IPMI's Roadmap to Recovery, October 2020

IPMI

Roadmap to Recovery 2020

Industry Research, Trends & Insights to Navigate Recovery & Reopening OCTOBER 2020

O R I G I N A L LY P U B L I S H E D I N P A R K I N G & M O B I L I T Y M A G A Z I N E

IPMI

Roadmap to Recovery 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to Roadmap to Recovery. Published July 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE

COVID-19 and Our Industry. Published April 2020 �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������8

By Kim Fernandez

Roadmap to Recovery: A COVID-19 Industry Update: ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 14 IPMI releases pandemic industry response and impact benchmark survey results. Published September 2020

By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE and Rachel Yoka, CAPP

Curbing COVID-19. Published June 2020 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24

By Jeffrey Elsey, CAPP, PE, LEED AP; Chuck Reedstrom, CAPP; and David Taxman, PE

Parking Lots, Public Spaces, Social Distancing, & Safety. Published September 2020 ������������������������������������30

By Warren C. Vander Helm and David Vogel

Keeping Parking Facilities Safe During a Pandemic. Published June 2020 ����������������������������������������������������������34

By Bill Smith

Can Park(ing) Day Play a Role in Combatting COVID-19? Published August 2020 ������������������������������������������ 38

By Michael Connor and Brian Bartholomew

Managing Through Crisis, Published October 2020 ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������44 University Plans and Strategies for Fall 2020. Published August 2020 ��������������������������������������������������������������������50 New COVID-19 Resources for Parking & Mobility. Published May 2020 �������������������������������������������������������������� 56

By Rachel Yoka, CAPP

Further Reading ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 58

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BY BRETT WOOD, CAPP, PE

S WE HAVE ALL BEEN NAVIGATING THROUGH THE CHANGES

to work, home, and life in general, we’ve been trying to answer the question of what next? While no one really has the definitive answer, we do have a network of colleagues around us that have created

opportunities to collaborate and move forward together. From partnerships to meet the rapidly changing needs at the curbs, IPMI-led meetings to discuss the effects, and the heavily used IPMI Forum and COVID Information Clearinghouse, the parking and mobility industry has come together to provide guidance, creative ideas, and words of encouragement to support one another.

This piece aims to codify some of the conversations around key areas cities, communities, and campuses need to consider on the Roadmap to Recovery. Much of the input for this series comes from conversations with IPMI’s Big Cities Working Group, but the concepts should be applicable to anyone in the industry.

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Defining the Roadmap

■ Staffing decisions will need to be made as demand

Recovery and re-opening are going to look different everywhere as communities and campuses find solid footing. Some may already be opened back up at the time this is published. Some may be wrestling with steps along the way. Wherever you are in your re-opening and recovery, it is good to have a plan that outlines the how, why, and what, and creates opportunities to transparently relate your goals back to the community around you. Your plan should include decisions and approaches to staffing and their safety, how operational practices are revived, steps for engaging and expanding responsibilities, and capital needs to support cleanliness, changing policies, and new practices.

First and foremost, decisions on health, safety, and cleanliness are largely out of our hands. We need to collaborate with local, state, and federal experts to define when we re-open, what that looks like, and how to create the safest environment for our staff and the public. When it comes to parking and mobility—our area of expertise—we should provide guidance on returning to regular practice, adapting old practices, and creating strategies to make parking and mobility work in concert with the community’s new goals. We will need to help push back on any desires to eliminate parking and mobility management strategies—such as paid parking and enforcement—that were designed to make the communities work efficiently.

The remainder of the information in this article is meant to provide some guidance on elements to consider initially. As more and more of our partner programs open up, we hope to share additional data with the industry to strengthen the response and dial in the guidance further. For more information, stay tuned to the IPMI Forum, IPMI’s COVID Information Clearinghouse, and future publications.

dictates. It might not be readily apparent from the beginning of re-opening how long that may take and where that may occur, so consistent observations and discussions with leadership should drive those decisions.

■ It may be prudent to phase in or stagger staffing to maintain proper social distancing guidelines.

Open and meaningful discussions with your staff can help evaluate the readiness and desire to return and develop staffing plans that allow for safe and efficient re-entry into the community.

■ Staff returns may allow for a slight repurposing of roles. Several IPMI member organizations have transitioned frontline staff into maintenance and cleanliness roles in preparation for the return from quarantine. This could allow staff the opportunity to return to work and could be the time to tackle some of those projects on the bottom of your to-do list while we have some time.

■ Once your staff returns, there will be a few things to consider from a COVID-19 standpoint—do we test/monitor employees and how do we keep them socially distant? For both, you should look to your local, state, and federal partners for guidance on how to optimize procedures. You should also discuss with your staff and have them help

Staffing and Office Operations Many of IPMI’s member organizations ceased consistent operations in March and April in response to stay-at-home orders throughout the country. In some places, this meant repurposing frontline staff to other positions. In others, it meant furloughing staff until normal operations resumed. As your program reopens, here are a few key elements to consider.

ISTOCK/ SHUTTERSTOCK

Your plan should include decisions and approaches to staffing and their safety, how operational practices are revived, steps for engaging and expanding responsibilities, and capital needs to support cleanliness, changing policies, and new practices.

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define practices that support their level of comfort.

Spending time preparing before higher levels of staffing return can provide more efficient re-entry into the office environment.

■ Our operations will definitely need to rethink internal space in offices and facilities. To achieve proper social distancing, you may need to remove or reduce adjacent cashiering, customer service, and office stations to create space. Many of our members have transitioned some or many staff to remote work or work-from-home arrangements; leaders should strategically consider if these arrangements continue, as they not only allow for social distancing but in some cases, productivity gains and reduced need for office space in the longer term.

Maintenance and Cleanliness As staff comes back to work, it is critical to develop cleaning protocols for offices, shared spaces, locker rooms, vehicles, and shared equipment. Programs should work with local, state, and federal guidance to define ongoing (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly) cleaning protocols. For some programs, an initial deep clean (based on CDC guidelines) might provide a sense of comfort as programs ramp back up. Programs will need to weigh the cost of those services and the benefits they bring to staff morale.

Beyond new approaches to maintenance and cleanliness in the office, your programs should focus on cleaning, sanitizing, and developing maintenance plans to help the public interact with your facilities and technology. IPMI member organizations have shared guidance on cleaning parking lots, garages, and even the technology associated with revenue control. Some member agencies are debating the merits of cleaning individual parking meters, which could immediately become contaminated again with use after cleaning.

Instead, many organizations are promoting selfsanitization with the use of gloves and hand sanitizer by the patron. Additionally, advocating the use of mobile payment technologies for those that can use them helps to limit the number of touch points.

If your program hasn’t been focused on data-driven policies and practices that flex as demand dictates, now is the time.

Marketing and Outreach One opportunity we have in front of us is the ability to message the objectives of our re-opening and use tools and partnerships to help inform our patrons of the safe way to return to parking. Several of IPMI’s member organizations have begun implementing marketing campaigns focused on welcoming back their communities, including a mixture of vouchers for free parking transactions, validations for business, or commitments to give back to the community through initial revenue shares or donations. Many of these programs are being tied to the reintroduction of paid parking or enforcement and help strengthen the connection between efficient parking management and vibrant communities.

These marketing campaigns can be strengthened by engaging with your community’s business improvement or downtown groups to reach their constituents and promote a cohesive message. Other marketing elements to consider are cleanliness, ability to social distance, and other reassurances to patrons concerned about safety.

Another primary marketing campaign to consider is to push for usage of mobile or contactless payments for customers. If you already have a mobile app, re-educating people on the benefits of touchless payments can help reduce interactions between patrons and equipment. This effort can also lead to alternative payment patterns in the future which could alleviate or alter future capital investment decisions.

One primary concern is that a move toward all-mobile pay could lead to equity concerns for those without mobile phones or those that are unbanked. You will need to have discussions with city and program leadership to ensure that decisions today do not exclude patrons in the future.

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Practice and Policy One of the biggest aspects of re-opening will be reinstating or adapting existing policies and operational practices. The next feature of this series will focus more in depth on considerations for data-driven decision making and transparent communications with your community. A few initial considerations include: ■ The decision to start charging for parking and enforcing again will likely require a strategic combination of political support, re-education, and a balance of data analytics and community outreach.

It is critical we don’t wait too long to re-engage, or we run the risk of diminishing positive parking management strategies from before the quarantine.

■ We may need to consider altering our approach to monthly parkers if office workers remain remote workers. Flexible permits or redesigning our systems to promote daily pay-as-you-go parking could support new commute patterns. We need to think outside the box to support our changing customers’ needs.

■ Our approach to curb management likely needs to change as demands change. Monitoring and understanding data can help us define advancements to commercial loading, deliveries, curbside takeout, and the effects on parking. Now is the time to push for monetization of all curb activities to help balance the load of who is paying for curb management.

■ Consider developing a wish list of capital or support investments now. Even with revenues down, if you can show a business case for investments to support customer service, safety and social distancing, and revenue generation, you can probably add the tools to your program.

As you begin (or continue) down the path to re-opening, we hope that these considerations and ideas can provide some guidance or help to stir conversations in your community. We anticipate that these conversations will continue to take place in places like the IPMI Forum, so stay engaged there as we post more information to help solidify these plans.

And remember—we are all in this together and will rise up together!

Re-Instituting Paid Parking and Enforcement One of the primary responses to the initial stay-athome orders across the country was the reduction in enforcement and revenue collection for parking, primarily in the on-street environment. Some of these decisions were made to support changing resident and business needs. Some of the decisions were made to protect staff for the parking and mobility programs.

Some were highly advertised or publicized while others were simply actions taken by the parking and mobility program without much fanfare. In any event, returning to normal levels of paid parking and enforcement needs to take into consideration a number of factors.

Getting Programs Back on Track As programs begin to open up in concert with their communities, it’s important to re-establish parking management in a way that continues to support business and residential needs while also reconfirming the purpose for parking management—to provide adequate and equitable access to community

Our approach to curb management likely needs to change as demands change.

Monitoring and understanding data can help us define advancements to commercial loading, deliveries, curbside takeout, and the effects on parking. Now is the time to push for monetization of all curb activities to help balance the load of who is paying for curb management.

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businesses and amenities. This may include going back to the rates established before the quarantine with a little more leniency on enforcement at the beginning. Or it could include lower initial parking rates with a keen eye on behavior and patterns and the ability to accelerate rate changes as demand returns.

The Seattle DOT Curbside Management team is taking the second approach. With a decade of experience with their performance-based pricing program (with prices as high as $5 per hour and rates structured by time of day and location), the team at SDOT is planning to employ a similar demand-responsive approach to the return to work.

Initially, all parking areas will be set at $0.50 per hour and staff will review demand patterns with visual observations and transaction data to adjust pricing during the first few months.

Whatever approach your program takes, it’s important to focus on the reason to implement paid parking and enforcement. This will likely take a delicate balance of community engagement to help business owners navigate the new normal and help design policy and practice that act in concert with reopening initiatives. Even if your program reduces parking rates or allows for free parking initially, it will be important to continue the conversation with the community to ensure that prices are re-instituted to support demand management and equitable access.

Evaluating Data and Trends The best way to approach phased reinstatement of parking management tools is through data review and analytics that can more clearly convey the need to move to the next phase of the program. Traditionally, most programs have observed these metrics on a periodic basis to make decisions about adapting policy or practice. In this instance, it may be appropriate to begin to look at this data more frequently so that the reinstatement of good parking management practices does not lag behind the return of commercial and office activity. A few key data points to consider evaluating: ■ Parking demand—a review of occupancy and growth in occupancy can help to predict when to implement subsequent phases of policy, rate, and programmatic changes.

■ Dwell time—understanding how long vehicles are remaining in parking spaces, especially curbside, can help to define when it may make sense to reinstate strategies that promote turnover and balance.

■ Vehicle frequency—simple license plate surveys in high-

demand areas can begin to indicate if the same vehicles are parking in an area consistently, which could be a sign that employees or business owners are parking in valuable on-street spaces adjacent to businesses.

■ Citation patterns—reviewing tickets issued for patterns and trends can help to identify if programmatic or operational changes need to be made.

■ Customer complaints—feedback from patrons, business owners, and employees can often provide guidance on when and how changes need to be made.

By collecting this data during initial waves of the reopening and then continuing to monitor and compare data, our programs will be more oriented to the needs of the community and the timing for advancing to subsequent phases. The data is also a critical tool to communicate with your constituents—businesses, commuters, residents—to help them understand the need for continued change within the program.

Considerations for Additional Parking Management Change The considerations in the previous section are not specifically meant to help programs get back to where they were pre-quarantine. Now may be the time to try new approaches to how parking and mobility are managed to help accommodate shifts in demands moving forward.

These shifts could include increases in telework (that reduce the traditional commute demand), increases in personal vehicle use over transit (which increase the traditional commute demands), and move to personal mobility decisions such as personal bicycles over transit (which continue to change the commute demand profile).

A few considerations to help ease back into the unknown: 1. If your program hasn’t been focused on data-driven policies and practices that flex as demand dictates, now is the time. Using data available from existing parking and mobility technologies can help us identify shifts in the demand profile and support the community as people adapt to new decision making.

2. There may need to be a new approach to how we prioritize the curb. With an ever-increasing demand for e-commerce and personal goods delivery, we may see a fiercer battle for curb space. Add in temporary decisions to expand curb space for social distancing and the days

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of parking dominating the curb may be dwindling.

3. Because of this potential shift, a primary consideration for programs should be revenue diversification. Our programs are largely built on the collection of hourly and monthly parking transactions. However, as demand profiles shift, it may be necessary to think about revenue generation from all users of the curb and the parking/mobility system. Having everyone pay their fair share into the system will be much more equitable and balanced moving forward and potentially limit the risk for parking management should this situation happen again.

4. Finally, if the curb begins to see more allocation for the delivery and goods industries, there will need to be more options for parkers in off-street locations. This would include more flexible choices than just hourly or monthly. Flexible permits for part-time remote workers and incentives for hourly parkers could drive use of our off-street facilities higher and support better balance throughout our communities.

this today as initial research indicates that outside dining may not have the same risk exposure as inside dining. Communities will need to make the decision about how to address and implement outside dining, weighing the impacts to transit operations, pedestrian movements, and continued movement of vehicles.

Finally, one of the changes that has me the most excited is the concept of Slow Streets, where more space is reclaimed from fast moving vehicle traffic and restored for pedestrian and cyclist movements. In residential areas of our cities, this is an overdue change that could greatly benefit personal mobility and more healthy lifestyles. The City of Tucson, Ariz., is working through its wide network of neighborhood associations to implement, pilot, and understand the value of these slow streets, with the goal of making space more permanent moving forward. Initial returns in some of the early neighborhoods have indicated that residents and motorists are both engaged and on board with changes moving forward.

Considerations for Changes in Support of the Community

Things are moving very fast as we inch away from the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are opportunities to adapt and improve our programs, parking, and streets to better serve the communities around us. IPMI and its volunteers remain committed to helping our colleagues down this path and will continue to assemble information, case studies, and best practices in a toolbox for addressing challenges like these moving forward. Stay tuned for more information! â—†

Beyond parking management, the resources we control can also be utilized in the short-term to promote a safe return to normal conditions. Across the country, cities are beginning to think of street right-of-way in new ways, supporting the safe and socially distant movement of people and supporting local business by minimizing touch points or unsafe interactions.

The most prevalent version of this change was seen in the early days of the quarantine, with the institution of curbside pickup zones for restaurants to facilitate the continued sale of food and service without inside dining capabilities. As restaurants begin to reopen, many are still utilizing the curbside pickup experience to support more robust customer choices. If these curbside pickup zones remain in effect for a temporary time frame or perhaps more permanently, they will continue to reduce available space at the curbside.

Policy and practice will need to adapt to integrate them into the full suite of curbside offerings.

The next offering for restaurant reopening is the expansion of outside seating into parking lots or the curbside environment. Many communities are doing

In Closing

BRETT WOOD, CAPP, PE, is president of Wood Solutions Group. He can be reached at brett@woodsolutionsgroup.com.

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COVID-19 and Our Industry

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By Kim Fernandez

ISTOCK / BLACKJACK3D / SHUTTERSTOCK / HKEITA

What the pandemic means for parking and mobility operations, and what professionals are doing to keep things moving.

I

T’S DIFFICULT TO THINK THAT WHEN A MYSTERIOUS NEW VIRUS infected 41 people in Wuhan, China, last December, anyone could have foreseen the coming global effect. COVID-19 has dominated the news and many businesses—including parking and mobility—during the first quarter of 2020, and doesn’t show many signs of slowing down anytime soon.

First called similar to the flu, COVID-19 causes headaches, fever, body aches and chills, digestive issues, and respiratory complications that can grow into a fatal form of viral pneumonia.

At press time, vaccine and treatment trials had begun but overwhelmed hospitals and medical professionals could only treat symptoms and hope for the best. Highly

contagious, the virus forced virtual shutdowns of businesses, schools, and cities around the world. And those closures have had massive effects on parking and mobility, from empty garages and lots to micro-mobility service disruptions to the well-being of staff members—and all of that has rocked the industry’s economy.

Staffing and People Starting in mid-March, companies in the U.S. were strongly encouraged to have employees work from home whenever possible; stay-at-home orders in many cities strengthened the ask. Parking and mobility operations shifted where they could, but it wasn’t possible for everyone.

Mike Estey, manager of parking programs with the City of Seattle, Wash., says most of his staff began working from home fairly quickly, but it wasn’t possible for everyone. Despite lowered demand for parking, frontline staff largely can’t work from home, and that’s created its own challenge.

“The field side is more difficult,” he says. “The office staff is working from home but the field staff can’t always do that.

So the field staff feels like there are haves and have-nots, and they are the have-nots.” He works on constantly communicating with them and offering whatever support he can to dissipate that issue.

Hal King, CAPP, parking administrator with the City of Hollywood, Fla., says some issues come down to essential vs. non-essential functions and employees, especially when states decide who can and can’t move around or go to work based on those labels.

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“We normally deal with hurricanes and everyone gets the essential tag put on them,” he says. “Now, we can’t go back and say those people are non-essential.”

His downtown garages were about 60 percent full at press time, largely by residents of the city, but beach garages were empty.

“We have to have staff on standby,” he says. “And what do you do with those people if you just send them home? I’d prefer to keep people on the payroll and not have them burn up sick leave or vacation time or anything else for a situation that’s totally out of their control.”

Others have found ways for frontline people to keep their jobs doing different things. “We have about 150 officers a day on the street,” says Shawn McCormick,

parking enforcement director, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). Those people are doing enforcement and working on curb management to ensure employees aren’t parking in front of businesses all day and keeping pick-up customers out of valuable parking spots. In an effort to keep people on the payroll and do good, McCormick says some officers began patrolling neighborhoods, offering a sense of presence and letting people know the city is still around.

“Some of our officers are taking on other assignments,” he says. “They’re stuffing bags with masks and gloves for hospitals, they’re cleaning buses, and they’re doing other things.”

In areas where parking enforcement has continued,

COVID-19 Guidance from the Equal Employment Updated on March 19, 2020 ■ The

EEOC enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act, including the requirement for reasonable accommodation and rules about medical examinations and inquiries.

■ The ADA and Rehabilitation Act rules continue to apply, but they do not interfere with or prevent employers from following the guidelines and suggestions made by the CDC or state/local public health authorities about steps employers should take regarding COVID-19.

Employers should remember that guidance from public health authorities is likely to change as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves. Therefore, employers should continue to follow the most current information on maintaining workplace safety.

■ The EEOC has provided guidance (a publication entitled Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans With Disabilities Act [PDF version]), consistent with these workplace protections and rules, that can help employers implement strategies to navigate the impact of COVID-19 in the workplace. This pandemic publication, which was written during the prior H1N1 outbreak, is still relevant today and identifies established ADA and Rehabilitation Act principles to answer questions frequently asked about the workplace during a pandemic. It has been updated as of March 19, 2020 to address examples and information regarding

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COVID-19; the new information appears in bold.

■ The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared

COVID-19 to be an international pandemic. The EEOC pandemic publication includes a separate section that answers common employer questions about what to do after a pandemic has been declared. Applying these principles to the COVID-19 pandemic, the following may be useful: • How much information may an employer request from an employee who calls in sick, in order to protect the rest of its workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic?

– During a pandemic, ADA-covered employers may ask such employees if they are experiencing symptoms of the pandemic virus. For COVID-19, these include symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat. Employers must maintain all information about employee illness as a confidential medical record in compliance with the ADA. • When may an ADA-covered employer take the body temperature of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic?

– Generally, measuring an employee’s body temperature is a medical examination. Because the CDC and state/local health authorities have

staff remains on the street. “We’ve been working very hard at trying to stay ahead with the message of what we’re doing as an essential means of maintaining traffic flow,” says Scot Reinmann, section chief, parking operations, Montgomery County, Md., Department of Transportation. “We’re examining it constantly.” His office has made parking in two garages free for residents who don’t normally need off-street parking or who want to store vehicles until the crisis is over.

“If you’re still letting people park in your facility, it’s essential that you keep it safe,” he says. “I’m seeing most of our functions as essential, and we’re trying to be flexible with employees who have childcare issues.

We are providing some level of safety and service as long as we’re available to be open.”

Operations and Revenue Not everyone can keep their people working because demand is down significantly, and that has real affects on revenue and budgets.

“Parking revenue and utilization is down anywhere between 40 and 70 percent per facility,” says Aurora Perkins, parking administrator, City of San Antonio, Texas. “The highest-impact facilities are those surrounding convention center operations, which have canceled all conventions and meetings until the first week of April [at press time].”

Enforcement is ongoing, she says, but officers have been given expanded areas to review. San Antonio has actually seen a bigger need for enforcement pertaining to parking violations and solid waste services. “More

Opportunity Commission acknowledged community spread of COVID-19 and issued attendant precautions, employers may measure employees’ body temperature. However, employers should be aware that some people with COVID-19 do not have a fever.

• Does the ADA allow employers to require employees to stay home if they have symptoms of the COVID-19?

– Yes. The CDC states that employees who become ill with symptoms of COVID-19 should leave the workplace. The ADA does not interfere with employers following this advice.

• When employees return to work, does the ADA allow employers to require doctors’ notes certifying their fitness for duty?

– Yes. Such inquiries are permitted under the ADA either because they would not be disability-related or, if the pandemic influenza were truly severe, they would be justified under the ADA standards for disability-related inquiries of employees. As a practical matter, however, doctors and other health care professionals may be too busy during and immediately after a pandemic outbreak to provide fitness-for-duty documentation. Therefore, new approaches may be necessary, such as reliance on local clinics to provide a form, a stamp, or an e-mail to certify that an individual does not have the pandemic virus.

• If an employer is hiring, may it screen applicants for symptoms of COVID-19?

– Yes. An employer may screen job applicants for symptoms of COVID-19 after making a conditional job offer, as long as it does so for all entering employees in the same type of job. This ADA rule applies whether or not the applicant has a disability.

• May an employer take an applicant’s temperature as part of a post-offer, pre-employment medical exam?

– Yes. Any medical exams are permitted after an employer has made a conditional offer of employment.

However, employers should be aware that some people with COVID-19 do not have a fever.

• May an employer delay the start date of an applicant who has COVID-19 or symptoms associated with it?

– Yes. According to current CDC guidance, an individual who has COVID-19 or symptoms associated with it should not be in the workplace.

• May an employer withdraw a job offer when it needs the applicant to start immediately but the individual has COVID-19 or symptoms of it?

– Based on current CDC guidance, this individual cannot safely enter the workplace, and therefore the employer may withdraw the job offer.

Source: EEOC.gov

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“The future is very uncertain. We engage our staff as much as possible in our decisions, share knowledge as soon as we can, and encourage everyone to share their thoughts and feelings. It’s very easy to lose sight of the importance of community during this time.”

families are home with more vehicles on the street and an increase in residential trash output,” she says.

Benito Pérez, AICP, CTP, curbside management operations planning manager at the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, says his department’s role has grown as well, “between outreach to reiterate CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidance, move critical and business services online, and also continue to operate the transportation network for those who continue to rely on it—vulnerable populations, essential/emergency responders, and employees.”

“The District Department of Transportation continues to operate and maintain our curbside as-is, with some exceptions such as lifting rush-hour restriction enforcement. We are contemplating how we can repurpose our curbside to facilitate enhanced pick-up/drop-off activity to support our food service and restaurant, pharmacy, and grocery businesses as those businesses transition to takeout/delivery models. That means contemplating revamping our existing Pick-up/Drop-off (PUDO) Zone program, whether temporarily or permanently.”

That’s a common theme in cities where parking organizations are called upon to help support businesses trying to survive the pandemic. Many have launched pick-up parking on the curb, offering customers a certain amount of free parking so they can patronize restaurants and stores safely. For many, it’s leading to other thoughts for a different future.

“As we continue to rethink curbside management in light of COVID-19, we are thinking not only in the immediate term and needs, but the ramifications of curbside in a more digitized future that will emerge after this public health emergency,” says Pérez. “Online food delivery (from restaurants and grocery stores) were nascent and starting to grow before this emergency. We have to start thinking now that such business activity will start to become a major part of our future and has huge ramifications on how we manage our curbside.”

For now, operations have shifted drastically. Ted Graf, director of parking, San Francisco Municipal 12 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Transportation Agency, says demand is down, which has led to agency consolidation.

“As a consolidated transportation agency—that is, parking, traffic engineering, and transit are all under one roof and policy dictates parking revenues are to support transit—the impacts of COVID19 are pervasive,” he says. “Parking impacts are being measured by both revenue and utilization. Garage visits and revenue decreased by about 50 percent for the time period of March 1 to 19, and narrowing the time window to March 17 to 19 shows a reduction of 90+ percent; this spike is result of the city partially closing 15 of its 20 garages effective on March 18.”

“In parallel, on-street parking revenue decreased by about 70 percent as compared to March 2019,” he says.

“Beyond revenue impacts, the agency expedited consideration of temporary changes to many parking policies (rates, time limits, enforcement, etc.) to best address the shift in demand during this crisis period.”

His staff is working to keep figures up to date and assess the total impact.

“With respect to parking regulations and enforcement, it was decided to cease enforcement for several regulations such as permit parking, general time limits, and street cleaning, but enforcement would continue for critical points of access—fire hydrants as well as other conditions for safety,” he says. “Parking enforcement is also being maintained for meters because meters are in locations where turnover is necessary for essential services including grocery stores, medical facilities ,and banks.” For now, meters have been reduced to base rates: $.50 per hour for vehicle spaces and $.10 per hour for motorcycles.

Empty Campuses For university parking offices, COVID-19 has been a complete game-changer. Students and faculty have largely been sent home, leaving questions about staffing, enforcement, and the question they hear over and over—what about refunds?

Rodney Gomez, CAPP, executive director of parking & transportation at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, says, “The biggest impact has been the loss of student, faculty, and visitor activity on our campuses. We have had to rethink our enforcement protocols as well as the level of service provided via our transit routes. We have had to be very adaptive to meet evolving needs while still adhering to safety protocols.”

Gomez says his university administration has been “on top of things from the beginning,” which eases some of the crunch. His office is focused on safety, with continuous monitoring and adjustments to keep customer service high.

“It’s a tough time for everyone and it’s important to keep morale up,” he says. “The future is very uncertain.

We engage our staff as much as possible in our decisions, share knowledge as soon as we can, and encourage everyone to share their thoughts and feelings. It’s very easy to lose sight of the importance of community during this time.”

Other universities have similar things to share.

Kevin Rowald, CAPP, director of parking and transportation at the University of Kansas Medical Center, says his blended world offers unique challenges, especially now.

“The leadership teams of the health system and university are communicating numerous times per day via numerous media avenues to adjust and react as necessary,” he says. “Our emergency management department is effectively executing and adjusting our established plans daily to accommodate new situations as the present themselves.”

“It has taken the entire campus working in synergy to address this challenge. Critical planning had taken place well in advance and then the entire team has shown a unique ability to be execute the plan while being nimble enough to adjust efficiently as the situation has changed. I am grateful to be a part of a great unified team,” he continues.

Aaron Quisenberry, associate director, student involvement and leadership center, University of Kansas, says the challenges are numerous, from bus route changes to working with the city to having all staff working from home. “It seems like I’ve got a dozen webinars or Zoom calls a day, trying to figure out what level of service we’re offering,” he says. “It seems like

I’m busier than normal and there are so many different dynamics at play.”

He says communication is a priority, both with his staff and others across campus, up to and including guidance on what to do when someone shows COVID-19 symptoms.

Many participants of an IPMI online Shoptalk for university and campuses said refunds are a hot issue— when or whether to offer them and then how. An informal poll during the event showed slightly less than half of participants were actively offering refunds to students, and a popular sentiment was that faculty/staff payroll deductions for parking had simply stopped.

Those were not true on campuses that still housed students, largely because they lived overseas and couldn’t go home. And a big concern was raised by Ross Allanson, CAPP, University of Minnesota: “What do we do with employees who are supposed to work from home but can’t do their jobs that way?” ◆ KIM FERNANDEZ is IPMI’s director of publications and editor of Parking & Mobility.

She can be reached at fernandez@parkingmobility.org.

Resources At press time, IPMI had hosted four online Shoptalks for COVID-19 conversation and sharing. More events are planned for the future—watch parking-mobility.org for dates and registration.

Conversation on Forum (forum.parking-mobility. org) is flowing, with ideas, challenges, and collaboration happening daily. Forum is open to all IPMI members and their staffs and shared documents become part of the permanent, searchable library. To participate, sign in with your parking-mobility.org credentials (resetting those is easy). For more information on using Forum, email fernandez@parking-mobility.org.

For up-to-date information on COVID-19, reference the World Health Organization (who.int) or U.S. Centers for Disease Control (cdc.gov). Information from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Labor are included in boxes with this article.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 13

IPMI

Roadmap to Recovery A COVID-19 Industry Update

PART

3

BY BRETT WOOD, CAPP, PE and RACHEL YOKA, CAPP

14 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

ISTOCK/ SHUTTERSTOCK/ DEOMIS

IPMI releases pandemic industry response and impact benchmark survey results.

T

HE COVID-19 CRISIS HAS AFFECTED EVERY INDUSTRY around the globe and parking, transporta-

tion, and mobility have been no exception. IPMI launched a comprehensive survey to quantify and characterize these impacts during the first half of 2020, to share industry insights, experience, and inform our Roadmap to Recovery efforts.

Thank you to each of our members and colleagues who have shared their experience through our online industry Shoptalks and all of our efforts to stay connected. Find out more about the ongoing effort here.

The Survey

blended in observations from our independent survey of commercial operators, suppliers, and consultants.

Critical survey questions addressed:

■ Date affected by stay-at-home, lockdown, or other restrictive

measures; date of re-opening or loosened restrictions.

IPMI collected and aggregated data to benchmark and share the effects of and industry response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

The survey will form the foundation of our ongoing initiative to address considerations parking and mobility organizations face during the re-opening process, and next steps for the industry as a whole.

The survey was open to all industry organizations, including municipalities, cities, and public agencies; academic institutions, colleges, and universities; commercial operators, suppliers, and consultants; airports and transit operators; healthcare organizations and hospitals; and related suppliers. We have also

■ Ways organizations have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

■ Measures organizations have implemented for safety and well-

ness programs as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

■ New programs organizations have implemented as a direct

result of the COVID-19 crisis.

■ Initiatives organizations are currently planning to address in

the near-term (next six months).

■ Organizations’ predictions on anticipated parking demand

(based on pre-COVID-19 levels).

■ Opportunity to share additional detail on your experience and

to tell us what will be most useful to you as an IPMI member.

Survey Respondents by Sector

Academic/University 33%

Vendor 5%

Airport 6%

Commercial Operator 11% Municipality/City/ Public Agency 40%

Healthcare/Hospital 4% Mobility Services 2%

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 15

IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY: PART 3

Our Findings

We have summarized our findings in the following charts and data, followed by insights and observations gained from comments and additional information provided, as well as data gathered during Shoptalks and Roadmap to Recovery discussions by sector.

Total Spaces/Annual Riders Represented for Municipalities, Universities, Airport, and Healthcare The following table shows the breakdown of assets managed by survey respondents in four specific markets.

Sector Municipality, City, and Public Agency Academic/University

On-Street

Off-Street

Fixed Route Riders

On Demand Riders

218,413

172,101

12,880,000

136,000

5,820

332,940

36,443,158

171,200

Airport

N/A

123,818

2,675,000

400,000

Healthcare/Hospital

100

31,384

2,610,000

335,000

Assets, Services and Programs Offered by Respondents 100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

On-street Parking

Off Street Parking (Lots)

Micro Mobility Programs

Transit & Shuttle Systems (Fixed Route)

16 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Transit & Shuttle Systems (On Demand)

Transportation Demand Management Programs

Other (Bike share, Carshare, Scooters, etc.)

Data from Academic Institutions Revenue Effects

The following series of charts addresses overall revenue shortfalls in 2020 as a percentage of fiscal year budget due to the COVID-19 crisis, as well as a look forward at anticipated impacts through 2021.

Most significant factors contributing to revenue loss for sector: ■ Issuing permit refunds (either in whole or prorated).

■ Temporary suspension of parking enforcement.

■ Temporary suspension of parking fees (providing free parking).

Leadership and decision-making spanned a range of options: ■ In most cases (42%), decisions were made in collabora-

tion with university leadership and parking and mobility departments.

■ In 28% of the cases, university leadership led the decision-making process.

■ In 26% of the cases, parking and mobility departments led the decision-making process.

Factors contributing to revenue recovery: ■ People returning to work in person on campus.

■ Research and healthcare institutions re-opening.

Academic Results by Closing Date

■ Permit sales initiated (tied to locations that re-opened and

planned for fall in-person education).

Staffing impacts, including layoffs and furloughs:

■ Most respondents indicated a low percentage of layoffs or

furloughs for everyday staff (with generally higher impacts for student, contractor, and part-time staff ).

■ Most respondents are optimistic for minimal impacts in 2021, independent of closing/re-opening or projected revenue impacts.

Academic Revenue Recovery by Opening Date

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 17

IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY: PART 3

Data from Municipalities, Cities, and Public Agencies Revenue Impacts

Leadership and decision-making spanned a range of options: ■ In most cases (49%), program decisions were made in col-

laboration between city leadership and parking and mobility departments.

■ In 28% of the cases, city leadership led the decision-making process.

■ In 23% of the cases, parking and mobility departments led the decision-making process.

Factors contributing to revenue recovery:

■ Public health orders relaxed, with restaurants and businesses

re-opening.

■ Initial shifts from transit commute to vehicle commute, in-

Municipal Results by Closing Date

creasing demand from single-occupant vehicles.

■ Meters and paid parking re-instated, whether in whole or in

part.

Staffing impacts, including layoffs and furloughs:

■ Most respondents indicated a lower percentage of layoffs for

full-time staff. Many applied staggered furloughs (shorter work weeks, mandatory days off, staggered staffing) or reduced subcontractor staff.

■ More respondents are expecting an increase in layoffs and furloughs in 2021, but not at a widespread level.

Revenue Recovery by Opening Date

Most significant factors contributing to revenue loss for sector: ■ Temporary suspension of parking enforcement.

■ Temporary suspension of parking fees (providing free parking).

■ Suspension of booting/immobilization programs.

18 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Data from Airports

Data from Healthcare Institutions and Hospitals

Revenue Impacts

Revenue Impacts

Most significant factors contributing to revenue loss for sector:

■ Deeply lessened activity (outgoing flights and associated activ-

ity largely due to drop in business travel.)

Most significant factors contributing to revenue loss for sector: ■ Temporary suspension of parking fees and enforcement.

■ Temporary facility closures.

■ Limitation of visitors for routine hospitalizations.

■ Temporary and long-term facility closures.

Leadership and decision-making:

Leadership and decision-making:

■ In most cases (75%), programmatic decisions were made in

■ In most cases (80%), it was the parking and mobility depart-

ment making decisions about programmatic changes.

■ In 20% of the cases, in collaboration with city, state, airport leadership and parking and mobility departments.

Factors contributing to revenue recovery:

collaboration with hospital leadership and parking and mobility departments.

■ Remaining decisions were led by hospital leadership.

Factors contributing to revenue recovery: ■ Re-instatement of elective surgeries.

■ Increased passenger volumes and flight activity (slowly grow-

ing, including shift from typical business travel to leisure/ personal travel).

■ Re-opening of local economies in response to public health orders lifted.

■ Airport experts indicated that they don’t anticipate a full recovery before 2023.

■ Re-opening of local economies/public health orders lifted.

Staffing impacts, including layoffs and furloughs:

■ Respondents did not indicate a major staffing impact for 2020.

■ Some respondents indicated wage reductions (in lieu of layoffs

or furloughs).

■ Respondents do not anticipate 2021 staffing impacts.

Staffing impacts, including layoffs and furloughs:

■ Respondents did not indicate a major staffing impact for 2020

despite revenue losses.

■ Respondents do not anticipate 2021 staffing impacts.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 19

IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY: PART 3

Biggest Impacts on Parking, Transportation, and Mobility Departments by Sector

Safety & Wellness Provisions Implemented Across All Segments

20 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Programmatic Changes in Support of the Community by Sector

Planned Changes and Programming in the Next Six Months

Industry-wide

Overall

77% Distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE).

60% Enforcement warning tickets or relaxed enforcement.

35% COVID-19 Testing Sites.

34% New mobile pay solutions and contactless payment

68% Increased cleaning protocols.

55% Contactless payment concepts.

47% Pricing changes, including increases, decreases, and variable pricing measures.

34% Curbside pickup for restaurants.

37% Planning for future flexible parking arrangements.

32% Planning for future electric vehicle accommodations.

Municipality Sector

Municipality/City/Public Agency

86% Distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE).

77% Enforcement warning tickets or relaxed enforcement.

70% Expanded curbside dining areas into on-street parking

61% Increased cleaning protocols.

48% Pricing changes, including increases, decreases, and vari-

technology.

areas.

68% Curbside pickup for restaurants.

57% Curbside pickup for other retail.

50% Open Streets, slow streets, or street closures to traffic for other purposes.

able pricing measures.

45% Planning for curb management, including mapping,

digitization, monetization, or similar evaluation of curb usage.

43% Contactless payment concepts.

41% Planning for future electric vehicle accommodations.

Academic/University

Academic Sector

84% Distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE).

73% Enforcement warning tickets or relaxed enforcement.

46% COVID-19 testing sites.

43% New mobile pay solutions and contactless payment

76% Increased cleaning protocols.

57% Contactless payment concepts.

51% Planning for future flexible parking arrangements.

51% Pricing changes, including increases, decreases, and vari-

41% Online/virtual payment options for customers.

35% Maintenance (deferred).

Airport Sector

Airport

technology.

able pricing measures.

71% Distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE. 57% Priority parking for essential workers.

29% Marketing/Outreach Campaigns.

29% New mobile pay solutions and contactless payment

86% Contactless payment concepts.

71% Increased cleaning protocols.

57% Pricing changes, including increases, decreases, and vari-

29% Repurposing off-street surface parking assets.

Healthcare/Hospital

Healthcare Sector

100% Staffing increases/rehiring.

75% Contactless payment concepts.

75% Increased cleaning protocols.

50% Planning for future flexible parking arrangements.

50% Pricing changes, including increases, decreases, and vari-

technology.

100% COVID-19 testing sites.

100% Distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE).

50% Repurposing off-street surface parking assets.

50% Repurposing off-street structured parking assets (garages).

able pricing measures.

43% Planning for future electric vehicle accommodations.

able pricing measures.

50% Planning for future electric vehicle accommodations

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 21

IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY: PART 3

Demand Change Predictions Industry-wide Prediction on Anticipated Demand Change Other 10%

Anticipate continued decreases from preCOVID-19 levels next year 20%

Anticipate a return to preCOVID-19 levels in 2021 28%

Anticipate continued decreases from preCOVID-19 levels this year 32%

Anticipate a return to preCOVID-19 levels this year 10%

Insights from the Industry

What community milestones occurred that increased demand?

Open-ended responses shared include: ■ Our county was issued a variance from the state, due to low numbers of infection and outbreak, that allowed for restaurants to operate under a limited capacity as well as the City’s partnership with the Downtown Development Association, allowed for outdoor dining and extended sidewalk and parking space use, and curbside pick-up.

■ Public health orders relaxed, which allowed restaurants to reopen as 50% capacity.

■ Restaurants re-opened, street closures to facilitate social distancing, and on-street spaces re-purposed for dining parklets, state-wide mask requirements.

■ Shift from public transit usage and shared mobility to solo driving and parking.

■ Lifted free metered parking, began enforcement of meters, and creation of outside dining areas.

■ Fall semester permit sales began.

■ Reopening of the county, with a slow return of staff with announcement of fall in-person classes, return of contractors with resumption of campus construction projects.

How can IPMI help you and your organization (and the industry at large)?

Comments from respondents included: ■ Continue to offer options to learn and benefit from parking, mobility and transportation programs/agencies.

■ The COVID crisis has been an accelerator of change in the parking industry, and we need to start thinking and planning for how we evolve, grow, and thrive as an industry and as a community as COVID slips into the rearview. What is in front of us will look very different from how we did business in the past. If we don’t pay attention to and plan for what is coming, we would have done everything right to survive the crisis, and left ourselves unprepared to be economically viable after the world reopens.

■ Forums to share pandemic solutions to impacts/challenges.

■ Continue to provide insight into the creative solutions that others in the industry are coming up with to re-imagine the future of parking and the ongoing effects of COVID-19.

■ Show how other parking professionals are reinventing their role in parking.

■ Provide helpful data on how recovery efforts are going for other organizations, avenues in which we can connect with our peers to discuss ideas and potential solutions.

■ Keep supplying the information for our industry and continue the fight for federal government funding.

■ Keep momentum with #stayconnected campaign. Provide virtual venues for members to trade ideas.

■ The COVID-19 crisis has shown us the importance of working together as an organization, as a a city and with your peers in the industry. This crisis cannot be solved alone, it’s critical that IPMI continue to take the lead for our industry and keep members connected and up to date on the most current trends.

What’s Next

IPMI will utilize these results and insights to shape our continuing Roadmap to Recovery Initiative, informing our members of best practices, and sharing them through all of our media channels. We will survey the industry again to assess how our members are handling the crisis, and distribute what we learn.

We will continue to host free online Industry Shoptalks, scheduled for September 24, November 4, and December 16. You can access previous Shoptalk recordings here to gain additional industry insights. Look for continuing coverage of the crisis and our roadmap efforts in monthly issues of Parking & Mobility magazine.

22 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Additional Resources

Share your resources in the IPMI COVID-19 Information Clearinghouse, and be sure to check out the featured resources, events, and education, including the following: ■ Center for Disease and Control Prevention: COVID-19 Critical Infrastructure Sector Response Planning ■ American Public Transportation Association(APTA): Public Transit Response to Coronavirus or COVID-19 ■ Institute of Transportation Engineers(ITE): COVID-19 Resources ■ National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO): COVID-19 Transportation Response Center ■ Smart Growth America: Complete Streets + COVID 19 ■ Center for Disease and Control Prevention: COVID -19 Staffing Resources ■ IPMI Releases Roadmap to Recovery Special Edition, July 2020 ■ Walker Consultants Shares New Guide: Curbs, Streets and Parking for Reopening ■ Data-driven parking management strategies to curb expenses and kickstart recovery.

■ LAZ Partners with US Healthy Work, Parsons &; Vizsafe to Launch LAZ PreScreen, a Groundbreaking COVID-19 Health & Safety Screening ■ Transit technology firm Passio highlights contact tracing tool to fight the pandemic spread ■ Industry Effort to Support $30B in Additional Municipal Funding during Pandemic ■ European Passenger Travel Response to COVID Speed and Trip Data Provide Insight into the Pandemic’s Impact on Transportation, Shared by Inrix ■ Beyond the Curve: Post-Pandemic Back to Work for Employees and Employers, Shared by NEPC & NYSPTA ■ City Tech Launches New Resources to Understand Community Impact of COVID-19, shared by CityTech ■ COVID-19 and the Impacts on Future Travel: What’s Next for the Summer and Beyond, Shared by Mobility21 ◆ BRETT WOOD, CAPP, PE, is president of Wood Solutions Group and chair of IPMI’s Research & Innovation Task Force. He can be reached at brett@woodsolutionsgroup.com.

RACHEL YOKA, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, is IPMI’s vice president of program development. She can be reached at yoka@ parking-mobility.org.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 23

CURBING 24 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Municipalities, universities, and airports take steps to pivot their priorities and reduce revenue loss

By Jeffrey Elsey, CAPP, PE, LEED AP; Chuck Reedstrom, CAPP; and David Taxman, PE

T

HE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has

led to quarantine and shelterat-home orders, decreasing

parking activity and resulting in shutdowns and closures of parking facilities nationwide. From empty garages to micro-mobility service disruptions and lay-offs, now more than ever, it is necessary for parking departments to respond to the needs of the community and help to ensure the safety of their staff.

How the Parking Industry is Responding and Adapting

COVID-19 PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 25

Municipal Parking and Mobility For municipalities, a major and possibly lasting effect is a reduction in parking demand and revenue. Parking software company Smarking randomly selected 541 garages across the nation and found a reduction between 50 and 70 percent for commuter/monthly facilities and up to 95 percent for visitor/transient parking compared with the activity level at the same time last year.

There is also a reduction in revenue from parking enforcement from fewer parkers and from communities stopping or relaxing enforcement.

University Parking Universities have shifted to an almost completely virtual learning and work experience overnight. This shift has resulted in only five to 10 percent of the typical campus population being on campus. Universities 26 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

It is important to think about curb management, access to the curb, and being flexible with the curb. We will need to consider how curb management is performed and how we can support local businesses in the long run.

operate as mini-cities, with a large portfolio of parking assets, transit services, and infrastructure in place to serve the needs of tens of thousands of people.

With almost no one on campus, the demand for parking, transit, and other services has all but disappeared, leading to reimbursements for parking permits, reductions in citation revenue, and transient parking revenues. This loss in revenue coupled with ongoing expense liabilities such as debt service on parking, transit contracts, and labor costs, will force most universities to face multi-million-dollar budget shortfalls by the summer months.

This will be the most challenging budget crisis we’ve seen in the university environment in decades,

if not longer. Many universities have initiated hiring freezes and stopped all capital projects from moving forward for the next 18 to 24 months. The hope is that life will return to normal within a few months, as the financial stability of university parking and mobility programs will largely depend on it.

Airport Parking Parking revenues represent the second largest, and in some cases the single largest revenue source for airports. Unfortunately, the parking demand associated with parking revenue is now down by as much as 95 percent due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

Most airports are continuing with projects that have already started, a few are issuing stop-work orders for projects, and others are delaying new projects. Charleston International Airport (South Carolina) has been able to accelerate the construction on a new consolidated rental car facility and garage by limiting use of their current garage to only construction employees. Most airports have moved employee parking to closer facilities, allowing the airport to eliminate expensive shuttle operations. As a result, many airports have closed their remote employee lots, saving electric costs for unused garages.

Adapting Procedure Parking lots are being used for COVID-19 screening at Walmarts and pharmacies. Parking facilities provide a great opportunity for both testing and hospital care functions, but proper planning is needed to help ensure efficiency and safety. Many communities have decided to stop or relax enforcement of on-street parking violations for time restrictions, permit parking, and payment. Public parking facilities are raising their gates and offering free parking.

For shuttle or bus service, some communities have taken precautions to keep the driver and riders safe; people are directed to enter through the rear door of the bus to help protect the driver. The number of riders has been limited up to 10 passengers and passengers are directed to sit at least six feet from each other on the bus.

Pivoting Priorities We spoke with several of our friends responsible for parking and transportation at universities* across the country to see how they are adapting. The common themes from our discussions are the industry’s

need to repurpose, be nimble, and be flexible during this time. Some ways they are pivoting in times of uncertainty to maintain the strength of their parking and mobility programs: ■ Moving all customer support to a virtual experience, including issuance of permits.

■ Transitioning enforcement staff to help with healthcare operations (this works great at a healthcare university).

■ Using downtime to work on updating department policies and employee development and training.

■ Renegotiating transit contracts to lower rates and shift bus drivers to on-demand service.

■ Breaking the year into quarterly budgets instead of completing the full budget process.

■ Performing maintenance such as painting and cleaning on empty parking facilities.

■ Discontinuing transit service to remote park-andride lots and moving parkers to proximate locations not requiring shuttle transport.

Replacing Lost Revenue In addition to performing much-needed maintenance on their parking facilities and modifying shuttle operations to ensure the health and safety of patrons and drivers, airports have found a new opportunity to replace some lost revenue. Rental car companies have an excess of unused vehicles and need to store these vehicles somewhere. Norfolk Airport (Virginia) has entered into a lease agreement with at least one rental car agency to store 500 vehicles in their now empty employee lot.

Continuing Curbside and Contactless Municipalities are converting curbside space to free, short-term parking for restaurant take-out. We anticipate the increase in curbside pick-up will continue after quarantine. It is important to think about curb management, access to the curb, and being flexible with the curb. We will need to consider how curb management is performed and how we can support local businesses in the long run.

Additionally, to help keep people safe, more contactless payment options will be offered in parking facilities and on-street, which may include mobile payment apps, contactless credit cards with nearfield communication (NFC), or mobile wallet services (e.g. Google Pay or Apple Pay). Contactless payment will reduce touching pay-stations or interacting with a cashier.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 27

Declining Transit Ridership Telecommuting could also become the new normal for a lot of businesses, which could cause a disruption in the long-term demand and revenue for public parking. Transit ridership was already seeing a decrease in activity from rideshare services, but now people are going to be concerned about using transit and being in condensed areas with groups of people.

A potential reduction in transit ridership will hurt funding of planned improvements and transit services. People will look for alternative transportation modes including driving, which could increase parking demand in some communities.

Reimagining Student Mobility No one knows how long the shutdown will persist and how transportation behavior will change once people begin to return to university campuses. It is likely that life will return to a similar norm several years from now, but the next two to three years may look different. Experts from universities offer their thoughts again on how they are preparing for our world to change: ■ Explore long-term, work-from-home policies and their impact on parking and transit needs.

■ Move to touchless technologies, such as contactless payments, automated parking access control, and citation issuance protocols.

■ Return to normal at a gradual pace, dictating the number of people on campuses and bus capacity.

■ Reevaluate parking locations and costs as a result of fewer people being on campus per week or needing flexibility to park proximate to destinations for short durations.

■ Consider probable reductions in various revenue streams (events, visitor, etc.).

■ Focus on cutting expenses such as non-essential contracts and refinancing existing debt service.

■ Seek other revenue streams such as more daily or hourly parking.

■ Rewrite third-party contracts to share burdens equally between the university and third parties.

■ Begin working on increasing department reserves needed to weather similar storms.

■ Anticipate reallocating resources to critical routes, such as park-n-ride lots if social-distancing continues, and focusing on walking and biking activity.

■ Increase revenue streams for deferred maintenance and capital projects needing immediate attention.

28 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

The COVID-19 pandemic may require us to examine our operations holistically and be smarter about our future programs. Some potential positive outcomes are becoming more virtual and customer friendly, expanding and exploring new technologies, and aligning parking pricing models with the true cost of our parking and mobility programs. Lower parking demands may be a good thing for campuses that already face parking deficits, but it’s unknown how long these demands will remain low. It is critical for universities to perform financial modeling for various lowdemand and high-demand scenarios and understand revenue and expense opportunities, ensuring a resilient system over the next year and beyond.

Returning to Normal Travel Many airports agree that it may take as long as 18 months to three years to return to 2019 parking demand levels. There may be some renewed activity starting as early as early summer this year. Travel will slowly increase throughout this year and the industry may not see significant increases until the third quarter of 2020. We forecast continuing trends will include: ■ A virtual environment where the patron registers and pre-pays for their parking through a pre­booking reservation website.

■ Virtual registration and issuance of parking permits.

■ Implementation of touch free/contactless revenue control systems, including: ● Reduction or elimination of cashiered exit lanes. ● Reduction in the use of a parking tickets as the credential.

Parking revenues represent the second largest, and in some cases the single largest revenue source for airports.

Unfortunately, the parking demand associated with parking revenue is now down by as much as 95 percent due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

● Use of the license plate as the parking credential. ● Use of an automatic vehicle identification (AVI)

transponder as the parking credential. ● Use of a bar code as the parking credential

These strategies are a critical part of mitigating COVID-19’s effects on our communities and the parking industry. We are hopeful the best practices here help communities around the country.◆ *Special thanks to our university partners for providing their input: Adele Clements, Emory University; Andre Davis, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Josh Stone, CAPP, Virginia Commonwealth University; Sherry Davidson, Georgia Institute of Technology; Don Andre, Auburn University; Brett Dodson, Oregon Health Sciences University; Carl Depinto, Duke University; and Karen Hallisey, UCLA.

JEFFREY ELSEY, CAPP, PE, LEED AP, is a parking and mobility specialist with Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at jeffrey.elsey@kimley-horn.com, CHUCK REEDSTROM, CAPP, is senior practice builder at Kimley-Horn. He an be reached at chuck.reedstrom@kimleyhorn.com.

DAVID TAXMAN, PE, is an associate with Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at david.taxman@kimley-horn.com.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 29

Parking Lots, Public Spaces, Social Distancing,

Safety

and

By Warren C. Vander Helm and David Vogel

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Repurposing parking for new public services during a pandemic presents its own dangers. Fortunately, safety measures can help.

PHOTO BY JOHN RICHARDS FROM PEXELS

A

RTURO FRANCO MELENDEZ was

volunteering with a food drive at First Southern Baptist Church in Los Angeles on April 17. It was the end of a week that saw a staggering number of deaths and unemployment claims across the U.S., due to the swift spread of COVID-19. According to CBS Los Angeles, 58-yearold Melendez had been a volunteer at the food bank for years and was doing his part to help with an increase in demand. As he was loading items into the back of one car, a driver behind him mistakenly accelerated. Melendez was pinned between the two vehicles and killed.

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USDA PHOTO BY LANCE CHEUNG

PARKING LOTS, PUBLIC SPACES, SOCIAL DISTANCING AND SAFETY

A tragic accident at a food bank in Miami Gardens, Fla., on March 11 resulted in one death and multiple injuries after a driver unintentionally reversed into a line of people waiting outside. And on May 4, a 13-yearold boy was injured when he was pinned between two vehicles while volunteering at a food drive in Ligonier, Ind.

Safety Cannot Be Delegated As consultants in the parking industry, our team is sadly familiar with accidents like these. With unfortunate frequency, we are asked to serve as expert witnesses on vehicle-caused deaths in parking lots and other areas where cars are close to pedestrians, such as walkup ATMs, outdoor seating areas, and drive-through services to name a few examples. Often, they happen due to pedal confusion, incidents where a driver hits the gas instead of the brake and jumps a curb, drives through a storefront, or as we have seen in the instances above, pins people between two vehicles.

Unfortunately, we see a lot of resistance to preventative safety measures. Often, it’s not until an accident occurs and the owner of a parking lot is facing a lawsuit that these issues are addressed.

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There are a host of new risks to consider following the repurposing of public spaces for a variety of uses in response to COVID-19. Instead of indoor or walk-up food banks, church and school parking lots are transformed into drive-through distribution sites. Drivers are asked to stay in their cars while groceries are loaded for them to minimize contact. Curbsides are also increasingly active as pickup locations for retailers and as restaurants and businesses expand out onto sidewalks and streets.

Before COVID-19, the U.S. experienced an average of 50,000 accidents, 60,000 injuries, and an estimated 500 deaths each year in parking lots; the vast majority of those were pedestrians. We know that whenever you bring pedestrians and cars closer together, those numbers go up.

In repurposing parking lots, curbs, sidewalks, and streets as added commercial space or use as semi-­ permanent distribution points, it is important not to mitigate one risk while ignoring another.

Physical Distancing as Safety Concern COVID-19 has forced all of us to rethink how we interact with public spaces. But this increase in physical distancing is also leading to a decrease in space between people and cars.

Food banks and COVID testing sites in parking lots came first. Now we are seeing businesses reopen, but often only if they can guarantee enough space for their customers to appropriately spread out. For restaurants and shops, this can mean expanding into parking lots, sidewalks, and newly closed streets.

“A business owner has to be mindful of parking lot safety,” says Rob Reiter, a consultant in curbside and parking lot safety and co-founder of the Storefront Safety Council. “When he or she finally has the chance to reopen and expand outdoor seating areas, consulting with an expert might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but it absolutely should be.”

Cities are also under pressure to create the conditions under which businesses can reopen. Coast-to-coast, cities including Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and New York City have streamlined the process for restaurants to open or expand outdoor seating. In Oregon, the Liquor Control Commission expedited the process for restaurants to apply for sidewalk liquor licenses. And in Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced L.A. Al Fresco, a program that will help restaurants reopen faster “by temporarily relaxing the rules that regulate outdoor dining.”

On top of approving outdoor dining permits, cities are considering applications to close down streets to vehicles. Ashland, Ore., which suffered a significant economic blow in the cancelation of the town’s flagship attraction, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will close a large stretch of Main Street each weekend for much of the summer to make room for businesses and visitors to spread out.

In this rush to reopen and repurpose, we see the potential for disaster.

vehicles from entering these newly created pedestrian-only areas. A small sign on a safety cone saying “street closed” or redirecting drivers to alternate routes may not prevent someone—who may be alcohol-impaired or simply caught off guard by the new traffic pattern—from crashing into a crowd of people.

Liability for businesses and cities increases as taking measures for prevention of foreseeable tragedies decreases.

Some important recommendations for property owners and organizations re-purposing parking lots and outdoor spaces for these services: ■ Safety bollards should be installed around new sidewalk or parking lot seating for restaurants.

■ Parking spots should not face outdoor seating areas, but if there are no other options, safety bollards should be installed between the front of vehicles and seated customers.

■ Make a traffic circulation plan with safety in mind. Faster moving vehicles entering or exiting an area should be separated from stationary vehicles in line for services.

■ Design pickup lines for cars to pull in parallel to each other, rather than bumper-to-bumper, reducing the risk of people getting pinned between vehicles.

■ If a pick up line must be employed, create a loading pull-out where the vehicle being loaded is situated parallel to, but one lane to the left or right of the line of vehicles.

Taking Measures to Avoid New Risks

■ Map out access points where cars and volunteers interact and

Many aspects of our day-to-day lives have changed very quickly in recent months. We have adapted to wearing masks in public and washing our hands more frequently. We set up offices on our dining room tables and learned to cook more at home. But some changes require more in-depth considerations. When it comes to the repurposing of parking lots, sidewalks and streets, we must take the time to do it right.

“Vehicles in parking lots are a lot like sharks in the ocean,” says Reiter. “Shark attacks are unlikely when you are sitting on the sand. But if you wade out into the water, your risk goes up.”

Reiter says curbside pickup lines and outdoor seating areas set up in parking spaces are essentially shark territory. “If people are seated in the same areas where vehicles are moving, the likelihood for tragedy is simply going to increase.”

There are simple and relatively inexpensive measures that can be taken to keep both drivers and pedestrians safe. Even as we move forward with reimagining our cities and towns now and for physical distancing in the future, we do not have to trade one risk for another.

When temporarily closing streets for the expansion of businesses, crash tested barriers should be put in place to prevent

clearly mark “no go areas” for vehicles to prevent intrusions where volunteers are staging.

■ Train staff and volunteers in safety and traffic plans, clearly communicate with signs, and clearly delineate lanes so that drivers are not confused. And remember—speed kills.

As we continue to adjust to this new reality of the pandemic and repurpose our public spaces, we must also continue to develop safety measures that will prevent accidents. And we must continue to have these conversations as we all venture into new territory and invent the temporary new normal.◆

■ Ease congestion by designating pickup and drop-off points that

are separate from traffic circulation.

WARREN C. VANDER HELM is a partner at Parking Design Group, LLP. He can be reached at warren@ parkingdesigngroup.com.

DAVID VOGEL is managing partner at Parking Design Group, LLP. He can be reached at david@ parkingdesigngroup.com.

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Keeping Parking

34 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Facilities

O

Safe

UR WORLD HAS BEEN TURNED UPSIDE-DOWN during the past weeks. As of this writing, more than 3 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 (the illness caused by the Coronavirus) and more than 350,000 have died. In the U.S., more than 1 million Americans have contracted Covid-19, over 107,000 have died, and the majority of Americans are under stay-at-home orders.

During A Pandemic Nothing is 100 percent, but some steps can help keep patrons and staff safer while the Coronavirus is in play.

This pandemic has focused many industries, including parking, on public health and how we can make public facilities safer. The Coronavirus is extraordinarily contagious—experts estimate that it’s three times more contagious than the flu—and public places pose particular risks. In fact, anyplace where multiple people congregate, particularly places with shared surfaces that can become contaminated, poses potential health dangers. According to the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), the Coronavirus can remain active on plastic and steel surfaces for as many as two to three days.

Parking facilities fall into this category. It’s imperative parking owners and organizations with parking assets to take the necessary steps to make parking areas safer and protect parking employees and visitors.

SHUTTERSTOCK / JAMESBIN / DMITRY KOVALCHUK / PETR BORN

By Bill Smith

Sanitation Protecting the health of staff and other parkers begins with cleaning. Sanitation is essential, particularly in common areas. There are many shared touchpoints that require frequent, aggressive cleaning. Also, if you can obtain extra sanitizing wipes, it makes sense to leave them in common areas so employees and other parkers can wipe down any surfaces they touch. Not only does this protect them, but it protects others who will be touching those surfaces after them.

“During this crisis, adhere to the guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),” says Nicole Chinea, CAPP, senior project manager in WGI’s Parking Solutions Division. “The CDC recommends cleaning hard, non-porous surfaces with a detergent or soap before disinfecting them. And until this crisis passes, it’s advisable to use hospital-grade cleaning supplies.”

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Chinea recognizes that switching to heavier duty cleaning supplies may pose a quandary for many parking owners for whom sustainability is an important operational focus. But she points out that the switch will only be temporary, and for the time being, public health might have to outweigh being green.

“There are a number of common touchpoints that require particularly aggressive cleaning,” says Chinea.

“The most obvious are doors and door handles, stairway handles, and elevators and elevator lobbies. In elevators and elevator lobbies, it’s particularly important to pay close attention to call buttons.”

Technology Payment technology, in particular, presents common touchpoints that are used by many parkers throughout the day.

“Until the Coronavirus hit, we didn’t give a second thought to pressing the buttons on parking payment equipment, find-my-car kiosks, or smart meters,” says Chris McKenty, vice president of SKIDATA. “But someone using that equipment isn’t the only person pushing those buttons. Chances are, many people have already used that equipment, and there’s no way to know whether it has been contaminated.”

Parking technology can play an important role in minimizing common touchpoints through which the Coronavirus and other viruses can spread. Frictionless parking, for instance, can promote public health by allowing people to enter and exit garages and parking lots without stopping to take a ticket or pay at exits. Frictionless parking suites, which typically include PARCS, LPR, RFID readers, and parking guidance technologies, recognize the car when it enters the facility and associates the parking transaction with a previously registered credit card or permit.

“There’s really no reason for people to have to touch anything when they enter or exit a parking garage,” says Gorm Tuxen, president of IPsens. “Long-range RFID and LPR technologies have become so advanced that cars can enter and exit with barely a tap of the brakes.”

Pre-booking is another common element of frictionless parking that can provide public health benefits.

When parkers reserve a space, they also either pay in advance or tie their transaction to an existing account, which is automatically charged either up entry or exit.

“Pre-booking is essentially a customer service amenity, but in times like these it can help promote public health,” says Theresa Hughes, chief executive 36 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Frictionless parking can promote public health by allowing people to enter and exit garages and parking lots without stopping to take a ticket or pay at exits. officer of Chauntry. “As part of a frictionless parking suite, or as a standalone service, pre-booking can eliminate the need to touch payment equipment where viruses can spread.”

“Thousands of parking facilities have moved to frictionless parking over the past five years,” says McKenty. “It wasn’t meant as a public health benefit, but it has become an important tool for protecting parkers and parking employees, and it will become all the more important as life returns to normal and parking facilities begin to fill up again.”

Just as frictionless parking can promote public health by eliminating touchpoints in garages, contactless parking can also protect parkers. Whereas frictionless parking eliminates the “friction” drivers experience at parking gates, contactless parking allows parkers to completely bypass parking equipment, using their smart phones or other personal devices to pay. Some mobile payment apps even work with Siri and Alexa.

“Our lives are full of activities that could potentially expose us to contaminated surfaces, and we need to be extra vigilant these days,” says Roamy Valera, CAPP, CEO North America for PayByPhone.

“The parking payment process is one area of our lives that presents unseen hazards that we’ve never had to worry about in the past. Contactless parking eliminates these risks by permitting parkers to pay with their personal devices rather than being exposed to equipment that has been touched by others. ” According to Valera, mobile payment platforms can potentially serve another vital purpose: communication. Mobile payment app users who have their notifications turned on can be sent Coronavirus updates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other public health agencies so they can stay informed of the latest information and public health recommendations.

Staffing Staffing is a final consideration owners and operators during this pandemic. It’s just as important to protect staff as patrons. Many garages and lots still have staffed booths to collect cash from parkers and assist them when technical issues arise. During this public health crisis, owners and operators should limit the number of staff working in booths. When staff are required, they should wear masks and gloves to protect themselves and parking patrons. If possible, it also makes sense to install temporary barriers comprised of clear plastic to provide a protective barrier between staff and parkers.

This is another area where technology can help.

Customer service platforms connecting drivers to online customer service representatives via two-way video allow owners and operators to have a customer service presence without having to staff garage exits. The platform is electronically connected to the PARCS equipment via the cloud, and provides a live audio connection to a trained customer service professional who can solve any problems parkers may have with parking equipment or transactions.

“As helpful as touchless parking technology has become, things still sometimes go wrong,” says Brian Wolff, president & CEO of Parker Technology. “At a time like this, when it’s important to minimize the exposure of staff and parking customers, leveraging technology by having a virtual ambassador may be the most empathetic and effective way to protect your staff and parking guests.”

Moving Forward The parking industry has been particularly hard hit by the Coronavirus crisis, with some cities reporting that parking demand has dropped by as much as 90 percent. At the same time, it also presents an unexpected opportunity. Typically, when parking owners and municipalities upgrade their facilities, they are forced to close lanes and disrupt service.

For parking owners and operators with the means, the current environment offers the opportunity to invest in parking technology without impacting customer service.

“The smart city revolution is well underway, and cities are beginning to mandate that owners install parking guidance, PARCS, and other systems that connect to city parking grids,” says Chris Scheppmann, managing member of EnSight Technologies.

“It’s not a question of if parking owners and owners of complexes with parking assets will have to invest in smart technology suites; it’s a matter of when. By doing it now, owners can put themselves in a great position when this crisis ends in the coming weeks.”

Disease prevention and public health will continue to be an issue for the parking industry, even after the Coronavirus crisis ends. As we take our initial steps toward reopening our communities and returning to our normal lives, it will be vital to continue to pay close attention to these public health issues to avoid flare-ups of new Covid-19 cases. And many public health experts expect that even after the immediate dangers have passed, the Coronavirus will reappear next year with the flu and other seasonal viruses.

“The parking industry was already moving toward a primarily automated future,” says Kevin Uhlenhaker, managing director of SLS Insights. “When we emerge from this crisis, I think we’ll find that it has sped up that transition because many of the technologies that parking owners and operators already value for their operational and customer service benefits can also help promote public health and provide a healthier environment for parkers and parking staff. Going forward, this is going to continue to be an important issue for our industry.” ◆ BILL SMITH is president of Smith Phillips Strategic Communications and contributing editor of Parking & Mobility. He can be reached at bsmith@smith-phillips.com.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 37

Can

PARK(ing) DAY Applying the lessons from an annual celebration of parklets to pandemic recovery in cities.

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R

By Michael Connor and Brian Bartholomew

ETAIL SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS IN CITIES across the country are starting to open under

mandated social distancing guidelines. However, maintaining six feet of distance between patrons dramatically limits the number of customers who can frequent a shop or restaurant. Those restaurants with existing outdoor café-style seating have some additional capacity, but most bars, restaurants, and shops do not have access to broad sidewalks or approval for that type of activity.

To remove or lessen that restriction, city governments have been quick to offer legislation that creates greater flexibility.

In Louisville, Ky., for example, Mayor Greg Fischer announced that the city will help expand outdoor seating in preparation for restaurants reopening their doors. Effective immediately, the city is waiving application fees for outdoor seating permits with the city’s public works department. Fischer said the city also will waive the parking and landscape requirements traditionally tied to the square footage of restaurant seating, which requires a temporary suspension of land development code regulations that prohibit things like off-premises alcohol sales and converting property for a different use.

Changing Regulations Cleveland, Ohio, is considering tweaking the rules governing rights-of-way even further to allow restaurants and bars to occupy space in some streets so patrons can maintain social distancing. But some details still need to be worked out. Edward Rybka,

Mayor Frank Jackson’s chief of regional development, told the City Council’s Finance Committee that no immediate timetable was announced. “It’s not an easy snap of the fingers kind of thing,” Rybka said.

In Portland, Ore., the city had created a design and approval process where streets can be turned into outdoor plazas under a new permitting program. On May 28, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) launched the Safe Streets Initiative. Part of this initiative is a business toolkit and a healthy business permit that helps businesses use more public space to conduct business safely. The streamlined six-step permitting process includes the applicant defining how the public right-of-way would be used, coordination with neighboring businesses and organizations, documenting the plan and design, an online application, city staff review and coordination, and city approval and permitting. Once approved, PBOT Parking Enforcement would place reservation signage or devices in metered areas and “no parking” signs in unmetered areas. Unfortunately, on May 29, the PBOT had to walk

Play a Role

in Combating COVID-19?

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 39

Hoboken developed a concept called a “streatery,” where shared public space is temporarily converted to curbside space for outdoor dining and take-away food and beverages can be consumed.

back its plan to revoke the traditional sidewalk café permit requirements, noting in an email to business owners that café dining on most sidewalks will not allow enough space to accommodate physical distancing rules.

Clearly, converting sidewalk and curbside space that falls under the definition of public right-of-way isn’t something the simply requires “a snap of the fingers.” However, the economy and downtown shops and restaurants don’t have the luxury of waiting for long-standing and complicated codes and ordinances to be researched, rewritten, debated in the public realm, and approved by our political leaders.

Therefore, the key to expanding social distancing and seating capacity in shops and restaurants while respecting codes and ordinances that relate to public safety lay in the interpretation and creative application of codes and ordinances that already exist. Up steps PARK(ing) Day.

PARK(ing) Day And COVID PARK(ing) Day originated in San Francisco, Calif., in 2005 and is now an annual international event where the public collaborates to temporarily transform parking spaces into small parks to elicit a reconsideration

of the designation of public space. PARK(ing) Day occurs on the third Friday in September to promote a new look at the public right-of-way and motivate participation in the civic processes that shape the urban environment. For one day a year, a portion of the rightof-way that was used exclusively for the temporary storage of a single automobile is recreated into a space that reminds the public and our political leadership of the great potential of these valuable but forgotten public spaces. However, placing human beings in the same environment as iron and steel vehicles that can weigh several tons and can travel at high speeds is a dangerous endeavor and requires very thoughtful planning, design, and implementation practices. Fortunately, many communities have already gone through that public research, vetting, and pilot program process.

Like many communities, Arlington County, Va., developed PARK(ing) Day guidelines to ensure that temporary installations in the public right-of-way are created in a safe and effective manner. The guidelines developed by the county were based on best planning and design practices applied elsewhere and define appropriate location (only legal parking spaces and not at the end of street blocks), speed limit of adjacent roadway (not more than 25 mph), time period (9:00

Lessons learned from installing parklets can be of great use as restaurants and other businesses expand into parking spaces.

40 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

a.m. to 3:30 p.m.), space size (20 feet by 5 feet), and the type, height, and width of material that can be used as a buffer zone.

In Arlington County, the PARK(ing) Day permitting process is the same as a transportation right-of-way (TROW) permit, which is required when construction activity in the right-of-way blocks or limits the use of any type of lane. That process includes a PARK(ing) Day agreement and release form, certificate of liability insurance, site design concept, and a barrel request form. A certificate of liability insurance (COI) is a simple form issued by the applicant’s insurance company that summarizes the types of coverage, the issuing insurance company, your policy number, the named insured, the policy’s effective dates, and the types and dollar amount of limits and deductibles.

Arlington County is identified as “primary and non-contributory” additional insured under the commercial general liability insurance as respect to any street use permit issued by Arlington County. Prior to

PARK(ing) Day, county staff post signs adjacent to the parking space several days prior noting the date and time when the space would be removed from service, then install the required traffic barrels and safety tape the night before. The applicant then follows additional guidelines regarding the type and dimensions of material that may be temporarily placed within the defined space.

Applying the Lessons Having established the fact that many communities have incorporated formal processes to permit the safe, effective, and temporary alternative use of the public right-of-way, the question then becomes how PARK(ing) Day applies to COVID-19, social distancing, and opening the economy. As part of the City of Hoboken, N.J.’s, small business recovery plan, the city created a task force of political, business, and civic leaders; city staff; and the newly created Hoboken Business Improvement District (BID), which examined new and creative strategies to support local restaurants PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 41

reopening. As part of amendments that would be made to the existing sidewalk café regulations, qualified businesses would be permitted to build a temporary platform in the parking spots immediately in front of their establishment to use as an outdoor dining area.

From a code perspective, Chapter 168 Article II of Hoboken’s municipal code of ordinances defines encroachments into the public right-of-way and revocable consent, which includes the following: ■ No person or entity shall install or maintain any improvements or appurtenances of any kind in, over, or upon any sidewalk, street, public lane, alley, or other public ground without first obtaining a revocable consent from the Department of Community Development.

■ A revocable consent shall not be granted for a use that would be considered a permanent structure, would interfere with the use of inalienable property, or could be granted for a purpose for which a franchise or easement may be granted.

■ All revocable consents shall be revocable at any time by the City of Hoboken, shall be granted for a fixed term, and shall provide for adequate compensation to be annually provided to the City during the continuance of the consent.

■ Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, revocable consent to construct and operate Sidewalk Cafes shall continue to be reviewed and administered pursuant to Article V, Sidewalk Cafes, of this Chapter of the municipal code.

Following the code of ordinances and existing design and permitting guidelines, Hoboken developed a concept called a “streatery,” where shared public space is temporarily converted to curbside space for outdoor 42 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

dining and take-away food and beverages can be consumed. Dining space is separated from adjacent parking and travel lanes using moveable barriers such as barricades, planters, bollards, or similar structures. Tables in a streatery must be six feet apart, measured from backs of opposite chairs, to promote social distancing. The BID would be instrumental as it could act as the applicant representing groups of restaurants and business owners along the city’s key commercial corridors.

In concept, the streatery is installed during Friday evenings and during the weekend, when restaurants are typically busiest, and removed Sunday evening, returning the parking space to its usual function. The adjacent roadway would be unaffected.

In effect, Hoboken and its streatery plan is an extension of PARK(ing) Day where, through appropriate planning, design, review, and approval, the public rightway-way is temporarily converted to a space where people can sit, talk, and dine in relative safety and comfort.

And this conversion could occur not on a single day per year, but three or more days/evenings per week.

Financial Considerations The development of various strategies by local governments to help retail establishments reopen under the new guidelines for safety have—and will for some time—affected parking budgets. As most municipalities nationwide have relaxed or eliminated parking enforcement efforts, raised gates at off-street facilities, and waived on-street parking fees, negative revenue impacts also are the new normal.

No one can accurately identify the real impact of the new business normal on future parking demand.

However, it is only natural to anticipate increased use

No one can accurately identify the real impact of the new business normal on future parking demand. However, it is only natural to anticipate increased use of single-occupant vehicles entering business districts as the public may initially shy away from the mass transit options they relied on in the past.

of single-occupant vehicles entering business districts as the public may initially shy away from the mass transit options they relied on in the past. This potential increase in parking demand may help parking budgets somewhat recover by realizing new parking demand.

As evidenced by the various communities identified earlier, local governments understand that a vibrant business district is necessary for their respective community to thrive. However, they also understand that sufficient parking inventory must be available to support the reopening business demand. Moreover, transportation network company (TNC) demand, specifically food delivery services, for curbside space also has increased during this pandemic.

As some business establishments may require expansion of their footprints to include public parking areas to meet social distancing guidelines, the issue of compensation for the use of a public parking asset cannot be ignored. This requires a financial balancing act to occur while also attempting to accommodate the parking needs of these different user groups.

Municipalities are adopting several methods for assessing fees for the use of a curbside spaces. One example that is used to support business needs is a per lineal foot of curb space used fee. For example, Hoboken, NJ, is assessing a $0.50 per lineal foot fee per day, which is equivalent to $10 per day per space. The regular on-street parking rate is $2.00 per hour with parking meters enforced from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. On a typical day, if the meter were fully utilized, an on-street meter would generate $24.00 per day. The per lineal foot rate is discounted 42 percent over the standard revenue potential that would be realized by the city for businesses that opt to utilize curbside spaces. Hoboken

also assesses a $100 application fee, which is paid to the city’s engineering department.

It is important to note that there are other costs that will be associated with the use of curbside spaces, some of which could be substantial. Developing any initial agreement for the use of this space should clearly dictate which party is responsible for the funding of these items. For instance, the cost to clean the space daily, supply temporary power (if applicable), break down and re-install infrastructure, and maintain aesthetic design standards will have to be borne either by the user, municipality, or business taxing district as will be the case in Hoboken.

In the end, the assessment of fees for the use of public parking assets for business use in the age of the new normal will be driven by the financial wherewithal and flexibility of the municipality and/or parking agency.

In time, when the business environment begins to look like the pre-pandemic business environment, well-designed, creative public space additions that help buffer an otherwise asphalt-and-concrete landscape also may become the new normal. â—† MICHAEL CONNOR is a parking consultant with Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at michael.connor@kimley-horn. com.

BRIAN BARTHOLOMEW is a parking consultant with Kimley-Horn. He can be reached at brian.bartholomew@kimleyhorn.com.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 43

IPMI

Roadmap to Recovery 2020

Managing Through

44 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

Airport parking, mobility, and transportation department professionals share their COVID-19 experiences, what they’ve learned, and where they go from here.

I

T WASN’T LONG AFTER COVID-19 SHUTDOWNS STARTED BACK IN MARCH

that news cameras began descending on airports—empty, desolate airports.

Every sector of the parking industry has experienced change thanks to the pandemic, but few have been hit as hard as those in and around airports. We reached out to our airport members to share their experiences; this is what they said.

Ben Carpenter, CAPP Manager, Landside Operations Reno-Tahoe International Airport Ben is manager of landslide operations at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, overseeing all aspects of the parking and ground transportation programs. Prior to this role, he was aviation superintendent of Parking Services at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. He started his career in parking management in 2004, working in the San Francisco Bay Area with SP+ for more than a decade.

What’s the biggest impact (thus far) to your organization and parking and transportation systems?

At the Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) we are experiencing the same impact as all other airports; a serious decline in passengers that has directly correlated to a loss in parking and ground transportation (GT) customers. However, due to Reno being somewhat isolated in geography and not having any direct airport competition, (Sacramento International Airport is a two and a half hour drive away), our decline has been slightly less than the national average. But that shouldn’t lessen the severity of what we are seeing.

SHUTTERSTOCK/ SEAN PAVONE

The parking impact is obvious. As the largest non-aeronautical revenue provider to the airport, seeing the parking demand drop has translated into a significant revenue decline for RNO. In our GT program, we have seen some of our smaller providers cease operations at the airport, as well as a large decline in trips from our larger providers such as casino shuttles, TNCs, and taxis. Thankfully, throughout this uncertainty, we have not noticed any tangible drop in customer service from our travelers relying on our GT providers. This just goes to show how good our transportation partners are.

What’s on the horizon for your organization and your policies in response to the protracted nature of the pandemic?

We are hoping to expand our technology where applicable in the parking program. Our near-term goal is to implement a parking reservation system (PRS) as a customer service amenity as well as to benefit from the touchless nature of those programs. We are also closely monitoring all metrics and trends as closely as possible to determine what the next few years will look like; one of these metrics is an increase in parking as a mode choice for travelers. Our parking transactions per enplaned passenger have increased at the same time as we have seen a decrease in the same metric for TNCs and taxis. This falls in line with the theory that travelers may be more likely to choose to be in their own cars as opposed to using shared or public transportation. It is too soon to determine if this is a trend or an anomaly however. If this does turn out to be a trend that has staying power, this will directly impact how we plan to accommodate parkers in the future.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 45

MANAGING THROUGH CRISIS

What’s your longer term planning look like?

Before the pandemic began, we had a serious shortage of parking spaces, routinely averaging above 95 percent occupancy and implementing overflow parking procedures several weekends per year. For this year, we predicted that we would need overflow parking on 25 weekends with an additional four weekends needing some form of offsite parking from neighboring businesses.

(Last year we used a local high school parking lot during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.) While nobody has a crystal ball and estimates about a full recovery time vary quite a bit, we are still looking at how to expand our parking layout for when demand gets back to pre-COVID levels.

A project that had been slated for this fiscal year was expanding our overflow parking footprint into an undeveloped lot. This would have yielded approximately 350 additional spaces that could be used for customer or employee parking. While that project is now delayed, we are still planning to move forward with it once we see the demand come back. We are also still in the development phase of a new CONRAC (consolidated rental car facility).

Share any best practices that have been standard operating procedure. Have you developed any new policies in response to the crisis?

First and foremost, we have dramatically upped our cleaning

procedures of our high touchpoint areas—entrances, exits, and pay stations. We are also in the process of looking at touchless capabilities of our PARCS system, whether it is an LPR solution, enhanced credit card in or out, or some of the other programs our PARCS partner has to offer.

Any advice for other airports as they tackle similar challenges?

One thing I am trying to do as a manager is keep employee morale as high as possible. Our parking and GT programs are run inhouse, therefore our staff of parking professionals are all part of the immediate RNO family. In this time of so much craziness, it’s important for managers to make sure the work environment is as positive and dare I say as fun as possible. We have several frontline staff that have been working full-time since the beginning of the pandemic, so it is immensely important that their efforts are recognized and celebrated.

Are there any silver linings?

One of the positives we have seen is our ability to tackle some long-needed maintenance projects. While I would much prefer for us to not have the ability to so easily complete these projects, finding some silver linings where possible has been a big win in a time when wins have been hard to come by.

Allen Corry, CAPP Assistant Vice President.

Transportation and Parking Business Unit Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas Allen served 30 years in the U.S. Army, and began his parking career in 1998 at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, as associate director of parking and transportation for nine years. He worked for eight years as director of parking services for the Town of Greenwich, Conn., and is currently AVP of the Parking Business Unit at

What’s the biggest impact (thus far) to your organization and parking and transportation systems? How are you and your team addressing these impacts?

Our effort to retain and protect employees while supporting the airlines as they reduce their flights due to passenger reductions caused by the pandemic. We are allowing employee personnel who can support their operation from home to do so and providing them with the communication and technology to accomplish their tasks. For those who are not able to work from home because of their position, we ensure they have the proper PPE and social distancing instructions to properly and safely conduct their tasks.

the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Texas and a member of IPMI’s Board of Directors..

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What’s on the horizon for your organization and your policies in response to the protracted nature of the pandemic?

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terms of health, safety, customer service, facility cleanliness, and completing scheduled maintenance with little customer impact.

Mike Maromaty, CAPP Parking Manager Dane County Regional Airport Mike’s parking career began immediately after receiving his management degree from Purdue. For several years, he worked for a parking operator in downtown Chicago managing a variety of location types, and for more than five years, he has managed the Parking Division at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisc.

What’s the biggest impact (thus far) to your organization and parking and transportation systems? How are you and your team addressing these impacts?

The extreme decline in revenue. Despite the shortfall, we are working to maintain a positive facility image in

We have implemented “new normal” procedures, providing masks not only to employees but customers as well, mandating facial coverings, and sanitizing vehicles daily after use. All employees will have their temperature taken when they enter the workplace. Each employee has been issued a pandemic kit that includes thermometers to take their own temperature at home before they come to work every day and if they do not feel well, they asked to stay home. We have implemented signage on buses and in terminals reminding customers to wear facial coverings, wash their hands, and social distance.

We’ve developed additional guidance and best practices for a safe recovery and re-opening, including establishing a flexible work schedule policy; leveraging IT for tools, training, and best practices for telecommuting; developing enhanced tools and guidance on how to manage performance for remote work; and creating an internal, dedicated COVID-19/New Normal webpage to keep employees informed.

What’s on the horizon for your organization and your policies in response to the protracted nature of the pandemic?

We will continue to monitor the situation and enforce all health safety guidelines in the airport. We would like to continue to move forward with all capital improvement programs (CIP), but timing could shift for projects depending on urgency as we are in a reactive environment.

Share any best practices that have been standard operating procedure.

We have been carefully following health and safety procedures; we have decreased our number of face-toface cash transactions through effective signage, technology, and customer service.

Any advice for other airports as they tackle similar challenges?

Continue efforts to make your patrons feel healthy, safe, and appreciated.

Any advice for other airports as they tackle similar challenges?

Foremost, insist or mandate employees and customers wear facial coverings, maintain at least six feet of distance between people, and remind all to wash hands often by installing signage throughout the terminals, restrooms, and common areas. It is critical that all employees take responsibility to curb the spread of this deadly virus, both when at work and away from the airport.

Leadership can ensure that employees understand of the seriousness of the emergency and that they follow the guidance and instructions to reduce community spread. This has helped keep the number of cases down at DFW. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that we must be prepared for any other emergency of this nature with a protocol to address this in the future.

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MANAGING THROUGH CRISIS

What’s the biggest impact (thus far) to your organization and parking and transportation systems? How are you and your team addressing these impacts?

We’ve been developing core strategies for guest and business recovery, which is an ongoing process. To date, we have cut back on operating expenses. We’ve accomplished this with reductions in staffing, holds on capital projects, closing our economy lot facility, and repurposing garage parking for multi-use demand (long- and short-term, employee parking, and extended stay discount) to meet the various needs of our customers.

What’s on the horizon for your organization and your policies in response to the protracted nature of the pandemic? What’s your longer-term planning look like?

Frank Ragozzino Director of Airport Operations Philadelphia Parking Authority Frank has served more than 37 years at the Philadelphia Parking Authority, and started his career as a parking enforcement officer at the city’s On-Street Parking Program in 1983. He has held various positions during his career in the On-Street Parking Division, PPA administration, including the last 15 years as director of airport operations.

As an organization, we will continue with our No. 1 objective: to keep our employees and customers safe. We will remain diligent by following and enforcing the number of new policies and procedures that have been implemented. Longer term, we are focused on developing strategies and programs for business recovery. Based on the airport’s data we anticipate as much as three-year recovery period.

Share any best practices that have been standard operating procedure. Have you developed any new policies in response to the crisis?

In terms of employee and customer safety, the Philadelphia Parking Authority established a COVID-19 playbook to be followed by all departments and employees. Also, the airport’s Division of Aviation has published and implemented new policies and procedure for their tenants, employees, and travelers.

Any advice for other airports as they tackle similar challenges?

Understand the evolving needs of your operation in these difficult times. Be supportive and flexible to meet the needs of both patrons and staff. Continue to engage and share information as an industry as we all work though these difficult times.

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SHUTTERSTOCK/ SKY NEXT

Matt Sherwood, CM Revenue Strategy Program Manager Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Matt is revenue strategy program manager with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. He is responsible for helping manage revenue and consumer strategy for the parking and ground transportation offerings for the nation’s capital’s airports.

What’s the biggest impact (thus far) to your organization and parking and transportation systems?

As passenger activity has dropped significantly, we are challenged to adjust our operations to limit costs while still providing convenient and safe parking and transportation offerings for our passengers.

What’s on the horizon for your organization and your policies in response to the protracted nature of the pandemic?

We have focused on developing a comprehensive and careful recovery plan that is extremely flexible to allow the organization the agility necessary to adapt to the current dynamic environment.

Are there any silver linings?

We see this as a unique opportunity to reset the pricing of our products to shrink the operation. It’s an opportunity to move customers into our in-close facilities, which will ultimately improve the customer experience and decrease the reliance on shuttling. ◆

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University

Plans and Strate

Fall

for

A panel of experts discusses recovering from COVID-19 in the academic world.

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gies

2020 T

HE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE BEEN CHALLENGING for everyone in

our industry. From dealing with abrupt revenue loss, staffing changes, maintaining safe and secure protocols for both employees and customers, it has been unique and new at almost every turn, and most certainly disruptive. The previous articles of IPMI’s Research and Innovation Task Force—see our Roadmap to Recovery publication—have focused on the municipal recovery, which has been ongoing as cities and states re-open during various phases and paradigms.

However, the effects have also been felt far and wide in the academic world. The main difference is the large sense of unknown as the spring semester was quickly changed to virtual and the fall semester loomed in the notso-distant future. As of the writing of this article, there are still many unknowns about the make-up of campuses in the fall—largely online? In person? Hybrid of the two?

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 51

UNIVERSITY PLANS AND STRATEGIES FOR FALL 2020

As universities plan for the return to campus in the coming months (or in 2021), we felt it was the right time to help think about strategy, both short- and longterm. The task force asked a number of academic parking and mobility leaders to share their experience and their expertise to help us all navigate the road ahead.

What’s been the biggest impact to your organization thus far?

Jennifer Tougas, CAPP, PhD, Western Kentucky University: WKU has closely followed the Governor’s Health at Home approach to managing the pandemic. In mid-March, all instruction moved to an online format and most employees started telecommuting, so campus parking demand dropped to almost zero. We issued 20 percent refunds for all student permit holders, which had a substantial impact on our cash flow. Transit services and all special events ended when students left campus.

Brian Shaw, CAPP, Stanford University: Revenue loss from allowing free parking for three and a half months and the suspension of campus TDM programs due to a high degree of remote working. We’ve also begun moving to contactless visitor parking.

Josh Cantor, CAPP, George Mason University: Financially we expect a $7 million-plus impact by the end of the fall semester between refunds from spring and summer and projected lost visitor, event, and permit revenue. Fortunately, we have built a healthy reserve over the past decade to absorb this impact.

Peter Lange, Texas A&M University: The financial impact (currently $5.2 million and climbing) and the extremely fluid nature of the circumstance we are dealing with.

How are you and your team addressing these impacts?

Tougas: We closed our office to the public, provided remote customer service, moved our permit sales to 100 percent online, and strongly encouraged mail-home options for permit delivery. We’ve worked on several projects that have previously been pushed to the side due to the put-out-the-fire nature of our day-to-day operations.

Shaw: Parking charges were restarted July 1. We are investigating how to track travel to restart TDM programs.

Cantor: We are making operational budget cuts to maintenance and shuttle operations. Staffing levels were decreased considerably in April and although they will increase again in August, we only expect to be at 50 percent staffing levels for the fall semester.

Lange: The financial impact will be dealt with by cutting expenses, deferring capital maintenance and capital projects, and we are working a three-year plan to recover from the impact. As far as the fluid nature of the situation, we typically work up multiple plans and then implement when we have all the operational details.

How have your mobility programs changed and been affected?

Kim Jackson, CAPP, Princeton University: Our shared services, bike- and car-share, are no longer offered. Actually, the bike-share company is no longer operational. The elimination of shared mobility services will impact graduate students currently on campus and any students during the upcoming academic year.

Shaw: Our Clean Air Cash and Carpool programs were suspended and will continue to be until there is a way to track travel.

OUR PANELISTS JOSH CANTOR, CAPP, is director of parking and transportation at George Mason University. He was previously at Cal State Fullerton. He serves on IPMI’s Board of Directors and served on the Board of the Parking Association of the Virginias for 11 years, five of which he was President. Josh is the father of three boys and therefore drives a lot. He has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell and master’s degree from the University of Kentucky and was in the U.S. Naval Reserves for 11 years.

KIM E. JACKSON, CAPP, provides leadership, expertise, and management for university transportation and parking operations, services, facilities, and programs. In 2008 she was hired as the first Director, Transportation & Parking Services for Princeton University. She previously worked at the IPMI as executive director and at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where she was responsible for the university’s parking and transportation programs. She is a past chair of IPMI’s Board of Directors.

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PETER LANGE is associate vice president of transportation services at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, and co-chair of IPMI’s Parking Technology Committee. He is responsible for one of the largest parking, transportation and fleet operations on any college campus in the country.

Rotational class loading could limit the number of students, faculty, and staff on campus daily, which should allow for lower loading on buses and capacity to oversell facilities and permits to support increased vehicular demands.

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Cantor: While we will be extending our e-scooter pilot program with several vendors, we are suspending our bike checkout program. We also have made modifications to our carpool programs as well as transit and bike commuter programs as many employees will continue to telework and not be on campus as frequently.

Kris Singh, Central Florida University: We are modifying our buses, including requiring masks on short runs within the one-mile radius, (majority of apartment complexes). For longer runs, one in three

KRIS SINGH is parking and transportation director at the University of Central Florida. He was a police officer for 10 years and holds a bachelor’s degree from UCF. He has worked in parking and transportation for 22 years.

seats will be usable. This will cause a need for an additional buses on some routes. Loading and unloading occurs by back door and not via front door where driver is seated.

What’s on the immediate horizon for the fall semester?

Tougas: WKU is finalizing the mix of face-to-face, hybrid, and online instruction, with a greater emphasis on the latter than we’ve had in the past. We anticipate

BRIAN SHAW, CAPP, is executive director, transportation, at Stanford University and co-chair of IPMI’s Sustainability Committee. He has spent his 25-year career fostering commuter travel choices and innovations in parking management. He has worked primarily in higher education at some of the leading research institutions across the U.S., including Emory and Penn.

JENNIFER TOUGAS, CAPP, PHD, is interim AVP of Business Services at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. She has extensive experience in higher education parking and transportation operations, starting at UGA in 1998 and at WKU since 2004. She earned her CAPP in 2009 and currently serves on IPMI’s Board of Directors.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 53

UNIVERSITY PLANS AND STRATEGIES FOR FALL 2020

that demand for daily parking will increase as commuting students and telecommuting faculty and staff spend less time on campus. We are taking a number of steps in the transit operations to reduce passenger loads and enforce social distancing.

Shaw: We’re allowing freshmen to buy parking for the first time in 30 years. We’re also having fewer on-campus residents and staff.

Cantor: We expect more to purchase daily permits or use visitor parking than commit to semester permits. In fact, with few exceptions, we aren’t selling annual permits with the uncertainty of the university’s operating status for the academic year. We intend to expand mobile payment options as well as offering printable daily permits to minimize the need to use pay stations or come to the parking office. With shuttles, we will only have 25 to 50 percent of normal seating capacity and will only be operating half of our normal routes.

Singh: UCF will hold all classes with more than 100 students online, and classes with less than 100 students will remain on campus. Parking is extending existing permits with an August 31 expiration date through December 31. No new permit will be required unless the student/faculty/staff member does not already have one. We’re pushing to have permits mailed out to students instead of them coming in person to pick up.

Lange: Rotational class loading could limit the number of students, faculty, and staff on campus daily, which should allow for lower loading on buses and capacity to oversell facilities and permits to support increased vehicular demands. It will require lots of communication about our operations, bus capacity, masks, parking options, cleaning protocols, etc.

Have you found any silver linings for your organization?

Jackson: Yes, we now know we can all work remotely!

Shaw: COVID will allow us to phase out our pay stations and meters, saving money. It also gives us the opportunity to revamp our permit prices. We can focus on things we need to be doing and do a reset—an opportunity to rethink how we do our jobs and how we run our business.

Cantor: We have worked to further automate processes and find ways that make it easier for the customers as well as for our business practices.

What does your longer-term planning look like?

Tougas: We are expecting an increase in telecommuting, a change in attitude towards the close quarters of mass transit, and increased demand for modular parking options or packages.

Shaw: We need to revamp how we sell parking to be more demand-based and done on a daily basis vs monthly. Rather than a monthly permit, we could focus on daily pricing and help improve our TDM program offerings. We can use data from our program to define price levels to start leveling the demand out across campus.

Do you expect parking and transportation to change in the future because of current changes?

Cantor: There is a real possibility that the extension of online class work could limit the need to build more parking in the future. Let’s see how things go in the next two to three years.

Lange: We don’t know what’s going to happen with campus. We may not need the garages that are planned, so the question is how does parking demand change the need for more supply.

Shaw: We are at 80 percent work-from-home now.

That will go down as things come back online, but we expect more work from home, which will change the commute patterns we’ve built our program for.

Do you have any advice for other academic institutions as they tackle similar challenges?

Tougas: If you have questions, reach out to your colleagues. This industry is great at helping each other and sharing strategies and information. Take advantage of that.

Jackson: Remain flexible, follow all safety protocols, and work within the guidelines of your institution.

Shaw: Don’t stop charging for parking and if you have, get it back up and running as soon as possible.

Don’t consider any of your policies or programs sacrosanct. There may be a different set of conditions today that you need to consider, like letting freshmen buy parking.

Lange: Try your best to be consistent, think about policy changes thoroughly, it is never good to have to make an immediate about-face. Make sure your administration is synchronized with your decisions. Have plans for multiple scenarios on the shelf ready to go.

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We need to revamp how we sell parking to be more demand-based and done on a daily basis vs monthly. Rather than a monthly permit, we could focus on daily pricing and help improve our TDM program offerings.

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Anything else would you like to share?

Tougas: Based on experience of past global pandemics, this will have impacts that are far reaching and lingering that will take us years to understand. Stay vigilant to protect the health of your staff and customers.

Cantor: Stay positive and make sure not only you are addressing the needs of your customers, but you are making sure that your staff is taken care of and that everyone’s health is more important than any amount of lost revenue.

Singh: Auxiliaries will feel the brunt of the pandemic as they are self-supported and not supported by the state. Transportation fees, citation revenues, permit fees—major reductions due to COVID-19. Over summer, no fees were charged.

Conclusions As you can see by the responses from our panelists, there are a number of similarities. However, there are also a number of unique differences created by campus

location, institutional policies, and decisions for the fall semester.

In each case, decisions about how to address changes to the parking and transportation system require a combination of best management practices from peers and context-sensitive solutions for your unique campus.

IPMI plans to continue to help facilitate the collection of those best management practices with resources like our online community, Forum, the ever-expanding COVID-19 Information Clearinghouse, as well as our ongoing series of shoptalks. As we continue to document the roadmap for our industry’s recovery, we intend to revisit these academic issues and decisions to determine opportunities for our members. ◆ This feature was compiled and contibuted by BRETT WOOD, CAPP, PE, president, Wood Solutions Group and co-chair of IPMI’s Research & Innovation Task Force.

He can be reached at brett@woodsolutionsgroup.com.

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/ IPMI IN ACTION / COVID-19

New COVID-19 Resources for Parking & Mobility

By Rachel Yoka, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP

I

PMI’s members are leading the way through the COVID-19 crisis, sharing best practices, education, programs, and policies that assist their communities now and help people and organizations plan ahead.

We’ve highlighted a few resources here that address our industry’s response and provide helpful information in the days ahead.

New IPMI COVID-19 Resource Clearinghouse This new online clearinghouse compiles COVID-19-specific news and information in one place. Posts are sourced from IPMI and our partners, state and regional associations, and our members. These resources are grouped by featured resources, resources and documents, events and education, and useful websites and links.

Featured Resources

Parking & Mobility Feature: COVID-19 & Our Industry’s Response.

The April issue of Parking & Mobility magazine shared members’ responses to the health crisis. The feature focuses on shifting priorities and directives; remote work and human resources; and the ways parking, transportation, and mobility professionals are responding to the challenges in our cities and campuses.

56 IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY / OCTOBER 2020 / PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG

The Parking Podcast Episode 26: An Interview with Industry Leaders and a Conversation about Encouraging Stories During COVID-19.

Parking and mobility professionals from around the industry discuss the positive things their organizations are doing and the good news around during COVID-19.

Episode 25: An Interview with Industry Leaders and a Conversation about COVID-19. Leaders from around the

parking and mobility industry discuss the impact of COVID-19 and provide best practices and solutions for the interim.

Industry Shoptalks Download and listen to your colleagues discuss the industry response to the COVID-19 crisis, from multiple perspectives, including discussions with municipal and academic leaders, airport, and mobility providers. Also register for upcoming Shoptalks, scheduled for May 6 and May 13 at press time.

Frontline Fridays IPMI training specialists offer live, online training for frontline parking professionals every Friday, or on a schedule customized for your organization. These deeply discounted courses cover everything from customer service to communication to conflict and more, just for the frontline employee. See the whole schedule or contact us for a custom program.

Resources & Documents There are too many to list, but we selected a few to share here—be sure to check out the full list online.

It’s easy to share yours here.

■ Supervised self-driving shuttles are moving COVID-19 tests in Florida, Shared by Carnegie Mellon University; ■ REEF Technology Helps Create Coronavirus Test sites, Shared by REEF Technology.

■ IPMI Professional Development Video: I’m Working from Home (Now What?).

■ CVS partners with Georgia Tech for rapid COVID-19 testing, Shared by Georgia Tech.

■ Testing Center Conceptual Layout, Shared by Kimley-Horn.

■ Adapting Parking Structures for COVID-19 Screening and Testing, Shared by Walker Consultants.

■ Market Watch Daily Digest: COVID-19 Impact on US Parking Industry, Shared by Smarking.

Events & Education ■ IPMI

Online Shoptalk: Mobility Options and COVID-19 Webinar, Parking, Pandemics, and the Road Ahead ■ IPMI Online Shoptalk for Airports: COVID-19 & Our Industry’s Response ■ IPMI Online Shoptalk for Universities & Campuses: COVID-19 & Our Industry’s Response ■ IPMI Online Shoptalk for Municipalities & Transportation Providers: COVID-19 & Our Industry’s Response ■ MAPA/SWPTA

Useful Websites & Links ■ Harvard

University: Ongoing tracking of latest information from Harvard MD’s and researchers for COVID-19 ■ Construction Dive: Vital actions every construction project needs to take to tackle COVID-19 now ■ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Launches New Weekly COVID-19 Surveillance Report ■ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Resources for Businesses and Employers ■ National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) COVID-19 Transportation Response Center ■ National Association of College & Auxiliary Services (NACAS) Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Resources ■ U.S. Small Business Administration: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources ■ United States Chamber of Commerce: COVID-19 Emergency Loans: Small Business Guide IPMI is proud to support the industry, and our community of parking, transportation, and mobility professionals. We are here— and we want to hear from you.

Contact us anytime to share resources, suggest ideas, and tell your story. Stay well, stay connected. ◆ RACHEL YOKA, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, is IPMI’s vice president of program development. She can be reached at yoka@ parking-mobility.org.

PARKING-MOBILITY.ORG / OCTOBER 2020 / IPMI ROADMAP TO RECOVERY 57

Further Reading IPMI’s COVID-19 Information Clearinghouse Recent Parking & Mobility Articles Living with COVID-19, Published July 2020. By Jennifer Tougas, CAPP, PhD

Is COVID-19 a Force Majeure? Published August 2020. By

COVID-19 & the Curb: Private Sector Works to Adapt and Offer Creative Solutions IPMI, Coalition of Municipalities, Request $30B for COVID Recovery

Michael Ash, Esq., CRE

Cities Begin Enforcing Parking Regulations as They Reopen

Parking, the Environment, and COVID-19. Published August 2020. By Brian Shaw, CAPP

COVID’s Effect on TDM Programs By Perry Eggleston, CAPP, DPA

A Lot of COVID-19 Questions; Not a Lot of Answers. Published June 2020. By Megan Leinart, CAPP, LEED AP BD+C

Diversify Your Portfolio By Robert Ferrin

Finding Motivation in Disruption and Chaos. Published May 2020. By Cindy Campbell

Courses and On-Demand Learning (Free for IPMI members) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, TDM in the Wake of COVID-19 COVID-19 Industry Response: Building a Roadmap to Recovery (released June 2020) Parking, Transportation, & Mobility Industry Response to COVID-19 (released April 2020)

Free Live & Recorded Online Industry Shoptalks Download and listen to your colleagues discuss the industry response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Planning for What’s Next—Roadmap to Recovery (hosted August 2020) The Leading Edge—Response, Reopening and Recovery (hosted July 2020) Free Online Shoptalk: Frontline Staff—Challenges & Successes in the Time of COVID-19 (hosted May 2020) IPMI Shoptalk: Self-Care for Leaders During Crisis (hosted May 2020) Free Shoptalk Municipalities, Finance, & Recovery: Current Challenges and Next Steps (hosted May 2020)

IPMI Blog Publications Ask the Experts: The Future of Micro-Mobility Urban Mobility After COVID-19 What Do We Do Next?: COVID-19 and the Triple Helix Model of Innovation By David C. Lipscomb Learning from COVID-19: Connecting with the Research Community By Stephanie Dock, AICP, and Katherine Kortum, PhD, PE

A Seat at the Table During COVID-19 By Marlene Cramer, CAPP Sharing Our COVID-19 Knowledge By Nicole Chinea, CAPP Before You Repurpose Parking for COVID-19: Important Safety Information By John Purinton Returning to Work in the New Normal By Richard L. Bradley, CAPP

Flexibility and COVID-19 By Mark Lyons Keep Calm and Carry On: The Power of Resiliency By Casey Jones, CAPP

Return to Normalcy? By Josh Cantor, CAPP Communication in a Virtual Training World By Kim E. Jackson, CAPP

Case Study: National Review of Public Transit COVID-19 Delivery Programs By Dennis Burns, CAPP A New (Ab)Normal By Chris Lechner, CAPP Hospital Sets Up COVID-19 Assessment Station in Parking Garage Pandemic Travel Patterns Offer Hints About Future Balancing the Post-pandemic Budget By Pamela Corbin, CAPP Talking About COVID-19 By Casey Jones, CAPP Masks on Miami: A COVID Safety Campaign with Smiling Undertones By Alex Argudin, CAPP The Parking & Mobility Industry Comes Together in a Time of Need By Brett Wood, CAPP, PE Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and … Resilience By Paul Wessel

Podcasts The Parking Podcast Episode 30: An Interview with Industry Leaders and a Conversation about Encouraging Stories Part 2 The Parking Podcast Episode 26:An Interview with Industry Leaders and a Conversation about Encouraging Stories during COVID-19 The Parking Podcast Episode 25: An Interview with Industry Leaders and a Conversation about COVID-19

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