It’s time to It’s Time to Evolve
Make the Leap from Managing Parking to a Curbside Management Program By Lawrence Marcus and Henri Stein McCartney
Make the Leap from Managing Parking to a Curbside Management Program By Lawrence Marcus and Henri Stein McCartney Something big has changed in parking, and places like Fairfax County, Virginia, are showing the way forward. For decades, our mission as parking managers has been focused on optimizing the use of parking spaces to support economic development by using strategies to generate revenue, maximize turnover, and hit target occupancy. We also strived to protect neighborhoods from spillover parking demand and mediate curb use between households in communities. Our mission was accomplished if our parking customers were not complaining, parking revenue was steady and accounted for, and our parking spaces supported commercial loading and business patron needs. Recent technological advances have reinforced this traditional mission. Apps make it easier for customers to locate, pay for, and reserve parking spaces. License plate recognition (LPR) streamlines enforcement, while digital payment systems reduce cash-handling risks. These tools have enhanced customer experience, improved operational efficiency, and even supported
34 PARKING & MOBILITY / MARCH 2025 / PARKING-MOBILITY-MAGAZINE.ORG
patrons with special needs. Yet, despite these advances, a pressing question remains: Are we truly meeting today’s demands for curb space?
Accomplishing the Mission So, are we accomplishing our mission? Are we accommodating all the demands for curb space? Unfortunately, no. Our mission, our list of stakeholders, and our responsibilities have changed. Managing parking programs in a traditional manner has evolved into a complicated balancing act of making reactive, incremental decisions based on the competing demands for curb space. The cause of this relatively new challenge is the enormous change in our industry over the past ten years: The growth of app-based ride-hailing services. New creative street designs with curb running lanes for transit and all-ages bicycling. ● Demand for e-commerce deliveries and shared mobility docking. ● Other emerging mobility trends. ● ●
ISTOCKPHOTO / VINH HN