

placement of ADA parking spaces, the direct access to elevators, and the associated signage. Designers often overlook that pedestrians of all abilities need to navigate parking lots and garages from all accessible areas after exiting their vehicles.

Parking facilities are not only storage for vehicles; they are the starting and ending point to a destination and, in some cases, serve as the destination. They are more often designed with many of the same amenities that a traditional building type would include, and therefore comprehensive ADA compliance should exist as a critical design consideration. Specific design elements such as accessible floor slopes, not sharing ADA parking aisles with egress components, door maneuvering clearances, accessible means of egress, and accessible communication requirements, to name a few, are everyday items that we observe as deficient. Professionals must acknowledge that a holistic application of ADA requirements is mandatory when designing parking facilities. To adequately address these deficiencies, knowledge of the most current applicable building code,

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Jonathan Shisler Director of Design, THA Consulting, Inc. jshisler@thaconsulting.com

accessibility code, and federal law is a critical first step. Proper attention and documentation during the design phase are crucial, but just as critical is the execution in the field.

existing on-street parking conditions by adding accessible parking, careful consideration must be given to where you locate the accessible parking. Where existing space does not allow enough room for new curb ramps while Kevin Waters, AIA: At on-street parking, maintaining accessible pathways at the Kevin Waters, AIA the accessibility compliance issues I see most sidewalk, locating accessible street parking are related to path-of-travel and surface slopes Senior Project adjacent to street corners should be considered Manager, Walker from the street parking to the sidewalk. While to utilize existing curb ramps. If compliant Consultants full compliance is required for new design accessible paths are not possible or practical kwaters@ and construction, the elevation transition at from existing street locations, consideration walkerconsultants. com existing curbs can be challenging when adding should be given to alternate locations that accessible parking to existing on-street parking. provide better safety and accessibility. If this Slopes at gutters can exceed the maximum slope and cross approach is taken, signage should be added to direct slopes required for accessible travel paths. When altering patrons to the alternate accessible parking location.

If compliant accessible paths are not possible or practical from existing street locations, consideration should be given to alternate locations that provide better safety and accessibility.

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MAKING PARKING MORE ACCESSIBLE

QUESTION 4: From a planning and operational perspective, how are you addressing accessibility for EV charging (EVCS/EVSE)? What guidelines and best practices are you utilizing?

Robert Ferrin, CAPP: In 2022, the U.S. Access Board published draft ADA accessibility guidance related to Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE).

This guidance addresses spatial, technology, and programmatic accessibility considerations associated with the implementation of EVSE for on and off-street parking facilities. Although final decision-making has yet to be published as of March 2023, this guidance document is one resource, among others, for parking practitioners implementing EVSE in their operation.

This guidance document is under development by the U.S. Access Board but covers several factors, including: ● Off-Street Parking. ADA EVSE space location, sizing, access aisle, and clear floor or ground space requirements are covered in this section. One significant challenge in designing an EVSE off-street parking space is implementing the access aisle due to the various charging port locations on the electric vehicle itself. ● On-Street Parking. EVSE should be installed on top or behind the curb, as close to the curb’s edge as possible, and placed at the end of the block or the closest curb ramp. ● Clear Floor or Ground Space. For the clear floor or ground spaces in front of EVSE, the area must be free of changes in level, not sloped more than 1:48, and clear of obstructions. This can be challenging in a busy urban environment. ● Equipment. The connector cord, card reader, electronic user interface, switches, and buttons should all be ADA-accessible. Operable parts must be above 15 inches from the clear floor/ground space but no less than 48 inches. Cable management should be implemented to aid in meeting these requirements. ● Number of Spaces and Signage. The current draft guidance does not stipulate the required number of ADA-accessible EVSE spaces. However, the May 2016 Guide to the ADA Standards: Parking Spaces suggests using the scoping table in §208.2 to determine an appropriate number.

Parking practitioners should look for updates from the U.S. Access Board, as these draft guidelines will be finalized soon.

Benito O. Perez, CAPP, AICP, CTP, CPM: The electrification revolution is upon us, and many things are still being determined: where charging facilities are

placed/co-located with other land uses, maintenance and operations, and interoperability. With current charging technology taking time, it will be crucial to think of co-location so that customers, regardless of ability, can access community amenities while they wait for their vehicles to charge. On the other side of the equation, there is the issue of charging cords and accessible movement of people on the curb. Cities are wrestling with that challenge, facing the extension cords from homes and businesses across the sidewalk to the vehicle.

That can be a serious tripping hazard and obstacle for persons with mobility challenges. There are efforts to explore a minimal footprint charging device (the size of a bollard) for the urban environment to wireless technology in the street. However, the technology is still nascent, and there will need to be a continued push for wireless charging capability. At the same time, vehicles are in motion to continue advancing the principle that the curb is for people, not solely for vehicle storage.

Raymond Humbert: Parking accessibility should not be an afterthought. It is up to us as parking professionals to be able to look over the horizon and put in place those things that provide equity for all.

Older garages may have height limitations for specialized vehicles, Raymond Humbert shifting the demand for space to Associate Director, Arizona State accommodate EV vans to newer University (retired) garages and parking lots to provide the parking spaces to manage current and future demand.

We gathered a team to identify spaces that could be designed to accommodate this segment of the population.

Our parking and transportation team here at Arizona State University works as a group of professionals with diverse skill sets from our Architect’s Office, Capital Programs Group, and Facilities Maintenance Group to find ways to plan. Whether designing new garages or lots or redeveloping existing ones, we work to integrate EV charging capabilities with accessible parking spaces.

We also ensure that the number and layout of accessible spaces comply with ADA requirements and match parkers’ needs and expectations.

This segment of our driving population may be

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currently small; however, as EV ownership increases, including among those who utilize accessible parking spaces, this parking equity matter will become more prominent, so it is worth considering the issue in the planning phase now.

Brett Munkel, CAPP: Charger height and improper placement of wheel stops are two of the most common shortcomings I’ve observed, both of which can be easily addressed if done before installation.

Kevin Waters, AIA: Providing accessibility for EV charging spaces generally follows the same design approach as providing accessibility for standard parking. Except for some minor differences in signage and pavement markings, the spatial requirements for accessible EV charging spaces should be the same as standard accessible parking. An additional design requirement for accessible EV charging spaces is the location of the EV charger, which requires an accessible path from the accessible parking space to the EV charger and generally wants to be at the same elevation as the accessible EV charging stall and have the prescribed clear floor space at the EV charger. When locating the EV chargers at accessible EV spaces, careful consideration must be given to preventing charging cables from potentially creating a barrier across accessible pathways.

Wrap-Up The transportation industry is changing, and how we approach accessibility is changing with it. Special thanks to these market leaders who have given their perspectives on the challenges and best design practices to address accessible design in a changing world. What’s your experience been? Have you developed guidelines or best design practices you’d like to share? Please give

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us your feedback and thoughts by posting in our IPMI Forum Community or emailing one of our authors. We would love to hear from you! ◆ Please note: EV charging is an emerging topic for practitioners. Accordingly, care should be exercised since design standards, use patterns, and other needs for EV charging are still evolving. Note that some of the information cited herein includes reference to the technical assistance document Design Recommendations for Accessible Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (July 2021), which has received public comments pointing out some inconsistencies and that the guidance needs to be further updated to support the wide variety ofADA EV deployments that can occur in parking facilities, including large deployments in parking garages. Much work remains in creating definitive guidance around ADA EV parking standardization. IPMI working alongside the Accessible Parking Coalition has made this effort a priority.

KEVIN WHITE, CAPP, AICP, is Parking and Mobility Consultant with Walker Parking and Co-Chair of the IPMI Planning, Design, and Construction Committee. He can be reached at KWhite@walkerconsultants.com.

BEN HENDERSON, PE, SE, is Vice President with Kimley-Horn and a member of the IPMI Planning, Design, and Construction Committee. He can be reached at ben. henderson@kimley-horn.com.

JONATHAN SHISLER is Director of Design with THA Consulting and a member of the IPMI Planning, Design, and Construction Committee.

He can be reached at jshisler@tha-consulting. com.

PLANNING, DESIGN, & CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE MEMBER

PLANNING, DESIGN, & CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE MEMBER

PLANNING, DESIGN, & CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE MEMBER

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 57

Originally published in August 2023

Hawaii's Two-Tiered System for Disability Parking

By Bryan K. Mick

58

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Hawaii’s

Two-Tiered System for

Parking

By Bryan K. Mick

I

N 2016, A STUDY BY THE MASSACHUSETTS INSPECTOR GENERAL estimated that disability

parking permit misuse at parking meters was annually costing the City of Boston between $1 million and $3.6 million in lost revenue each year. On the opposite coast, a similar study concluded that the City and County of San Francisco was losing $22 million in annual parking meter fees to disability parking permit use, with a portion of that undoubtedly parking permit misuse.

Meanwhile, across the Pacific, the State of Hawaii’s Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) was studying this same issue and contemplating possible solutions. Hawaii had roughly 100,000 permittees, so it was likely that hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost revenue was occurring each year due to disability parking permit misuse. Fraud occurs in three ways. The first is by an applicant fraudulently filling out an application form. The most infamous case of this was in 1999 when 22 UCLA football players were caught using disability parking placards to park on campus after forging physician signatures. The second way is when a physician signs the form without conducting a thorough examination or by stretching the diagnosis to fit the eligibility criteria. A physician once

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HAWAII’S TWO-TIERED SYSTEM FOR DISABILITY PARKING

told DCAB, “My duty is to my patient, not the integrity of your program.” The third way is when a person uses a permit that was issued to someone else; in other words, they borrow or steal the permit.

The State of Hawaii addressed these issues by requiring the physician to certify a condition and a functional impact on the application form, requiring a $12 replacement fee if a placard was reported lost or confiscated for misuse, and reducing the number of long-term placards that could be issued to an applicant from two to one. But these measures had only a limited impact.

DCAB reasoned that once an applicant fraudulently obtained a disability parking permit to avoid parking fees, they would likely use it to park illegally in reserved accessible parking spaces. This would occur especially in large parking lots where the proximity of a reserved accessible parking space to a building’s entrance would tempt them to use the permit. A survey of permittees revealed that the larger a parking lot, the harder it was to find an available, accessible parking space.

While the Hawaii Revised Statutes limits the parking meter fee exemption to 2.5 hours or the maximum time the meter allows, whichever is longer, it was easy to observe vehicles parked more than the time limits often all day, since there was sparse enforcement of the time limits. Those vehicles likely belonged to employees or residents of nearby offices and apartment buildings.

Off-street parking in downtown Honolulu may cost up to $300 a month, so a strong financial incentive existed for misuse. The abuse of the time limit was likely more prevalent than the fraudulent use of a permit. An audit of the City and County of Honolulu’s bike share program revealed that several of the City’s on-street parking meters were only generating between 10%-20% of their projected maximum revenue. While some of that extreme shortfall was due to a space being unoccupied or because a vehicle had some sort of parking permit that waives the fee, disability parking permit abuse was a large contributing factor.

The states of Michigan, Illinois, Oregon, and Colorado previously implemented a tiered system of disability parking permits, where only a special placard

provided the dual benefit of allowing the permittee to park in a reserved accessible space or in a space where payment is required without payment of that fee. The underlying premise is that a parking fee exemption should be related to barrier removal, not a financial subsidy. To qualify, an applicant must have a disability that prevents the applicant from reaching or operating a parking meter, and the applicant must be able to drive themselves (otherwise, the other person in the vehicle can pay the fee). These states informed DCAB that only about 3% to 10% of their applicants qualified for the special placard. They continue to issue their other applicants disability parking permits that allow them to park a vehicle in a reserved accessible parking space.

DCAB decided that a two-tiered system would be suitable for Hawaii, and in 2018 a bill was introduced at the State Legislature to amend the state’s disability parking law, Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 291, Part III, Parking for Disabled Persons. This first attempt to amend the law failed. But it was a valuable exercise that allowed DCAB to learn what the public’s objections were and which elected officials required outreach and detailed dialogue. In advance of the following legislative session, DCAB refined its list of individuals and organizations that

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were willing to submit testimony in support of the legislation, including county transportation and parking enforcement departments. DCAB obtained confirmation from the State Department of the Attorney General that the new law would not run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act as some had alleged. The reintroduced bill passed the Legislature and was signed into law by Governor David Y. Ige on June 7, 2019.

The effective date of the amended law was set as July 1, 2021, to allow time for administrative rulemaking and procurement of a new green-colored placard, formally designated as the Disabled Paid Parking Exemption Permit (DPPEP). In addition to its green color (temporary placards are red, and long-term placards are blue), “DPPEP” is prominently displayed vertically on the placard. This is to assist parking enforcement personnel in low light situations and for those who are color blind. To qualify for the DPPEP, the applicant must possess a valid driver’s license and be certified by a Hawaii licensed physician or an advanced practice registered nurse that (1) the applicant has a qualifying mobility disability and (2) at least one of the following three conditions: (a) The applicant cannot reach above the applicant’s head to a height of 42 inches from the ground due to a lack of finger, hand, or upper extremity strength or mobility; (b) The applicant cannot approach a parking meter due to the use of a wheelchair or other mobility device; (c) The applicant cannot manage, manipulate, and insert coins, bills, or cards in a parking meter or pay station due to a lack of fine motor control in both hands.

This long delay in the effective date was fortuitous as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed these preparations down. DCAB successfully began issuing DPPEPs on July 1, 2021. Several efforts were made to inform the public. Information about the change was handed out with every disability parking permit issued. Every permittee who had an email on file with DCAB was contacted. DCAB’s Executive Director Kirby Shaw gave multiple interviews to local television and newspapers.

And most directly, the parking enforcement agencies agreed to forgo issuing any citations for the first 45 days and instead placed warning flyers on vehicles displaying a disability parking permit at parking meters.

There were some negative reactions from permittees with legacy placards as they became aware of the change.

Some permittees lamented the financial impact the new law would have on them, especially older people on a fixed income. But three specific geographical areas generated the bulk of the complaints. One was at Kapiolani Park, located across from Waikiki Beach. Many permittees would use the

metered spaces without payment and walk across the road to go surfing or swimming. There are only a few free public parking spaces along the beach park, including reserved accessible spaces. The second area was at Straub Hospital and Kaiser Permanente Medical Facility in Honolulu. While both facilities have large off-street parking lots, they charge for parking. So many permittees would park without payment in the metered spaces along King Street, which fronts both locations. Because King Street becomes a no-parking zone at 3:30 p.m., this had a secondary effect of pushing permittees to make their appointments in the morning. And the third area was a Kailua senior residential facility that the City and County of Honolulu had exempted from providing the required minimum number of off-street parking spaces under the theory that the residents would not own cars. The few spaces that were designated for residential parking were part of a larger metered public parking lot. It became clear that many residents had been using their disability parking permits to park without payment in the public metered spaces 24 hours a day. DCAB advised these residents to petition the City and County to convert some of the public parking spaces to paid residential parking. A second surge in negative public reaction occurred after the 45-day grace period expired and citations were issued. Parking enforcement attached the warning flyers to the citations so permittees would understand the reason for the citation. The flyers provided DCAB’s contact information.

In the 18 months since the law took effect, only 400 applicants have qualified for the DPPEP, representing roughly half of 1% of the total disability parking permits in use. The City and County of Honolulu, which has approximately 70% of the state’s population, reported parking meter revenue of $4.05 million in fiscal year 2021.

The meter revenue increased to $5 million in fiscal year 2022, the first full year the DPPEPs were in use and the legacy placards no longer conferred a meter fee exemption.

DCAB encourages all states that currently provide free parking to instead implement a tiered system of disability parking permits. Please feel free to contact DCAB at dcab@ doh.hawaii.gov or (808) 586-8121 if you would like more information. Mahalo! ◆ BRYAN K. MICK is Program & Policy Development Staff Coordinator for the State of Hawaii’s Disability and Communication Access Board. He can be reached at Bryan.Mick@doh.hawaii.gov.

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 61

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LEADERSHIP MOMENT Originally published in August 2023

A Spot for Everyone Parking’s Impact on Transportation Equity

by Maggie Vercoe

W

HEN I ENVISION A BRIGHTER FUTURE for the communities we serve, I see parking

and transportation infrastructure centered around creating opportunities for everyone to fully thrive.

It’s an unfortunate reality that disparities remain in the transportation sector. The decisions we make concerning the improvement of infrastructure— from smarter roadways and road safety to public transportation and parking—tend to focus on solving issues related to efficiency and economic development rather than the impact they have on every individual’s ability, income level, socio-demographic circumstance, and other factors.

In my profession and in my convictions that I hold dear, I am focused on ensuring that individuals with challenges never feel marginalized. It’s also my goal to help customers reach outcomes that matter most, which is a shared value of our parent company, Verra Mobility.

As David Roberts, President and CEO of Verra Mobility, has stated, “Providing smart, equitable

mobility solutions for communities is Verra Mobility’s core focus. We want to enrich lives by helping customers build and maintain safer roadways, corridors, and intersections.”

As leaders in the parking and mobility industry, we are responsible for moving the needle forward for greater equity in transportation. I’m proud to be a part of an organization that builds solutions that live up to this belief. I am also proud to own a role that can help effect positive change in the world of parking alone. There is no small part in what we can do to create a reliable, affordable, and convenient gateway to employment, healthcare, education, and other areas that impact quality of life.

Here are some things I’ve learned in more than 28 years in the industry that are important considerations in creating a spot for everyone.

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1. Parking policies and practices that you support and implement directly impact transportation equity.

Are your parking requirements flexible? Is accessibility at the forefront of your operations? Are there affordable options for parking in all necessary areas? Limited access to affordable and reliable public transportation paired with parking fees priced on the higher end are factors that impact individuals. Consider how your policies may help ease the financial concerns of those affected most.

Allocating some of your parking revenue to support your community’s resources, or even offering incentive programs for using alternative modes of transportation can benefit all residents and visitors regardless of their income or other sociodemographic factors.

Ask yourself: Can you do more with your policies and practices to accommodate individuals with mobility or other challenges?

By providing disabled persons parking spaces with wider spaces, adjacent access aisles, and closer proximity to building entrances and amenities, you’ll create fewer barriers. All can participate in community activities, access public services, and visit your area’s businesses without obstacles.

Regardless of your role in parking, leading or influencing the direction of your facility impacts transportation equity. How do you plan your organizational strategies to create a greater experience and opportunity for your visitors to access shops, schools, jobs, and quality food? Your leadership has the power to cultivate a thriving, connected community with more equitable access to transportation.

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LEADERSHIP MOMENT

2. Technology can only be considered “advanced” when it’s designed to meet and exceed accessibility standards for all.

Top parking technology companies continue to expand how facilities and municipalities attain a more equitable operation. The thoughtful design of solutions—with features that address accessibility, convenience, and other user needs—significantly empowers organizations to create a more inclusive environment for their patrons.

With the realization that more development is needed in the industry, some current technologies break down physical, financial, and cultural barriers that can be implemented today. ● Space reservation systems that provide peace of mind to those with mobility or other challenges.

The ability to reserve parking spaces before arrival greatly reduces the stress and uncertainty of finding available, accessible parking and assures individuals they can get to destinations that improve their quality of life. ● Smart parking systems that stay connected without contact. Technologies such as gateless parking sensors, license plate recognition (LPR) cameras, mobile payment options, and software made for real-time data management are revolutionizing the parking industry and city planning. These modern systems provide convenience and easy access for parkers with mobility or sensory challenges. Many of today’s mobile payment application features are centered around the needs of every user and an understanding of the world around us. Adjustments and implementations like these also impact efficiency in the areas that need it most, like hospitals, campuses, and high-traffic event arenas. ● Multilingual interfaces integrated with payment stations. To ensure information and instruction are accessible to individuals with limited English proficiency, offer an option for users to interact in languages that may also be prevalent in your community. Users unable to understand how to adhere to your facility processes may also face the hardship of paying fines they can’t afford due to non-compliance.

As you see, technology opens doors to greater access and opportunities for all. As a leader, you can

The decisions we make concerning the improvement of infrastructure tend to focus on solving issues related to efficiency and economic development rather than the impact they have on every individual’s ability, income level, socio-demographic circumstance, and other factors. drive your facility towards real systemic change in transportation equity by leveraging and creating new ways to offer parking.

3. The power of data can drive change and uncover inequities.

Parking technology can generate valuable data about parking patterns, usage, and behaviors, allowing facilities to make better-informed decisions regarding their operations. Careful analysis of this data can enable facilities to identify areas of improvement, including those related to equity.

Some ways to leverage data to determine insights by demographic needs include: ● Determining

if accessibility and use of facilities are working for different demographics. Are the lengths of stay longer than usual? By analyzing data about location and time, facilities can identify challenges faced by individuals who are differently abled or those who struggle with low income. This data can drill down details about parker behaviors like where they parked in your facility and the length of time they remained in a space. The information can lead to the development or change in policies and parking infrastructure to enhance equity in your facility. ● Determining if the allocation of parking facilities is equitable. Are you offering parking access in all the right places? By analyzing data around occupancy and demand, you can determine whether certain areas in your community have an oversupply or undersupply of parking spaces. It’s also important

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to consider parking pattern data that can reveal whether your operation fairly accommodates patrons who need parking the most. Individuals with limited access to public transportation depend on parking to arrive at their destinations. All this data can guide decisions about locating or relocating facilities to ensure equitable access to parking options. ● Determining whether pricing and permitting strategies are fair. Do your parking rates always align with demand? Is there an opportunity to offer certain parking permits to help improve the experience of individuals with different needs? Analyzing parking occupancy and demand in your facility can also help you consider and establish dynamic pricing structures with adjustable rates based on demand levels.

Additionally, data about the usage of spaces can help inform decisions about the issuance of parking permits that would address the needs of different parkers. Considering this data can ensure that pricing and availability are equitable for all.

As a parking technology company leader, I prioritize data availability as a top feature of our technology that will empower customers to make positive changes in their parking operations while creating a better, more equitable world.

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Don’t make your own assumptions. I’ve found customer feedback and direct engagement to be invaluable tools for uncovering and addressing inequities. Creating the space for transparent conversations teaches us more about barriers that jam up a smooth parking experience for all. I would encourage you to direct resources to institute and manage surveys or interact directly with your patrons to learn more about their specific needs.

Let feedback be your guide for attaining the most equitable facility.

Be a force for change! You can lead your organization to make a great impact on transportation equity through your parking policies and practices, leveraging new parking technologies and insightful data. You’ll open endless opportunities to move your operation and community forward and help us all realize a brighter future with opportunities for all to thrive. ◆ MAGGIE VERCOE is Senior Vice President, Customer Experience at T2 Systems, a Verra Mobility Company. She can be reached at mvercoe@t2systems.com.

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Originally published in September 2023

How Much Parking Do You Need An individualized approach to parking minimums.

By Rob McConnell, PE, SE, LEED Green Associate

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HOW MUCH PARKING DO YOU NEED

P

A R K I N G M I N I M U M S were first introduced in 1923 by the City of

Columbus, Ohio, and since the post-war boom of the 1950s, they have been a fundamental principle of urban planning across the United States. The idea was to ensure that the parking requirements of new developments could be met within those developments without impacting nearby curbside spaces.

Published in the Institute of Transportation Engineers Parking Generation and codified in most zoning ordinances, minimum parking requirements vary for different uses: residential developments often require one to two spaces per unit; retail and commercial usually have ratios based on gross floor area; and restaurants may be based on area or number of tables. Hospitals and churches must satisfy local zoning requirements to ensure they don’t overwhelm local parking supplies.

An Individualized Approach to Parking Minimums

Parking minimums have long been a bone of contention for developers. They complain that the requirements can be onerous, leaving their developments with scores of unused parking spaces and unnecessarily driving up the cost of their projects.

By Rob McConnell, PE, SE, Considering that the national LEED Green Associate median construction cost is $29,000 for each structured parking space and twice that amount for underground parking, it’s easy to see why developers push back. And it’s not just the cost that’s at issue. Parking is very space intensive, and land that’s required for parking can’t be used to serve the development’s primary function. In some dense urban infill developments, structured parking and even automated mechanical are not even physically practical.

Recently, it has also become popular in some academic and urban planning circles to blame abundant parking for promoting car ownership, urban sprawl, and associated traffic congestion and pollution. Some anti-parking pundits call for removing cars from downtown by creating car-free urban cores. Fast Company magazine referred to this movement as “the car-free revolution.”

Since the publication of Donald Shoup’s The High Cost of Free Parking in 2005, there has been increasing talk about eliminating parking

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minimums. Some cities are either reducing parking minimums or eliminating them to incentivize more development in their urban cores. In fact, approximately 200 communities have already reduced or eliminated parking requirements, including Buffalo, New York City, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego.

This approach is far from universal, however.

Americans are extraordinarily reliant on their cars. According to Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, three out of every four Americans use their own vehicles to get to and from work. Only one in ten use public transportation. While it’s certainly a worthwhile goal to promote mass transit and alternative modes of mobility, planners and leaders must still implement parking plans that accommodate the vehicles that travel to and from their cities daily. In fact, to better meet the needs of visitors and residents, some cities have reversed course from the parking elimination trend, including South Boston, which increased their parking requirements in 2016, and Miami, which reinstated theirs last year.

Why It Matters When determining how much parking a development needs, developers and city planners must balance and right-size parking. As stated earlier, excessive parking requirements can unnecessarily cost developers much money to create underutilized spaces. Not only can this adversely impact the overall project by reducing the amount

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HOW MUCH PARKING DO YOU NEED?

of space available for its primary purpose, but it also adds maintenance and life-cycle costs that can be challenging to offset with parking revenues.

The impact of inadequate parking requirements on communities can be just as problematic. Contrary to what some pundits say, cities don’t reduce parking demand by reducing parking supply. Instead, when cities permit the development of projects with inadequate parking, they create additional stress on existing parking supplies. When workers at new commercial or retail developments or residents of new housing projects aren’t provided adequate parking, they are forced to look for parking elsewhere, usually on local streets or in nearby parking facilities. This causes congestion on local streets and pollution as drivers fruitlessly search for on-street spaces. In addition to inconveniencing residents, this can also undermine public safety if it impacts first responders trying to get to an emergency.

The additional demand also drives up parking rates in area lots and garages. When there’s more competition for a finite number of parking spaces, prices will inevitably increase. This places an additional burden on area residents and employees of local businesses.

Market Driven Why are some cities eliminating parking minimums while others are increasing them? Every community is different, with its own unique needs and opportunities.

A city with a robust public transit system or a history of micro-mobility adoption may need less parking than one in which vehicle commuting is the predominant means of transportation.

Ideally, the free market should determine the right vehicle accommodation and development mix. Every developer wants a financially successful project, which requires the right mix of amenities, including parking.

The perception of insufficient parking, excessive traffic cruising the blocks, or expensive parking drives customers away. Banks and other lenders also play an important role because they are unlikely to fund new developments with insufficient parking. Development financing is predicated on having a marketable, competitive product, and, in most places in the US, this means providing some amount of parking.

How do you figure out how much parking is needed?

Certainly, a parking consultant can help by evaluating

current parking needs and anticipated growth in those needs. A parking consultant can also identify opportunities for reasonable parking reductions based on shared use, alternative transportation modes in play, and other transportation demand management strategies.

At face value, eliminating parking minimums should allow the free market to dictate the necessary amount of parking. It’s not always that simple, however. Publicprivate projects, where private developers are backed by public money, may not have the input of private lenders.

Publicly funded projects may be guided by social policy or other non-market-driven goals.

Affordable housing is one building type at the center of the current debate. By minimizing or altogether eliminating parking, the developer can use the savings to build more housing units, which serves a public benefit.

Given the subsidized nature of the development, there is little risk to the developer in doing so. There are, however, unintended consequences.

In most cities, in-town residents need a car to get to work, go shopping, visit friends and family, and find entertainment. Sure, it’s less of an issue in cities in very dense urban areas with good public transit, but these are the exception, not the rule. This is a particularly important issue in neighborhoods located in larger cities. Many urban areas are “food deserts” with no grocery stores. In these communities, residents must have access to a car just to get food for their families.

People with disabilities can also be significantly impacted when parking minimums are eliminated. Is it reasonable to ask someone with mobility challenges to park several blocks from their residence or walk up to a half mile to a transit station? Likewise, is it fair to people with disabilities who already live or work in the neighborhood to share often insufficient supplies of ADA parking spaces with people who should be parking in that development?

For these reasons, applying (or not requiring) parking minimums must be balanced and fair. As planners, we must operate on the assumption that most people in a given community have a car or other personal vehicle. Limiting the availability of parking spaces doesn’t reduce the number of vehicles needing to park in the area; it just increases competition for those limited spaces and, ultimately, their cost.

There are better ways to manage parking demand while reducing the amount of land required to SHUTTERSTOCK/ EVIART

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Parking minimums have long been a bone of contention for developers.

They complain that the requirements can be onerous, leaving their developments with scores of unused parking spaces and unnecessarily driving up the cost of their projects.

accommodate that demand—shared parking, for instance. Most zoning codes allow some amount of shared parking. So, for instance, if a church is being developed in a neighborhood, it can partner with another local entity with complementary parking needs, such as an office building. The church will primarily need access to parking on weekends, while the office will need it during the week. Rather than develop separate parking for each, the two can share the same parking facility. There are numerous examples of entities that can share parking in this way.

Parking management and enforcement are also essential.

When parking minimums are reduced or eliminated, cities must be prepared for additional cars occupying on-street spaces for extended periods of time. When long-term parking occurs on-street rather than off-street, the convenient parking spaces that local business need for their customers aren’t available, driving them elsewhere.

The city ends up hurting its local businesses and, consequently, losing tax revenue.

Cities must implement planning approaches encouraging space turnover, such as parking time limits and targeted pricing strategies. Of course, this strategy doesn’t work without adequate enforcement.

Targeted Strategies Reducing or eliminating parking minimums isn’t necessarily bad, but city leaders and planners must know the risks. In most cities, new developments without parking will inevitably force residents or visitors to the new development into local garages and lots or onto local streets to find parking. This will almost certainly drive up the cost of parking in the area, intensify congestion on the local streets and surrounding neighborhoods, and could have other unintended consequences.

Ultimately, every community presents unique challenges and opportunities that must be addressed individually by cities and their parking consultants. Some cities have sufficient parking resources to handle additional vehicles and can benefit from reducing parking minimums by promoting the use of public transportation, providing land for green space, or achieving other public policy goals. Others, though, will be adversely affected by congestion and rising costs. The best solution will be targeted at addressing the unique situation facing individual communities. ◆ ROB MCCONNELL is Vice President at WGI Parking Solutions and a member of IPMI’s Planning, Design, & Construction Committee. He can be reached at Rob. McConnell@wginc.com.

PLANNING, DESIGN, & CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE MEMBER

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 71

Originally published in October 2023

Advancing Smart Transportation What does the future hold for Smart Cities?

By Casey Jones, CAPP, and Maria Irshad, CAPP

Advancing Smart T

By Casey Jones, CAPP, and Maria Irshad, CAPP

Smart Cities Challenge The City of Columbus, Ohio, home of the In December 2015, the U.S Department of Transportation 2024 IPMI Parking & Mobility Conference launched the Smart City Challenge, asking mid-sized cities & Expo, won the USDOT Smart City across America to develop ideas for the integrated, first-ofChallenge out of 78 applicants. its-kind smart transportation system that would use data, applications, and technology to help people and goods move more quickly, cheaply, and efficiently. 78 applicant cities shared their challenges and ideas for how to tackle them. Then, seven finalists worked with DOT to further develop their ideas. Ultimately, the City of Columbus, Ohio won the Challenge and was awarded $40 million and another $65 million was divided among finalist cities.

While the cities were diverse, many of the 78 applicants faced similar challenges: ● The typical job is accessible to only 27% of its metropolitan workforce within 90 minutes or less. ● Trucks stuck in traffic in metropolitan areas cost shippers an estimated $28 million annually in truck operating costs and wasted fuel. ● 28% of transit agencies in the U.S. have open data systems that freely provide transit times to the public. ● An estimated 30% of traffic in urban areas is caused by cars looking for parking.

The 78 applicant cities represent over one billion metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. ● Outdated traffic signal timing causes more than 10% of all traffic delays on major routes in urban areas. ●

In response to these challenges: ● 44 cities proposed automated shared use vehicle testing. ● 11 cities proposed smarter curb management to improve urban freight movement. ● 17 cities proposed inducting wireless charging for electric vehicles. ● 45 cities proposed unified traffic data analytics platforms.

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Transportation 53 cities proposed implementing Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) to connect vehicles to infrastructure and each other. ● 9 cities proposed providing free WiFi on buses, taxis, and public spaces. ● The seven finalist cities proposed over 60 unique strategies to increase access to jobs, provide training, reach underserved areas, and ensure connectivity for all. ●

Where are we today?

How much progress has our industry made in the eight years since the DOT initiated the Challenge and invested over $100 million?

How have the finalist cities fared and how much more is being done outside of the initial set of awardees? Have smart transportation solutions become as ubiquitous as sustainability in parking, transportation and mobility or did COVID-19, the lack of enough funding, public private partnerships, or lack of proven technology impede our collective advancement of ideas and promises articulated by a handful of visionary, optimistic, and creative city leaders who pitched their ideas back in 2015? Do we all understand what smart transportation entails and what goals might be advanced through its implementation? And if we agreed on these goals, what smart transportation activities might we pursue?

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SMART TRANSPORTATION

TASK FORCE

IPMI Smart Transportation Task Force Formed In late 2022, IPMI brought together a task force of volunteers to seek answers to these questions with the hope of furthering smart transportation broadly, well beyond the small but important group of Challenge applicants back in 2015. More specifically, the task force charge is to identify ways in which IPMI can support the promotion of smart transportation for the benefit of member organizations and their parking, transportation, and mobility constituents.

The Task Force determined that its primary deliverable would be a published practitioners guide to smart transportation that identifies best practices through real world solutions in place across IPMI’s membership. The guide will be case studies focused on financial, policy, implementation and technical detail using a comprehensive framework and anticipated goals as detailed below.

A two-year timeline was also established for the group to complete its work.

Smart Transportation Definition and Activity Pillars Defining Smart Transportation The logical starting point for the Task Force was to evaluate various definitions for smart transportation and select a definition most applicable to parking and mobility professionals. This

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ADVANCING SMART TRANSPORTATION

What

Mobility Management Technology Enabled Solutions

For

Movement of People and Goods

Modality Goals Convenient

All modes Safe

Secure

required stepping back to consider smart city definitions and then placing within a shared construct of the smart city, a workable, cogent, and applicable definition of smart transportation.

IBM defines a smart city as “one that makes optimal use of all the interconnected information available to better understand and control its operations and optimize the use of limited resources.” A smart city uses a framework of information and communication technologies to create, deploy and promote development practices to address urban challenges and create technologically enabled and sustainable infrastructure.

Smart transportation has been defined as taking a data-driven approach to using existing and emerging technologies and innovations in mobility management to make moving around a city more convenient, more cost effective (for both the city and the individual), and safer.

While instructive, these definitions were viewed as limited and lacking breadth.

The Task Force also included additional specific outcomes, modernizing its Smart Transportation definition as follows:

Equitable

Resource Efficient

Smart transportation means peoplecentered, and problem-driven technology enabled solutions in mobility management to make the movement of people and goods across all modes more convenient, resource efficient, safe, and secure, and equitable.

Convenient: Technology solutions should be used to make mobility more convenient for end users. Regardless of the mode, transportation and mobility consumers expect streamlined, intuitive, and understandable information and processes and in many cases, technology should be used to automate as many processes as possible.

Safe: Personal safety is paramount to many, especially in larger metropolitan areas, late at night, in isolated circumstances or when traveling to unfamiliar places. Technology solutions should promote and support safety by providing accurate and timely information, and ease of access to transportation and mobility services.

Secure: Technology should improve and not degrade accuracy while protecting confidential personal and financial information.

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Equitable: Equity in transportation seeks fairness in mobility and accessibility to meet the needs of all community members. Smart transportation solutions must account for fairness and promote it where possible.

Resource Efficient: A critical overarching goal of smart transportation is for technology solutions and innovations to be resource efficient. This can mean either reducing operational costs, improving revenue generation or both.

Solutions that are convenient, safe, secure, equitable but unaffordable do not promote smart transportation.

With smart transportation defined and goals identified, the Task Force identified common smart transportation activity types or pillars to create a comprehensive view of the types of initiatives an organization might consider.

Activity Pillars Smart transportation activities or pillars provide a framework for considering the multitude of things an organization might do if it has interest in advancing smart transportation. In the forthcoming Guidebook, activities will be associated with goals so that an organization can be steered towards activities most likely to achieve certain specific goals. Relating activities and goals will help organizations determine which activities are most impactful or need adjustment.

Regular Coordinated Data Collection & Analysis: Today’s technology provides for the collection and analysis of significant amounts of data and in many cases in real time.

Coordinated data collection and analysis means aggregating disparate data sources into a single system so that information is less siloed. Analysis must be provided at multiple levels from operational to strategic improving decision-making processes.

First & Last Mile Service: First and last mile service refers to establishing connection points typically between

parking or transit facilities and final destinations. Activities that use technology to promote first and last mile service might include the mode itself or the tool or application for connecting modes.

Limiting Impact of Climate Change: The full breadth of technology-enabled sustainability activities are undertaken to limit the impact of climate change. This includes reducing consumption of resources, generating energy, and limiting carbon emissions.

Movement of People and Goods: This overarching activity group involves moving people and goods and for the purposes of IPMI, is not likely to include all movement types (shipping, longhaul air travel, long-haul trucking, etc.) but may include air travel to move people and goods within an urban area (drones launched from parking structures, for example).

Maximizing Parking Efficiency: This activity seeks to maximize the number of parking events per parking space over a period or to increase the density of parking per a given area of land. Activities can also improve how parking is found and how entry and exit is facilitated to reduce congestion and/or queueing and dwell time.

Optimizing Traffic Flow: Similar to parking efficiency, these are activities that optimize traffic flow to reduce congestion.

Typically, technology is used to improve traffic signalization, traffic queuing and modal prioritization.

IPMI’s Task Force Goal The many laudable plans offered by the 2015 Smart City Challenge applicants envisioned many positive and desirable outcomes and the lessons learned offer a meaningful path forward for organizations, entities and communities seeking to improve mobility convenience, safety, security, equity, and resource utilization. Technology companies have also responded by providing tools, programs, and services to facilitate these desired outcomes. IPMI’s goal in establishing the Smart Transportation Task Force is to help its members advance smart transportation guided by previous work and lessons learned through the development and publication of the Smart Transportation Guidebook which is expected to be released mid-2024. ◆

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CASEY JONES, CAPP, is Sr. Director of Customer Success for FLASH, a member of IPMI’s Board of Directors, and co-Chair of IPMI’s Smart Transportation Task Force. He can be reached at casey.jones@ flashparking.com.

MARIA IRSHAD, CAPP, is Deputy Director for the City of Houston, a member of IPMI’s Board of Directors, and co-Chair of IPMI’s Smart Transportation Task Force. She can be reached at maria.irshad@houstontx.gov.

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Originally published in November 2023

Y S A A S E Easy as A,B,C Creating and Implementing a University Mobility Master Plan

By Debbie Lollar, CAPP, M.S.

Creating and Implementing a University Mobility Master Plan

By Debbie Lollar, CAPP, M.S.

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I

N 2019, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY WAS EXPERIENCING YEAR AFTER YEAR OF UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH in population and in the construction of new facilities, often

built on existing parking lots. The University’s 2017 Campus Master Plan (CMP) recommended eliminating most small, interior parking lots to reduce traffic and associated modal conflicts in favor of last-mile infrastructure, pedestrian plazas, and green space. Transportation Services initiated the pursuit of the creation of a Mobility Master Plan (MMP) to align the campus and its services with the rapidly evolving mobility needs at Texas A&M University’s College Station, Texas campus.

The point at which the MMP was initiated, Texas A&M University’s student enrollment was more than 68,000. The campus was the fifth largest among U.S. universities with an operating budget over $1,000,000,000. College Station, due to its population size, does not qualify for federal transit resources available to densely populated, metropolitan areas. Campus transit service is funded by student fees and the parking services operation is an auxiliary funded through visitor parking and permit income. The campus spans 5,000 acres with primarily flat terrain that includes a state roadway and railroad tracks that divide the campus comprised of more than 36,000 parking spaces.

The MMP would focus on efforts over the next 10 years, with

an abridged view 20 years into the future to prepare for significant developments or implementations requiring prerequisite steps during the first 10 years. Autonomous vehicles and mobility options not considered viable for this community within the prescribed timeline were excluded from the analysis. The improvements of the MMP target transportation safety, minimization of congestion, preservation of local character, outline goals and policies for the transportation system, analyze existing and collect new data, accommodate growth, and protect environmental, historic, and natural resources. The plan would guide the process to garner campus-wide commitment to travel to, from, and around campus by a means other than driving single occupancy vehicles.

College Station, Texas

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EASY AS ABC

A

Precisely Written RFP

For the first time in the history of the university, strategic efforts began to formalize a mobility master plan.

The request for proposals (RFP) was detailed, considered campus interests and initiatives, included measurable goals, defined the scope of the plan, ensured integration with existing systems, and required budget and timeline estimates.

Transportation Services led the effort that resulted in an actionable plan completed last year and is already getting results.

The RFP for the project required alignment with the goals of the university’s 2015 Bicycle District Strategic Plan, 2017 Campus Master Plan (CMP), 2018 Sustainability Master Plan, and 2018 Residence Life Sustainability Plan, as well as community input.

Elements of importance from these plans included a Transportation Mode Hierarchy, rating the priority and environmental impact of people traveling by foot, bike, bus, service vehicle, rideshare, carpool, and single occupancy vehicle; reducing vehicle miles traveled by campus users; increasing capacity of the on-campus transit system; increasing the number of students, faculty, and staff who commute to campus using

something other than a single occupancy vehicle; operating a campus fleet that minimizes demand for fossil fuels; and increasing use of alternatively fueled vehicles.

The resulting MMP would outline policies that frame the future transportation network in an environmentally sensitive manner and embrace the concept of “Complete Streets”—the approach to planning streets that are designed, operated, and maintained to enable safe, convenient, and comfortable travel and access for users of all ages and abilities.

The primary goals of the RFP included: ● A well-connected, coordinated network of efficient, safe, and convenient multimodal transportation options implemented in an environmentally sensitive manner to improve accessibility and mobility, and minimize congestion. ● Diminishing greenhouse gases released from university-related commuter transportation by reducing single occupancy vehicle trips to, from, and around campus by shifting travel behavior to sustainable modes of transportation. ● Improvements to sidewalk and path accessibility, safety, and continuity of campus travel in aesthetically pleasing ways. ● A transit operation that builds upon its success providing student service and strives to support future needs of faculty and staff and in support of the CMP, which identifies a need for faculty and staff to have travel alternatives from perimeter parking to their offices and around the campus during the day to attend meetings and manage business. The plan should explore and outline various approaches to transit vehicles and routing. The result should be an on-campus service so dependable that a broad range of faculty and staff would consider it a viable daily alternative. The solutions could include, but were not limited to, fixed routes, on-demand service, park and ride, and micro transit. ● An improved system that enhances student and employee health and job satisfaction. ● A plan which minimizes capital, operational, and maintenance costs. ● A plan that integrates the various modes of transportation recommending requisite infrastructure, roadway connectivity, technology, and facilities to

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The resulting MMP would outline policies that frame the future transportation network in an environmentally sensitive manner and embrace the concept of “Complete Streets”—the approach to planning streets that are designed, operated, and maintained to enable safe, convenient, and comfortable travel and access for users of all ages and abilities.

facilitate a smooth travel experience.

Parking policies and related privileges that minimize traffic, provide adequate access, and maximize interconnectivity with other modes of travel. ● Provide an implementation plan focusing on prioritization, methodology for measuring success, and projected costs.

The plan should be used to seek cooperation between administrators, faculty, staff, students, sports fans, the wider campus community, and local cities to explore and modernize transportation systems to meet future mobility needs. The RFP included the requirement for a robust stakeholder engagement process conducted by the consultant with close input from Transportation Services staff and focused heavily on last-mile solutions with an emphasis on “Park Once” concepts and reinforcing the essential need of faculty and staff to consider walking, biking, busing, and other sustainable mobility options. Engagements should use metrics such as walking distances, mobility options, and distances from bus stops or other points of interest to gauge viability with our constituents. The RFP included 30 additional transportation-specific considerations that would be used to evaluate and select the winning proposal. ●

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The RFP was written to help select a partner who could help us achieve the outcomes we desired for our campus. The plan had to be specific to our campus, evoke culture change, incorporate multiple mobility options and not a one-size-fits-all approach, prioritize the list of recommendations, estimate costs, and provide tangible, usable solutions. It should evaluate and incorporate existing services and not focus on ideas too futuristic to realistically be implemented in the specified timeframe.

The winning proposal would result in a planning tool that would not sit on the shelf and gather dust, but rather guide the continuous mobility-improvement process for the next 10 years.

B

ig Effort on Data Collection

Once a consultant has been selected and hired to produce a Mobility Plan, the real work begins ensuring the appropriate input and data are considered. Although the plan aims to guide the future, studying the past and understanding the present is imperative to determine what is possible.

Data comes in many forms; much is collected by the consultants, and even more is provided by our teams from interviews and historical data records.

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Originally published in November 2023

Include a robust data collection process to include ample historical and presentday data to show trends and existing services provided by your organization as well as partners whose services integrate with yours.

Do not fear overwhelming the consultant team with too much data. Talk with them about all the sources and formats for data you can provide for their review.

When working on a mobility plan, consider all types of relevant operational data collected or accessible by your department, such as: transit boarding and alighting; transit route maps; anonymized constituent home addresses for constructing service area heat maps; parking data to include permit sales, citation data, waiting lists, and space counts; bicycle rack location and routes and occupancy counts; GIS maps; and partner data, such as from the city, transit agency, Metropolitan Planning Organization, Department of Transportation, and other relevant partners.

Constituent groups should be identified, and members invited to participate in engagement opportunities structured by the consultant team to collect both general and specific feedback. Engagements can be used for constituents to identify best and worst mobility experiences, gauge willingness to use various modes, collect feedback, explore current culture, and lay groundwork to begin to shift expectations. Although in-person engagement has significant benefits, consider supplementing with virtual engagement by way of an interactive website, online meetings and forums, and surveys so feedback can be collected from all interested people when it is convenient for them.

The consultant team should spend time at your location to get a clear understanding of existing conditions and to explore what could be possible. An effective plan must include more than generalizations about mobility philosophies or improvements; it must contain detailed information about many specific improvements recommended for exact locations in the zone studied. Defined improvements provide a basis

for engaging constituents to obtain feedback about and buy-in for the plan. A component of the fieldwork should include observations across the entire region included in the study, testing early theories, and collecting counts by mode to quantify the scope of the work. Be certain to include opportunities for the subject matter experts within your own organization to share their concerns, ideas, and hopes about what may be included in the plan.

The consultant team should be well-versed in industry best practices, benchmarking against other organizations with similar issues, populations, or other related baselines as this provides contextual insight for the basis of their recommendations. These points of reference also help show examples of suggested treatments and how completed solutions can work to improve movement or safety.

One additional factor important to successful data collection is the full engagement and support of the process by administrators within the organization who selected the consulting team. Make personal invitations to and participate in engagement activities. Leadership involvement heightens awareness and emphasizes the importance of the entire mobility plan effort. Be involved in identifying and ensuring data is provided on a timely basis. And even more importantly, talk about the effort undertaken while it is in progress—to employees within the organization who will be implementing the plan, to constituents who will see changes because of the plan, and to administrators so they are aware of the opportunity to engage and are informed of proposed changes and implementations.

The consultants will incorporate all the material into a draft plan. It is important to participate in reviewing it, providing feedback, and requesting others from your team and key constituent areas to do the same. We committed

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to retaining all ideas submitted in the draft, even if we may not have initially liked them, thought they could be possible, or could be adopted in our campus culture.

Already, this has proven to be a successful strategy as one of the concepts we felt most unlikely is already in design.

C

ommitment to Implementation

Once the plan is produced, it is easy to pause to take a deep breath after completing all the hard work to bring it to fruition. Strike while the iron is hot! Use the energy from the work your own team members contributed and the recent engagement sessions with constituents to move forward on implementation.

There are three factors that can begin immediately to keep the momentum going.

First, develop a roadshow, such as a presentation, to tell the story of the mobility plan development and next steps. This will confirm to people who participated in engagements or otherwise contributed to the plan that it has been completed and what you are doing with it now. Remember few people are as informed about the MMP as the group who worked closely with the consultant team. Invite your own leadership team, employees throughout your organization, your boss, your advisory committee, constituent groups who participated in engagement sessions representing city employees, students, faculty, and staff groups. Hosting a roadshow will help build on the familiarity of the topic for those who heard about it or were involved, it will plant the seeds for culture change, and it will hold you accountable to use the plan to make meaningful improvements.

Second, identify an implementation team and meet with them regularly to review the recommendations from the plan to prioritize their implementation.

This is the fun part! It allows the team to go beyond dreaming about what it is possible to being a part of bringing solutions to reality. One approach is to look for some easy wins that can be accomplished on a smaller budget and shorter timeframe. Projects like these show progress to the campus or community and they motivate your team to keep going. Another approach is to consider unrelated projects starting soon to see if there are recommendations from the plan that could be considered at the same time by either incorporating

them into the work plan or completing them simultaneously to dovetail into the already planned closures or infrastructure work.

Third, consider which big-impact projects you will work on first and use these regular meetings to make progress on planning the tasks required to fulfill the requirements to implement them over a longer timeline.

Remember to include appropriate constituent groups in discussions for the upcoming projects to get their input and to continue showing progress. Update the road show along the way to include before, after, and in-progress pictures, to describe upcoming projects, and to continue chipping away at culture change.

Now you know your A, B, C’s!

Getting and implementing a university Mobility Master Plan can seem like moving mountains. Try approaching it like the adage, eating an elephant—one bite at a time. Start with a precisely written RFP to clearly define what you want from the plan so you can see in the proposals which company most closely meets your goals. Then, use the RFP to ensure the chosen company fulfills your requirements.

Next, include a robust data collection process to include ample historical and present-day data to show trends and existing services provided by your organization as well as partners whose services integrate with yours. Include field data obtained by the consultant during site visits and constituent and partner data collected during engagements. This information illustrates services well-adopted, others that are growing or shrinking, and those desired for the future. The consultant compiles the data to identify the best path forward for your region.

Lastly, use your budget, earned revenues, grants, and shared-cost models to begin implementation right away.

Even small projects show momentum and progress. Be sure to keep telling your story about the plan, completed endeavors, and what is coming next. Engagement with constituents is key to communicating project progress, to promoting the usage of new infrastructure or services, and to chip away at culture change. Now you know your A, B, C’s! ◆ DEBBIE LOLLAR, M.S., CAPP, is the Executive Director for Transportation Services at Texas A & M University, and member of IPMI’s Accredited Parking Organization (APO) Board of Directors. She can be reached at dlollar@tamu.edu.

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Originally published in November 2023

UNDERSTANDING THE

COMPLEXITIES OF

Healthcare Parking

Understanding the Complexities of Healthcare Parking A Q & A with Healthcare Design Experts and More

By Gordon Knowles

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A Q & A with Healthcare Design Experts and More

By Gordon Knowles

H

EALTHCARE FACILITIES are

facing more challenges than ever before, from aging facilities to staff shortages to COVID-19. To better understand how parking can be a part of the solution rather than the problem, I wanted to take a fresh look not only at the patient experience, but also those of the care providers and other visitors to healthcare facilities.

To begin that process, I sat down with two healthcare design experts from NBBJ to talk about the biggest challenges hospitals face when it comes to parking. Teri Oelrich, BSN, MBA, NIHD Fellow, has three decades of experience in the healthcare industry, including full-time nursing, healthcare planning and healthcare consulting. Kim Selby, AICP, CUD, is a planner and urban designer specializing in site analysis, planning and design for healthcare campuses and a variety of other clients and land uses.

The three of us talked about a variety of parking challenges, from patient experience to integrating parking on complicated campuses to evolving needs.

After we spoke, I drew from my over 20 years of experience in healthcare—most recently focusing on parking—to think about solutions for these complex issues.

Examining the Challenges

Knowles

Gordon Knowles (GK): Many patients have mobility issues or are with someone who is, which places extra emphasis on parking as a customer service challenge. What do you see with your clients when it comes to creating a patient-friendly parking experience?

Teri Olerich (TO): You are not happy and chipper when you come to a hospital. Parking needs to be easy to find, easy to navigate, and close to the facility they’re going to. Some parking structures feature

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COMPLEXITIES OF HEALTHCARE PARKING

Olerich

sloped floors, which can create customer service problems when patients have to manage wheel chairs or are unsteady on their feet.

Kim Selby (KS): There’s a lot of stress involved when it comes to hospital parking, so we strive for parking that manages that stress level. For instance, patients are often dropped off and valet parking is not always a comfortable option. Therefore, the location of parking and the driver’s ability to maintain a visual connection to their friend or loved one is a critical piece of the customer service Selby challenge. Can the patient be secure, safe and comfortable while the person helping them parks the car? Not being able to see where you are parking when you drop off your patient creates discomfort.

How parking is distributed is also part of the challenge. Most hospital campuses have outpatient, inpatient and ambulatory services, and parking that serves staff, visitors and patients is needed in multiple places.

GK: Staff and patient parking is a difficult balance to strike. We design facilities that often serve both, which means designing for both patient ease of access and the high throughput that comes with shift changes, not to mention separating staff and patient parking. But we also see campuses that keep the two users separate, which poses additional challenges. On-grade parking lots often get slated for development, which pushes staff parking to the periphery of a health campus, because it’s easier to put staff farther away than patients.

However, on the flipside, if you make parking too inconvenient, you invite enforcement challenges.

TO: It can also create security challenges.

Hospital operations are 24/7, so safety of where you put parking is extremely important for both visitors and staff, as many people are looking for their cars in the dark. When I worked in downtown Seattle, security would walk us to our cars at night.

That’s a cost no one wants to incur.

KS: Since the onset of COVID-19, healthcare professionals mask throughout their workday, so generally if they have the chance to be alone in their car with their mask off as opposed to continuing to wear one on public transit, they’re going to do it. Providing convenient staff parking becomes a recruiting and retention tool.

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Implementing Best Practices

GK: We’ve talked about the complex challenges associated with healthcare; let’s start weaving in some of the solutions. I believe we are on the same page that many people think the patient journey doesn’t start at the front desk—it starts with parking. How are your hospital clients helping patients navigate parking, especially in regards to wayfinding and pick-up and drop-off ?

TO: This is actually really important, as patients who cannot get to the hospital or find parking impact not only physician schedules, but every other specialty involved in their care. Lab work, x-rays, nursing staff, etc. are all affected when someone is late or misses an appointment. Our clients do a number of things to help mitigate this. A health campus in Salt Lake City gives patients a voucher with instructions and a map when they book an appointment. Some hospitals opt for providing Uber vouchers, use a private company to help patients, or give out gas vouchers. But these methods often require someone to be internet savvy, and not everyone is.

KS: A well thought-out operational plan enhanced by wayfinding can make all the difference. The wayfinding challenges are just as big of a struggle with ride share apps as they are with those who drive and park. A hospital may have one address and 18 doors, so It becomes a person-finding nightmare, not just a wayfinding nightmare. Having multiple clear zones is so important.

What’s Preventing Change

GK: We’ve identified a number of parking challenges that healthcare campuses face. What prevents your hospital clients from providing better parking experiences?

TO: Cost is the biggest struggle. Either zoning is so restrictive that we that can’t provide enough parking, or it hasn’t been updated in so long you are working with old models that require more parking than we need. The cost to change that is prohibitive. Money spent on parking is money that isn’t spent on equipment and beds, so it’s taking away from the healthcare services they need to provide.

KS: One of the true challenges for our clients is long term planning: thinking in terms of square footage, service codes and land use. Cities often require the same number of parking stalls for a hospital as they do for an office park or a shopping center, even though their needs are different. It’s very complicated.

GK: Parking is a vital component of master planning for any project type, but even more so for healthcare. What are some of the challenges medical centers experience when incorporating parking into master planning and redevelopment?

KS: Not only do you need to sort out what areas need to be devoted to parking, but you also have to factor in circulation. We work with campuses where patients, deliveries, transit, staff, emergency department, etc. are all entering and exiting at the same point. This means that staff trying to get to work can be stuck behind an ambulance or an elderly patient trying to figure out where they’re going, which creates a choke point that needs to be addressed in master planning.

TO: When locating parking on a healthcare campus, you have to make the right move the first time. Otherwise, you have to spend time and money you don’t want to spend to relocate it, and you’re left with a donut hole in the middle of the campus because the hospital was built around the parking garage. Now you’ve not only impacted parking and operations, but also circulation.

Patients who cannot find parking impact not only physician schedules, but every other specialty involved in their care.

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COMPLEXITIES OF HEALTHCARE PARKING

One thing that we are doing a lot more of now is designing for resiliency and alternative uses, so that parking structures can be re-purposed for overflow emergency services in the event of natural disasters.

KS: We often have to look beyond the client’s horizon.

Our task is to plan the next 10-20 years for a medical campus, but really we’re looking out 30 years, because whoever comes after us will need to replace the oldest part of the campus. You can’t just tear down building A in order to make way for building H; you have to rebuild Building A somewhere else first. We want to make sure we aren’t creating a problem for 30 years down the road that will leave them without choices and options.

GK: How has the healthcare campus approach to parking evolved over the years, and where do you see it heading in the future?

TO: One thing that we are doing a lot more of now is designing for resiliency and alternative uses, so that parking structures can be repurposed for overflow emergency services in the event of natural disasters or pandemics like COVID-19. However, this adds extra

cost to the initial design. The other problem is that in a situation like a hurricane, the staff isn’t going home. So if you want to convert the parking garage, you still need a place for the cars to go.

KS: COVID-19 taught us ways we can temporarily adapt facilities differently. Parking facilities were a natural fit for vehicular COVID testing, because they were already designed for cars and managing throughput efficiently.

The Path to Better Parking

GK: Parting thoughts?

KS: Whether or not it is reality, I have yet to walk onto a healthcare campus where there is not a perceived parking problem, and talk about taking away parking for an expansion. Unfortunately, even when you set out to solve that problem, shut downs, laydown spaces and

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The constant struggle hospitals face when it comes to justifying spending money on parking verses medical facilities and equipment emphasizes the need to make the design and construction of parking structures as cost-effective as possible. circulation changes inevitably make it worse before you can make it better. That’s why it’s so important to think several steps of sequencing ahead so your parking is in the right spot the first time.

TO: This also means knowing your client. People in Montana drive different vehicles than they do in San Francisco. In some areas, people have the perception that parking structures are unsafe and don’t want to park in them. Understanding what your client needs will help you do parking in the right place and the right amount the first time.

With this comprehensive look from our combined perspectives at the challenges for creating better parking experiences at our healthcare facilities, I did some reflecting on what parking best practices can offer.

Comprehensive shared parking studies can determine how much parking is needed on a hospital campus. We can analyze the unique mix of patient services, staffing ratios and inpatient/outpatient help determine what a specific location needs to support its services, and where it is needed. These studies can also aid in projecting demand for new campuses as well as the impact of new or redeveloped facilities on an existing campus.

Parking guidance systems can enhance the patient experience before they leave home. In the same way that airports are choosing parking guidance systems that allow travelers to book parking before they leave home, medical centers can integrate technology that allow travelers to reserve a space when they schedule their appointment.

Patients who arrive on campus with directions to their parking destination and have clear wayfinding signage that quickly and painlessly points them to an open space are more likely to arrive on time without added stress.

Automated parking can provide higher levels of customer service while minimizing parking’s footprint. Fully automated parking systems feature

transfer cabins where users drop their car off to be parked automatically, which allows patients to go straight to their destination without navigating a confusing structure.

Because automated systems can eliminate much of the space needed to accommodate humans, parking also takes up less space. They do, however, require additional costs for maintenance and operations, meaning they must be carefully considered against the hospitals’ needs and budget priorities.

Consider your delivery method to get the most value out of a new parking facility. We touched on the constant struggle hospitals face when it comes to justifying spending money on parking verses medical facilities and equipment, which emphasizes the need to make the design and construction of parking structures as cost-effective as possible. We are seeing growing numbers of hospitals opting for alternative delivery methods such as designbuild. The opportunity for greater collaboration between owners, designers and contractors these methods offer over traditional design-bid-build makes it possible to get more accurate cost data earlier in the process as well as identify and mitigate potential problems before they interfere with project budgets.

Explore strategies that will shorten construction time. We also talked about sequencing and how building new parking also makes things worse before it makes it better. Therefore, being able to minimize disruption and bring parking online as quickly as possible is critical. Once again, alternative delivery methods can help mitigating these issues by significantly shortening the delivery window, as can methods such as pre-cast concrete construction.

I extend my deepest thanks to Teri and Kim for sitting down to chat with me about the complex parking challenges facing today’s medical campuses. While these issues continue to evolve and change along with new trends in patient care, we have more tools than ever at our disposal to make parking part of the solution rather than the problem. ◆ GORDON KNOWLES is an Associate Principal at Watry Design, Inc. He can be reached at gknowles@watrydesign.com.

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THE GREEN IMPACT Originally published in November 2023

Overcoming the Electrification Challenge on Campus

By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE

O

VER THE PAST YEAR, the IPMI EV Cohort has worked to document the current status

of our members on their journey towards implementation of electric vehicle support equipment (EVSE) and electrified fleet services. With the rapid intensification of funding, policies, and guidelines associated with electrification, now is the time to better define and adopt practices associated with efficient implementation of EVSE and electrified fleet services. However, that adoption is not without its own challenges and obstacles, especially in academic environments where both the provision of EVSE for patron use and electrification of fleets is critical to reaching sustainability goals set by both parking and mobility programs as well as campus leadership.

Based on the findings of the IPMI EV Cohort and the recommendations of the EV Readiness Plan, there are a few key considerations for campus parking and mobility managers to consider. Let’s start with the current state of the market.

The Current State of EVSE and EV Fleet Adoption on Academic Campuses The IPMI EV Cohort conducted an industry-wide survey to better understand how our members were implementing, operating, and managing EVSE and EV Fleet services.

Nearly 90 academic campuses across the U.S. responded to the survey, providing a rich set of data related to EV opportunities on academic campuses. The following key findings define how our academic members are approaching their electrification journey today. ● 54% of respondents felt that campus policies were supportive of EVSE and EV Fleet implementation and adoption today. These policies range from those internal to the parking and transportation operations to those from campus leadership. In subsequent conversations with campus respondents, it was apparent that while policies were supportive, they were more reactive than proactive and often left members responding to requests rather than setting the path forward. ● 60% of respondents currently have electrified components of their fleets, with most of those EV fleet vehicles in the light/medium duty category and a smaller portion using electric shuttles and fleets. ● 40% of respondents indicated that they intended to implement or expand EV fleet vehicles in the near term,

but most were unsure of the timeline for expansion. For those planning to expand, most expected that expansion to include light and medium duty vehicles, with smaller percentages expecting to upgrade shuttles or buses. ● The biggest barriers to implementation or expansion of EVSE and EV Fleets on campuses included: 1. The sourcing and availability of vehicles based on current market supply.

2. The cost for obtaining vehicles and infrastructure is based on inflation.

3. The opportunities to identify funding sources to support expansion or implementation.

4. The physical site constraints needed to support expansion or implementation.

5. Availability of power and utility resources to support expansion or implementation.

Overcoming the Challenges The IPMI EV Readiness Plan outlines eight steps that are critical to preparing for and successfully implementing EVSE and EV Fleets. Those steps include: 1. Establish Program Goals 2. Confirm Focus Areas 3. Assess Organizational Preparedness 4. Conduct Utility Assessment 5. Understand Market Demands 6. Identify Charging Locations and Charging Types 7. Develop Operations, Maintenance & Management Strategies 8. Define an Implementation Process

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For most of the academic Gabe Mendez, University of Wisconsin Porter respondents to the IPMI EV Readiness (UW): Currently the vehicles we need Survey, the first few steps are already are not available for purchase being addressed on campuses. through state procurement, but we Whether at the parking program level or are looking at how to increase the campus leadership level, goals and availability with our state partners.

Mendez focus areas are being established to support UW is currently in the midst of an campus sustainability goals. At the programmatic level, EV infrastructure study to identify most academic parking and transportation programs have fleet charging areas, what would be assessed and established preparedness but are waiting on needed to provide the electricity to those outside forces to coalesce and provide guidance, including local locations, and to see if we have the capacity required for the and state utilities and federal guidance. additional energy draw on campus. After completing the With those steps in motion, some of the hardest steps for study, the UW will develop an electrification plan with phasing academic campuses to overcome are the specific identification to increase our plugin EV fleet. of available resources, utility coordination, and identification of The goals and outcomes of each campus’ electrification how to allocate limited resources. The EV Cohort reached out journey are very much a moving target at this point. Most to several leaders in the academic parking and transportation campuses are reacting to goals established from leadership spectrum to better understand specific challenges that are and critical stakeholders as well as availability of local, limiting the further implementation and expansion of EV state, and federal resources. While the intended outcome resources on campuses. Their viewpoints included: is implementing the infrastructure necessary to support EV JC Porter, Arizona State University (ASU): There isn’t enough expansion on campus, the road to get there differs based electricity currently generated to meet the lofty goals we are on the resources available today. That’s why it’s critically setting both on our campus and regionally. The California important now to define your EV readiness and develop schools in the PAC-12 (rest in peace) are more concerned than plans to help proactively move along the electrification most about the ability to service and charge EV fleets. Currently journey. For more information about how to do that, IPMI’s California gets first choice to buy EVs and they are having a EV Readiness Plan can provide guidance as you define your tough time finding cars. Here in Arizona, it takes us a year to get path forward. ◆ an EV car and if we don’t buy it right away it gets sold out from us. On campus, we are setting infrastructure in place without BRETT WOOD, CAPP, PE, is adequate demand from users. Our current charger utilization is President of Wood Solutions Group EV READINESS and Co-Chair of IPMI’s EV Readiness 7.21%. There are not enough electric cars that need to be charged COHORT Cohort. He can be reached at brett@ MEMBER during the day and ASU currently has 1% of permitted vehicles woodsolutionsgroup.com. that come to campus that are all electric.

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PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 89

Don’t Come to Us. We’ll Come to You. IPMI’s In-House Training & Development Team brings best-of-class education directly to you, where and how you need it.

IPMI Training & Development Team

Cindy Campbell,

Matt Penney, CAPP,

Senior Training & Development Specialist, IPMI

Director of Parking & Transportation Services, Baylor University Training & Development Specialist, IPMI

For more information or to book your organization’s training session now, email Cindy Campbell at campbell@parking-mobility.org.

Employees are an organization’s most valuable asset.

Investing in staff training and development is an investment in the success of your organization.

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- Maria Irshad, CAPP, MPA, ParkHouston

ASK THE EXPERTS

ASK THE

The Best of

EXPERTS

Recap of our Ask the Experts questions for 2023, along with some of our most impactful answers.

January 2023: What new or updated skills and proficiencies will Frontline parking and mobility professionals need for success in the decade to come?

George J. Mclean, MPA, CAPP Sr. Business Analyst Miami Parking Authority

Big Data has become the future of the parking industry. I believe it will be imperative for frontline parking and mobility professionals to understand how to operationalize big data to make different decisions, from staffing to setting rates.

The amount of data collected by parking organizations is an invaluable tool that, if used correctly, may provide the insights necessary to remain competitive in a constantly evolving market.

This is especially pertinent in the parking and mobility world, where new technologies are emerging daily, streamlining parking and transportation services for the end users.”

David Stein

Director—Parking Planning and Policy New York City Department of Transportation The days of traditional parking studies are over. The need for professionals to understand the interplay between different uses and users is critical to future success, as is the use of new technologies and approaches such as expanded analytical al platforms, AI, and the ability in multi-disciplinary environments.”

February 2023: As transportation, transit, and micro-mobility modes continue to evolve, what does the future of multi-modal transportation look like?

Jennifer I. Tougas, Ph.D., CAPP AVP Business Services Western Kentucky University

What I would love to see is that, for the consumer’s sake, Mobility as a Service services will develop standardized API’s so that the services can be white labeled and consolidated into a single interface for the consumer. This may be a daunting challenge, but it would improve the consumer experience and increase access to these services.

Shawn McCormick

Director-Parking Enforcement and Traffic, Streets Division San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency The future is already in San Francisco today with autonomous vehicles (AV). Revenue service has already started with passengers getting into vehicles with no driver behind the wheel. Companies have already started building truly autonomous vehicles without driver controls and are awaiting approval from the federal level for deployment of the new style vehicles.

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March 2023: What are the latest challenges in event and venue parking, and what innovations are being implemented to solve these challenges?

Dani Crain

Director of Implementation, Parking & Mobility Oak View Group Technology. Parking technology is heavily underutilized in the venue and live events world.

Depending on the specific needs and challenges of each venue, implementing simple parking tech solutions such as online presales, easy onsite payment solutions, LPR and even EV technologies will help us cater to our customers.

In alignment with utilizing these solutions, maximizing marketing tools such as social media platforms and Know Before You Go (KBYG) resources to better accommodate our event-goers – so they are spending less time in our parking facilities and more time in our venues.”

Larry J. Cohen, CAPP Executive Director

Lancaster Parking Authority For event and venue parking, the number one priority is getting customers IN and OUT as quickly and seamlessly as possible based on the sheer volume alone. Innovations via prepayments by phone apps, license plate recognition (LPR) camera systems, and gateless options have gone a long way in expediting quick transaction times by moving past the archaic one-on-one cashier/customer transactions at entry or exits.”

April 2023: What sustainability policies, programs, and practices are you implementing in your operation to manage and maximize the use of the curb?

Robert Ferrin, CAPP

Joseph Madison

Senior Project Manager Kimley-Horn

Associate Director of Parking Operations Kennesaw State University

Cities are leveraging technology and data to establish low-emission and zero-emission loading zones for goods and service delivery to better manage congestion, improve safety, and increases curb performance and efficiency. More efficient use of curb space opens the door to dedicate public right of way for bike lanes, dedicated transit lanes, and other multi-modal opportunities.

To maximize sustainability, one strategy of curb management is to convert underutilized areas into rideshare zones. These zones help promote the reduction of individual vehicles occupancy. A well-managed program can include automated counters and automated enforcement.

May 2023: What new technology, innovation, or strategy for parking and mobility are the most exciting to you in terms of the future of the industry, and why?

Brandy Stanley, CAPP, MBA

Gabe Mendez, CAPP

Vice President, State & Local Market Development FLASH

Director of Transportation Operations University of Wisconsin, Madison

EV charging is going to come fast, and it will change our industry drastically in the next 10 years.

While it is difficult to predict what charging and parking will look like, developing operational, infrastructure and technology solutions for it is truly fascinating.

Utilizing video analytics for multimodal traffic volume, counts, and patterns to inform transportation planning decisions. Technology is more readily available, and it can differentiate between modes of travel to help to better plan for roadway, parking, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure needs.

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June 2023: Other than electric vehicle supportt, what single design dlement has the opportunity to have the most impact on the future of planning, design, and construction of parking and mixed-use facilities?

Jaime Snyder, CAPP Senior Parking Consultant Walter P Moore

The incorporation of a drop-off and pick-up area is becoming increasingly important in the design of parking in many market sectors such as mixed-use, aviation, and residential facilities. Having dedicated areas that provide drop-off and pick-up services for rideshare and deliveries allow for a more seamless approach and reduces congestion from the more static parking movements of the standard parker. This separation creates a safer environment for all users of the facility.

Ben Henderson, PE, SE Vice President Kimley-Horn

Although many of the mobility technologies of the future are yet to be discovered, we are starting to see these technologies impact how we plan, design, and construct parking facilities. The evolution of mobility will impact parking facilities in that we’ll need to consider most facilities as mobility hubs, rather than parking facilities. Electrification of passenger vehicles and the development, and ultimately the eventual adoption, of autonomous vehicles are certainly starting to become frequent considerations in our projects, the latter certainly being more in its infancy. And although it may seem farfetched now, in terms of the history of the automobile, we likely aren’t too far from vertical take-off and landing vehicles (VTOLs) also being a consideration in our mobility hubs.

July 2023: What is the most important skill that Frontline employees need to succeed in today’s parking and mobility world?

Poppy Guloien

Regional Sales Manager, Municipal and Commercial T2 Systems, a Verra Mobility Company The peace of mind to recognize that what people do and say and how they behave towards you rarely has anything to do with you. They may be frustrated or angry, and they are taking it out on you, which is not right or fair but don’t take it personally and continue to treat them with respect.

Jon Hamblen

Parking Manager City of Pasadena, CA We’ve seen more and more of our citizens and guests become extremely agitated while carrying out the most basic of our duties. Our most effective Frontline staff members can de-escalate issues before they become larger problems.

August 2023: Transportation equity requires understanding the needs every person potentially served or impacted by every transportation decision. What is the parking and mobility industry doing to impact transportation equity?

Marlene Cramer, CAPP, LEED Green Associate

Director, Transportation and Parking Services Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo We are addressing transportation infrastructure gaps mainly due to long-term underinvestment. Programmatic decisions should support providing sustainable, affordable, safe, reliable, and equitable transportation programs for the betterment of our communities.

Alex Argudin, CAPP CEO Miami Parking Authority

Parking organizations can take the lead to help support economically impacted populations by providing free-ofcharge or low-cost micro-mobility options that reduce the cost of transportation, foster connectivity, and close the first- and last-mile gaps. The overarching goal is to support various transportation initiatives that foster accessible, sustainable, reliable, and equitable services for all. Building and buttressing relationships with municipal, county, state, and federal partners help strengthen economic opportunities for the betterment of the community.

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September 2023: How do you plan and budget for creativity and innovation in your operations?

Andrew Stewart

Matthew Inman

Associate Director University of California, Riverside

General Manager MasPark and Mobility LLC

There are two elements I have found essential to creating an environment that fosters creativity. You need to plan and fund travel to conferences and trade shows for staff at all levels.

Include time allowance in job descriptions that support cross-training and learning experiences for your staff.

Don’t forget to listen to your staff and consider their ideas.”

After reviewing performance, customer and stakeholder concerns, and new technologies and trends, we conduct annual strategic planning meetings with our board members to determine appropriate priorities and budgetary needs. Projects for the next few years include an ondemand local area mobility service, EV charging station management improvements, mobile license plate enforcement, and lot cameras for improved data collection.”

October 2023: Continued urban development requires the ongoing evolution of sustainable and efficient mobility options and services in our nation’s most populated areas. What is the future of transport for people and goods from one location to another?

Roamy Valera, CAPP

Haley Peckett, AICP

President Automotus

Associate Director, Curbside Management Division District Department of Transportation

The future of transport will likely be characterized by a combination of electrification, automation, interconnected mobility services, sustainable infrastructure, and innovative modes of transportation. These changes will collectively contribute to more efficient, eco-friendly, and accessible transportation options in our nation’s most populated areas.”

The solution to congestion in cities is and has always been shared modes of transport; there isn’t enough space for everyone to drive a private vehicle or get all their items personally delivered. As a society, we’re going to get better at using technology to find opportunities to share – whether by bundling residential deliveries or making it easier and faster to catch the bus.

As cities, we have a role in pricing our curbsides to reflect their high demand and give people incentives to share space.”

November 2023: What impact is technology having on parking and mobility for universities, healthcare centers, airports, business campuses, and other large-scale parking operations?

Daniel DeMott, PMP, CSM

Lynn Wiggs, CAPP

Chief Technology Officer Elite Parking Services of America

Associate Director, Transportation Services Texas A&M University

The implementation of technology enabled mobility—parking promises to bring transformative benefits to parking operations, both immediately and in the future. I envision technology as a key driver of efficiency and accessibility that will result in economic growth.

Technology continues to enhance parking options, particularly with payments. Being able to speed up exit times from facilities is key for traffic management. Mobility options are ever changing with new technology giving more individual flexibility but creating parking challenges.

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Originally published in June 2023

IPMI 2023 Awards of Excellence Industry leading judges identify the most exceptional projects of the past year.

By Dorothy J. Verdon, CPSM

2023

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE 96 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

PHOTO CREDIT RAUL PEDROSO, SOLO PHOTOGRAPHY

By Dorothy J. Verdon, CPSM

E

NERGIZED BY THE MOMENTUM OF PREVIOUS YEARS, the 2023

Awards of Excellence program

attracted a record number of submissions in 10 different categories. A panel of judges from 20 member organizations representative of the industry’s breadth embraced the challenge of identifying the most exceptional projects from a field of worthy competitors and then deciding which award—Excellence or Merit—they would receive. Not an easy task!

 Architectural Design

Newark Green Street Parking Garage AWARDED TO: THA Consulting, Inc. OWNER: Newark Parking Authority PRIME CONSULTANTS: Netta Architects;

Grant Engineering

The Award of Excellence recognizes projects or programs with significant industry impact and which set an exemplary standard for their creativity, effectiveness, and achievements. Seven submissions emerged to win this top honor in six different categories, each demonstrating unique approaches to design, operational, environmental, economic, or societal factors, and in some cases, all the above. In fact, two projects submitted by the University of California, Riverside— “Donations for Citations Blood Drive” and “Big Springs Parking Structure 2”—were each dual award winners, taking Excellence and Merit awards in their respective categories.

Eleven submissions garnered Awards of Merit in nine categories. From higher ed campuses to municipal settings and spanning buildings to public awareness campaigns, they represent outstanding examples of projects and programs having a significant local and regional impact.

IPMI congratulates these worthy projects and programs and the passionate, talented teams behind them. On the following pages, we present their accomplishments in words and images that will encourage everyone in the dynamic parking and mobility industry to continue innovating, inspiring, and supporting each other.

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 97

IPMI 2023 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

 Innovation in a Mobility,

Transportation, or Parking Program

UT Arlington Completes 12 Months of Self-Driving Shuttles for Students AWARDED TO: University of Texas at Arlington Parking & Transportation OWNER: University of Texas PARTNERS/PRIME CONSULTANTS: May Mobility; Via

 Mixed-Use Parking & Mobility

Facility Design

Oklahoma City Convention Center Parking Garage AWARDED TO: Kimley-Horn OWNER: EMBARK—Central Oklahoma Transit & Parking

Authority PRIME CONSULTANTS: TAP Architecture (Architect of

Record), CEC (MEP Engineer for lighting, power distribution, HVAC, and plumbing design), Manhattan Construction Company (General Contractor)

 Marketing and

Communications, Public Sector

Donations for Citations Blood Drive AWARDED TO: UC Riverside Transportation

Services OWNER: UC Riverside Transportation

Services PRIME CONSULTANT: LifeStream Blood Bank

98 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023

 Mixed-Use Parking & Mobility Facility

Design

The Collins Park “Arts & Letters” Parking Garage

 Sustainable Design

Big Springs Parking Structure 2

AWARDED TO: KVC Constructors, Inc.

AWARDED TO: UC Riverside Transportation Services

OWNER: City of Miami Beach (Department of Capital Improvements)

OWNER: University of California, Riverside

PRIME CONSULTANTS:

PRIME CONSULTANT: Design-build team of PCL, Watry

Design, Inc., and Steinberg-Hart

DESIGN ARCHITECT: Shulman + Associates ARCHITECT OF RECORD: Wolfberg Alvarez & Partners

 Stand-Alone Structured Parking

Facility Design

San Mateo County Government Center Parking Structure AWARDED TO: Watry Design, Inc. OWNER: San Mateo County PRIME CONSULTANTS: Watry Design, Inc., VIA Architecture, Truebeck

Construction

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 99

Originally published in July 2023

2023 2023 IPMI Professional Recognition Awards

Professional Recognition Awards

The professionals that are shaping the future of parking and mobility

P

ARKING AND MOBILITY

professionals continue to set the bar of excellence in customer service and innovation at a time when automation is the new buzzword.

As technology propels our industry forward at lightning speed, it becomes increasingly clear that the people behind the technology are the true drivers of innovation, safety, and service.

The parking and mobility community has talented and pioneering people working at all levels. From frontline employees to executive offices, these professionals are shaping the future of parking and mobility—today. The 2023 IPMI Professional Recognition Program award winners represent creativity, fortitude, and a spirit of leadership that continues to inspire and invigorate the industry.

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Organizations of the Year

Dixon Resources Unlimited

University of Wisconsin—Madison, Transportation Services

James M. Hunnicutt | CAPP Industry Professional of the Year

Professional Excellence Award—Frontline

Perry H Eggleston, CAPP

Victoria Freeman Regulatory Investigator PARKHOUSTON

Executive Director, Transportation Services and University Airport Manager UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

Professional Excellence Award—Innovation

Emerging Leaders of the Year

Bruno Lopes Director of Parking & Station Access

Jordan Justus

MASSACHUSETTS BAY

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

AUTOMOTUS

George McLean, CAPP, DBA

Professional Excellence Award—Leadership

Lisa Burke

Sr. Business Analyst

Former Area Manager

MIAMI PARKING AUTHORITY

PROPARK MOBILITY

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IPMI Presents the 2023–2024 Boards Meet the members of the 2023–2024 Board of Directors, CAPP Certification Board, and APO Board

PRESENTS THE

2023–2024 Board of Directors CHAIR

PAST CHAIR

Gary A. Means, CAPP

David Onorato, CAPP

Executive Vice President, Pivot Parking Lexington, KY

Executive Director, Pittsburgh Parking Authority, Pittsburgh, PA

CHAIR-ELECT

TREASURER

Alejandra “Alex” Argudin, CAPP

Robert Ferrin, CAPP

Chief Executive Officer, Miami Parking Authority, Miami, FL

Senior Project Manager, Kimley-Horn, Columbus, OH

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BOARD MEMBERS

Josh Cantor, CAPP

Director of Parking & Transportation, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Richard B. Easley, CAPP

President, E-Squared Engineering, Ashburn, VA

Shawn McCormick

Director, Parking Enforcement & Traffic, City and County of San Francisco, CA

Pamela E. Chikhani, MSc

General Manager, Secure Parking, UAE & Qatar

Irma Henderson, CAPP

Director of Transportation Services, University of California, Riverside, CA

Gabe Mendez

Director of Transportation Operations, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Marlene Cramer, CAPP Director of Transportation and Parking Services, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA

Maria Irshad, CAPP

Carmen Donnell, CAPP

Managing Director, PayByPhone, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Casey Jones, CAPP

Deputy Director, ParkHouston, Houston, TX

Senior Director of Customer Success, FLASH, Boise, ID

Tiffany R. Peebles

Shawn Conrad, CAE, CEO

Sr. Account Manager, ParkMobile, LLC, Louisville, KY

International Parking & Mobility Institute, Fredericksburg, VA

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 103

PRESENTS THE

2023–2024 CAPP Certification Board CHAIR

CHAIR-ELECT

PAST CHAIR

Hal King, CAPP

Sam Veraldi, CAPP

Isaiah R. Mouw, CAPP

Parking Manager, City of Lansing, MI

Director, Business Development - EV Charging, FLASH, Austin, TX

President–Municipal, Pave Mobility, Chattanooga, TN

BOARD MEMBERS

Gwendolyn Bolden, CAPP

Victor Hill, CAPP

Vanessa Solesbee, CAPP

Director of Parking Management, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Mobility and Transportation Planner, Walker Consultants, Rockville, MD

Mobility Services Manager, Town of Estes Park, CO

104 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

PRESENTS THE

2022–2024 Accredited Parking Organization (APO) Board BOARD MEMBERS

Christopher Austin, CAPP Director, Parking & Transportation Services, University at Buffalo, NY

Thuy Cobb, CAPP

Parking Business System Administrator, DFW International Airport, Dallas, TX

Debbie Lollar, CAPP

Executive Director, Texas A & M University—College Station, TX

Steven Fernstrom

Executive Director, Bethlehem Parking Authority , Bethlehem, PA

Brett Munkel, CAPP

Vice President, Healthcare and University Services, SP+, Alpharetta, GA

Yassir Jabbari, CAPP Operations Coordinator, University of California, Riverside, CA

George Richardson, CAPP Manager, Transportation and Parking, UF Health Shands Hospital, Gainesville, FL

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 105

IPMI CALENDAR

2024 IPMI Events Calendar JANUARY January 10 IPMI Webinar

Turn Panic into a Plan: Stories from Industry Leaders

January 18 Free Member Chat CAPP

FEBRUARY February 6, 8, 13 Online, Instructor-Led Learning APDS Advisor Training

February 8 Free Member Roundtable Municipal

February 14 Free Virtual Frontline Training

Customer Service Drives Customer Experience

February 22 Free Member Chat

March 13 IPMI Webinar

May 16 Free Member Chat

March 21 Free Member Chat

JUNE

A kiloWHAT? Mastering the Language of Electric Fueling

APO

APRIL April 4 Free Member Roundtable

June 9-11 2024 IPMI Parking & Mobility

April 10 Free Virtual Frontline Training

June 26 Free Virtual Frontline Training

April 16, 18, 23, 25 Online, Instructor-Led Learning

JULY

Stress: Is it Physical, Mental, . . . or Both?

Parksmart Advisor Training

April 18 Free Member Chat New Members

February 28–March 1 2024 Leadership Summit

May 7, 9 Online, Instructor-Led Learning

March 7 Free Member Roundtable

Conference First Timers’ Orientation

Conference & Expo Columbus, OH

MAY

MARCH

June 4 Free Member Chat

Municipal

New Members

Atlantic Beach, FL

CAPP

New APO Site Reviewer Training

May 8 IPMI Webinar

IPMI Technology Committee Driving Innovation: The AI-Powered Evolution of Parking

Higher Education

106 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

Communication is Everyone’s Job

July 10 IPMI Webinar

IPMI Smart Transportation Task Force State of Smart Transportation—the Sequel

July 18 Free Member Chat New Members

AUGUST August 14 Free Virtual Frontline Training

Amplify Company Culture & Employee Engagement with Organizational Rounding

August 22 Free Member Chat Awards

SEPTEMBER September 5 Free Member Roundtable Municipal

September 11 IPMI Webinar

IPMI Planning, Design & Construction Committee Planning, Design, and Construction Concerns for Modern Parking & Mobility.

September 19 Free Member Chat New Members

OCTOBER

November 12, Online, Instructor-Led Learning

October 3 Free Member Roundtable

APO Site Reviewer Training - Renewal

October 9 Free Virtual Frontline Training

More than Just a Ride: All Electric First- & Last-Mile Options

Higher Education

Don’t call us Meter Maids!

October 17 Free Member Chat

November 13 IPMI Webinar

November 28 Free Member Chat New Members

CAPP

October 22, 24, 29, 31 Online, Instructor-Led Learning Parksmart Advisor Training

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER December 11 Free Virtual Frontline Training

Embrace Change—Reinvent Your Parking Program

November 7 Free Member Chat APO

Stay up to date on industry events and activities!

Visit parking-mobility.org/calendar for the latest updates and additions.

PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG / A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 107

IPMI STATE CALENDAR & REGIONAL CALENDAR

2024 State & Regional Events Calendar MARCH March 7 New England Parking Council (NEPC) Educational Forum Somerville, MA

APRIL April 8-11 Texas Parking & Transportation Association (TPTA) Conference & Tradeshow Thackerville, OK

April 16-18 Pennsylvania Parking Association Conference Hershey, PA

April 30–May 2 New England Parking Council (NEPC) Conference & Trade Show Manchester, NH

October 28–30 Southwest Parking & Transportation Association (SWPTA) Annual Conference Las Vegas, NV

MAY May 6-9 Mid–South Transportation and Parking Association (MSTPA) Annual Conference & Tradeshow Chatanooga, TN

NOVEMBER November 5–7 California Mobility and Parking Association (CMPA) Annual Conference & Tradeshow San Jose, CA

OCTOBER October 23–25 Pacific Intermountain Parking & Transportation Association (PIPTA) Annual Conference & Expo Denver, CO

Stay up to date on industry events and activities!

Visit parking-mobility.org/calendar for the latest updates and additions.

108 A YEAR OF RESURGENCE: THE BEST OF 2023 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG

FEBRUARY 27 - 29 ,2024 One Ocean Resort & Spa - Atlantic Beach, Florida

Elite Education

for senior leaders and aspiring leaders in parking, transportation, and mobility.

Parking and mobility’s leaders and future leaders will gain industry-specific professional development, positioning them to deliver innovative solutions and move your organization forward.

Educators include:

Emilie Aries

SPHR, Founder & CEO Bossed Up

Casey Jones, CAPP, PMP

Senior Director of Customer Success FLASH

Andi Campbell President WellSpark Health

Kat Kibbens

CEO Three Ears Media

Cindy Campbell

Meagan Camp

John McCormick

Dwayne R. Norris

Senior Training and Development Specialist International Parking & Mobility Institute

VP, Managing Director StructureCare

Owner The Modern Take

Co-Founder & COO Soulful Synergy, LLC.

... and more!

Spend two days with the brightest minds in parking and mobility.

Scan the QR Code to Register.

REGISTER NOW! Spaces are Limited.

A YEAR OF RESURGENCE—2023 BEST OF PARKING & MOBILITY / IPMI —YOUR SOURCE FOR ALL THINGS PARKING & MOBILITY

SPECIAL EDITION JANUARY 2024