PT's Parking Blog

Its Like a T-Rex

Hold on ot your wallets. LA is considering raising taxes and hiding it as a fee increase.  They are looking at "everything dealing with revenue" and considering how to fill the deficit by increasing revenue rather than decreasing expenses. Oh, sure, they will close a few libraries and narrow the hours on parks, but the bureaucracy downtown, fuggetaboutit...

It like a T rex, raising its head over a treeline. Slowly looking around, hungrily searching for its next meal. Its beady eyes checking out everything, every possible revenue source. The populace lies in the weeds, hoping against hope that they won't be the next tidbit picked up by the monster.

In LA, the 10% parking tax is being eyed. Hell, why not raise it to 15%, or 20% or like in Pittsburgh, 50% or 100%. The local associations are getting their lobbyists in line, and calls are being made to city hall.

I have a better idea, why not collect the taxes you now impose.  A T-Rex doesn't just eat a bit of the meal it finds, it collects the entire feast. However in LA, and San Francisco, and most other major cities, the parking tax is one of the most imposed and least collected of any tax. Why? Because the city has no clue as to how much money is flowing through the garages. They leave it up to the operators or owners to report the amount.

The number of uncollected taxes in Baghdad by the Bay was set at upwards of $50 million a year. They have been trying to fix that for a decade and as of last report, failing miserably. The rumored estimates for LA are that much or more. What is the city doing about it? Virtually nothing.

My comment is that they city powers go rent Jurassic Park and see how a T Rex handles taking its pound of flesh. It is consistent, leaves no one untouched, and takes its fair share. Of course it ravages and pillages, but we expect that from our government.

If the cities in our country would simply collect all the tax that is due, rather than constantly raising taxes to cover shortfalls, a number of things would happen. First, revenues would pour into the city coffers. Second, legitimate business (read that legitimate parking operators) could play on a level field and the lower tier would not be able to underbid then because they simply don't add in the tax.

You know, enforce the rules that exist, rather than piling on more and more. We need a few more T-Rexes and a few less political whusses.

JVH

You have to just love it

There have been a number of articles in the MSM lately describing local city councils raising parking fees. They are similar in one aspect. The rise in onstreet parking pricing has absolutely nothing to do with availability of parking, need for parking, number of cars needing parking at a particular time. If you read between the lines, the rates are set based on the revenue they will produce. In other words, they are a tax, not a fee.

Fees are based on providing a service. Say for instance, you put a new room on your house. You are charged for a building permit. In exchange, the city comes out and inspects the project to ensure the roof won't fall on you. The same is true for fees charged to gas stations, restaurants, and the like. They make sure you get a gallon of gas of you pump a gallon of gas, or that the rats are kept to a minimum in the kitchen at the newest 5 fork dive in town. Seems like a good exchange.

Parking charges should be the same. You pay for the parking, and the city ensures that the spaces are marked, rules are followed, and space is available when needed.  By altering the prices based on supply and demand, in other words the free market, those needs are met.

In lots controlled by private concerns, this happens daily. Rates are changed based on how many empty spaces are in the lot, what is going on in the neighborhood, and what the traffic will bear.  If the lot gets too full, the owner raises the prices. If its too empty, the prices go down. Goldilocks pricing at it finest.

However on street pricing is set by a city council who is looking not to preserve spaces, make the parking more convenient to the parkers, or lower congestion, but to line the coffers of the city. How many city councilpersons have you heard say "Gee, if we raise the charges a buck an hour, it will increase our revenue $5,000,000 a year. Let's do it."

Charges for parking on street have moved from a fee to provide a product or service, to a tax to fill the general fund. Just another way to raise money to be used for things other than those parking related.

JVH

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need

 My spies over at Doug Holmes' great list server, C-park L, tell me that the topic of differing parking fees based on one's income has raised its ugly head. Seems the local union wants to charge Teaching Assistants and maintenance personnel a lower price for their permit than a tenured Professor or the Dean of Students. (One assumes they make less money that the Profs and Deans.)
This is classic Karl Marx theory and is appropriate that it comes from our hallowed halls of higher education.
The response from one parking chief at a major university with right on the money:

- You don't want to know everybody's salary.
- Is it right for you to pay $100 but I pay $50 to park next to you because I make less money?
- Do you pay more for gas at the pump or milk at the grocery?
- Parking is a commodity that costs $X per space to provide.
-Does it cost less to provide the space for the person paying less?

 As noted above, this is the same theory that says that a person making $100k a year should pay $7 a gallon for gasoline and someone making $20K should pay $2. It of course is absurd.
Parking is a commodity like anything else and should be priced based on supply and demand. If you wish to subsidize parking for some, so be it, but frankly we subsidize little else, why start here?
You start down this slippery slope, and where does it end?
The vast laboratory test, running in huge countries, over decades, has shown that this concept simply doesn't work. The first half works, the second half cancels out the first half.  From each according to his ability, well, OK, but how do you measure that. Human nature must be factored in. If I work my tail off, perhaps I should get a bit more than they slaggard next to me. To each according to his needs – well, there's the other rub. Just what are a person's needs?
Under this theory, we would have no private vehicles as long as there was some kind of public transportation. (no need). We wouldn't need four bedroom houses, because after all, people can survive in one bedroom walk up cold water flats (no need). How about hot water (no need), air conditioning (no need), Television (no need), or that great roast at Christmas, or the Turkey at thanksgiving (no need.) As for Ipods, cell phones, Blackberries (shudder), Digital Cameras, no need.
The failure of government run price setting, centrally controlled societies, like Russia and most of Africa, proves to us that it simply doesn't work. These countries are in ruins not because they have been bombed out of existence, but because they have fallen on their own sword.
Probably the place where this classic difference in pricing seems to work is on airplanes. I flew on KLM to Amsterdam a few years ago and at some point in the flight four of us were comparing how much this leg of the flight was costing. My ticket was $600, they guy from business class was $3000, the guy in First Class was $12000 and the guy who was flying round the world was paying $7500.
We all were going to the same place, sitting on the same plane. But we elected, for whatever reasons to pay different prices. The decisions were personal, based on comfort, and not much more. Karl was spinning.  The market set those prices, not the government.
It would seem to me we need to have the market set the pricing for parking permits on university campuses. They can vary depending on the location and the time of day and day of the week. Some students that only have classes on one or two days, could pay one rate, TA's and staff who are there only for their shift could pay a different rate (lower at midnight, more during the normal working day. And professors that need to have a space available at all times so they can come and go at will would pay a higher rate. But that could be their choice.
Don Shoup rides a bicycle so he would pay nothing.
See, if the market sets the rates, it becomes completely fair and the politics and the emotions of the process are removed.
Any institution out there using this method to set prices?
JVH

CCTV, Revenue Control, and Security

The City council of a major city in the Philippines has recommended to a local shopping mall that they put CCTV in their garages to aid in security. OK, good idea. Well, or is it.

 

First, if the garage is not of the proper design, it will take hundreds of cameras to cover all the nooks and crannies where crimes could take place. Then it will take a lot of people in the security command center to monitor all those cameras. I don't know what the actual number is, but my guess would be that to be effective, a security guard can't really track more than a dozen at a time. Now in after hours situations, the on screen alarm feature would allow the guard to monitor a lot more as in office buildings.

 

The feature works like this. You select an area on the screen (preset) and then when anyone moves across that area, the picture goes on the guard's main screen and lights flash and buzzers buzz. This is great if you are monitoring areas that are primarily vacant, like halls and offices that are empty after hours.

 

However in a shopping center, the time when crime occurs is when the mall is bustling and these types of technological assistants don't really work, as the can't select between a bad guy and mom and the kids going shopping.

 

If the garage has been designed with large open bays, then a few cameras may be reasonable..

 

The council brought up another interesting point. The mall should install ticket spitters and entrance and exit gates to help prevent car theft car jacking. The theory seems to be that if a baddie wants to steal a car they would not have an exit ticket so they would be slowed at the exit gate.

 

There are two sides to this story, too. In one case, of course if the car theft knew they had to run the gate, break the barrier to get out, they would perhaps go elsewhere to steal the car. However if it was a car jacking, one assumes the driver, who is kidnapped with the car, would have an exit pass.

 

This is a case where having an attendant on duty at the exit lane is a benefit. You could still have the revenue control system in place, have a central cashiering system, but have a guard monitoring every two or three lanes. If they saw a problem with a car, such as one trying to run a gate or someone holding a gun on the driver, they could alert the police. That would be a deterrent to the criminal activity.

 

There is another issue to CCTV. If you install it, you MUST monitor it. According to the courts the presence of the cameras give the impression of a certain level of security. And if the cameras are fake or not monitored, then the garage owner may be potential liable.

 

However, the council pointed out that this was the only shopping center in the area with no CCTV and no revenue control system and it has the highest incidence of crime.

 

It's a complex world. Things aren't always as they seem.

 

JVH

Acadia Uses Valet Parking for Marketing Push

    Brite Media's Advertickets is leading General Motors in a marketing push to give free valet parking during parts of May at a number of shopping centers around the country. The idea is to promote the company's new Acadia crossover mini suv.

This evokes a lot of marketing the parking industry could provide for national products. Advertickets is the leader in this, of course, providing preprinted entry tickets that have everything from Coke to the latest movie on them. This is called, 'out of home' advertising. In other words, advertising that isn't promoted to folks at home (TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines) but to people as they go about their daily lives. And where better, than in a parking operation.

    There are other ideas for parking, too including signs on parking meters, displays on P and D and POF machines, banners and displays in garages, projections on walls and floors, the list is endless. But you have to be a bit creative and sell the concept to your owner. But why not? GM is paying big bucks to the shopping malls to be allowed to do this. If you use preprinted tickets, the tickets are free, saving beaucoup bucks. They are even paying the onstreet parking fees for two days in GM's hometown in Michigan. The bags over the meters? Hawking the Arcadia, of course.

In some places, the promotion is going into coffee shops. In NYC, for instance, the approach is to give away free coffee with promotional material on the coffee cup sleeve.

Come on, out there, get creative. We are "hit" between 5000 and 10,000 times a day with an advertising message, from traditional ads, to the 'net, to the brand of soft drink consumed on NCIS to the Jeans worn by Jeff Foxworthy. You can be a part of the push. By the way, it takes around 12 of those exposures to entice a person, most probably who is going to buy some type of the product, anyway, to buy yours. Of course some advertising is designed to get you to buy and SUV, however most is designed to get you, who are already thinking about and SUV to buy THIS SUV.

Wonderful, isn't it.

JVH

 

The Attitude is the Same

This article from Malaysia says it all. People sit in their cars, parked in traffic, and when it's pointed out to them they ignore you. Parking enforcement officers don't seem to care whether illegally parked cars are ticketed or not – "They are like flies, shoo them away, others return."

I have a solution that comes from Peter Guest in the UK. If they have more than one parking ticket in a year, tow them on the second offense. It costs nothing, the towing company will do it and sell the car if the person doesn't claim it and pay the fees. Returning and finding your car is gone will make people think twice before breaking the rules.

Enforcement isn't a complicated issue, but it must be consistent. Places like Malaysia where parking rules are new need this consistency.

This is why booting is a solution there. Most people simply ignore the tickets, and never pay the fines. It's difficult to find them so the citation has little meaning. If, on the other hand, a car is booted from the first offense, the person must pay the fine to have their car released. It not only costs money, but time and trouble. This may not be necessary in countries where most pay the fines. However I'm told by those who know, that in many places around the world, writing tickets is useless unless backed up by strict enforcement.

JVH

I Just Love it when reporters...

have an agenda. Read this article -- From the headline you would think that the street in Rochester, NY was becoming a ghost town. Merchants leaving right and left because of a "parking" problem. However there is only one, countem one store leaving because of parking, and a second is leaving, but says parking isn't the reason. Other merchants say the street is great and are staying. (Wanna bet that their problem probably is that they don't charge enough for on street parking.)

Its so obvious that this reporter had an agenda and then set about to find a story to fit it.

I got a call yesterday from a reporter at the Christian Science Monitor. He was doing a story on valet parking and was looking for some quotes to back up his thesis that it is a snooty, LA driven, concept that takes advantage of poor parkers who can't afford to pay for parking.

Boy did he dial the wrong number. After about 20 minutes he was begging for help. He lives in LA and told me "horror" stories about parking in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I knew exactly the places he was complaining about and mentioned that there were great off street garages less than a block from where he was headed. His problem wasn't that he wanted parking, but he wanted FREE parking.

He joked about valet parking at a local high end gym. Isn't it ironic, he said. Well -- lets see... people pay a grand a month to use the gym, shouldn't they receive good service. By valet parking, they are able to spend more time on the elliptical machine or whatever, and why is it your business anyway? Sheesh.

I told him about valet parking at local shopping malls and supermarkets where the elderly and pregnant can have their parking issues solved quickly and for not a lot of money. How about cities that provide onstreet valet parking so they don't have to build expensive parking structures that would be used only a few hours a night? The stories are endless.

The problem is simply that this guy thought "boy, valet parking is for stuck up rich people" and then sat out to prove it. He spent the last five minutes of the conversation pleading with me to tell him the name of someone he could quote who hated valet parking. I didn't know any....

JVH

Vinci Grows Larger and Larger

Vinci Park, which recently bought half interest in Laz Parking and through them purchased Classified in Dallas and Sunset in San Diego AND bought all of Central's Canadian Locations, is merging with Fortis Group's Interparking in Europe to become arguably the largest operator in the world.

Here's the news release:

    VINCI and Fortis today signed a memorandum of understanding with a view to combining their respective activities in the public car park industry. This combination would be achieved through VINCI Park, a subsidiary of VINCI Concessions, and Interparking, a subsidiary of Fortis Real Estate. Both groups would share the equity of the new entity, which would be majority owned by VINCI, Fortis retaining a significant holding. The new entity would manage 1.3 million parking places in 1,800 car parks in 16 countries worldwide.

The two companies have a complementary set of activities. VINCI Park is the European car park industry leader and a major player worldwide with a strong presence in various countries in Europe - especially France, the UK and Spain - and in North America. Interparking is Europe's third biggest car park operator with a large base of freehold properties and a strong presence in Benelux, Spain, Germany, Austria and Italy.

This combination would be an excellent opportunity to strengthen the new player's presence in a number of key markets, thereby benefiting from increased brand awareness. Furthermore, it will increase the pool of expertise, to deliver the best and most innovative service to its customers.

The new entity will have better access to the financial resources needed to invest in newly developing markets and should become an even more dynamic player in the international public parking industry.

Anyone who doesn't think that these folks are a player is not reading the right cup of tea leaves… I interviewed Philippe Princet,  Vinci's VP of International Operations a couple of weeks ago. He's a charming Frenchman, and understands the parking business. He believes in local control -- the money quote in the interview -- "You will never see a French guy running a non French operation." Watch for the entire interview in the July Issue of PT.

JVH

Chicago and Congestion Parking Pricing

Chicago is going to institute a program of dedicated bus lanes to help decrease bus commuter times. Using a grant from the Feds, the city will create bus lanes on city streets, and install a high tech system so the bus can signal the traffic lights and get a longer "green" so they can make it through intersections more quickly. They are also buying bigger buses and speeding up fare collection.

In concert with this, the city will increase parking rates downtown to attempt to discourage folks from driving. This congestion parking pricing will be higher during peak hours and back off after hours and on weekends.

They are marginally going in the right direction, however the best way to set the rates, is to do it so that there is always parking available on street. By setting pricing high enough so that there is always a space available on each block face, they ensure that people always have a place to park and don't have to cruise to look for parking spaces. This will take cars off the street quickly and reduce congestion. If they just pull a number out of the air, say $5 and hour, they may find that there are a lot of people who will pay that price. If so, the parking will be filled, and people will be cruising to find spaces. However if they set the price based on the market value of the spaces, in other words, a price that will keep just a few spaces always available, both problems will be solved.

This plan, Congestion Parking Pricing, makes a lot more sense than the "London" approach which simply charges cars for the right to drive in the central city. In fact, they aren't really sure the congestion pricing really works, because the mayor of London has been accused of "diddlying" the numbers to make the program appear successful while third party studies of actual traffic congestion shows little if any change.

In this approach, people can decide which type of transportation to take, car, bus, subway, bike, car pool, or foot based on the amount of time they are spending in the city and what they are willing to pay for the convenience of having a parking space. With the "London" approach, the car pays the same whether or not they are just driving through or are spending a few hours.

Hat Tip – John Hammerschlag

JVH

 

 

My Solution to Consolidated Rental Car Projects

There is a nice article in the NYT about rental car consolidated locations at airports. Read it here. There's a pretty picture and everything.

I have mixed emotions about these places. They take the "service" component out of the rental car business. I like my guys (I use Budget) because they usually have a lot of buses and I don't have to wait long in front of the terminal in freezing snow (Chicago) or blazing heat (Miami). I just think its part of the business. If you do a good job with the vans, the rest follows.

However I also see the airport's side. If we could get 50 rental car vans out of the loop (like at BWI or Phoenix) and just have a few giant buses going around, it does reduce the traffic. However, I have a much better idea.

Put the rental car location on the airport within walking distance of the gates. Like in Seattle or Midway in Chicago, for instance. I just walk out of the terminal, across a bridge, and then get my car and drive away. When I return, I don't have to worry about being late or the "just missing" the rental van. I just walk over to the terminal and I'm off.

Of course this doesn't work in many airports, like JFK where the terminals are miles apart and there would have to be a rental car agency from each company for each one.

The article notes they are planning to build a consolidated rental car facility at LAX is costing nearly a Billion dollars. The Airport says that due to state mandates, they can't charge the rental car companies enough to pay the bill, and are looking for taxpayer money to fund the project. WOW!

Here's what I would do. I would privatize the entire thing. I would have someone with some deep pockets come in and build the project, but make it a bit larger than required, and put a thousand or so spaces on the roof. They did something similar to this in Anchorage (Privatized but no parking) and it seems to work out well. Then they can become an "off airport" parking operation, too, and use the money from the parking to help fund the project. The airport could help by closing some of their long term lots and feeding cars to the off airport operations around the airport, including this one.

My guess is, however, that the airport would rather the taxpayers foot the bill because my solution is going to mean that they will have to lose some good parking revenue. Still…it seems like a small price to pay to cut traffic around the terminals, make it easier for people coming and going, and upgrading the quality of service at our third busiest airport.

JVH

Hotel Parking on Public Land…

I got this email:

Hi, I just found your site but I didn't find out what I was looking for. I work at a hotel in South Carolina and all the hotel parking belongs to the city. Other than valet parking, is it legal for the hotel to charge guests or employees to park in the public parking spaces?

My answer is that if it isn't, a lot of folks are going to jail. Of course the Hotel has to have cut a deal with the city and pay them for the spaces, unless the city is in the "donate to the hotel" business. However, if this is a "free" garage and the hotel is charging guests to park there, then caveat emptor on the guests. Why do they pay at all?

As for the valets, that's a different story. Many times valet companies will co opt on street spaces and use them and pay the city nothing, likewise in 'free' garages. In fact, some valets will use nearby garages after hours to park cars and simply not tell anyone they are doing so. This is usually done by individual valets, and not sanctioned by the valet company.

In your case, we need to know a bit more about the operation. Does the city charge to park in the garages? Does the hotel have a contract with the city to use the garage? How about the valets, do they have such a contract?

Anyone else want to comment?

JVH

NYC in the Parking Headlines…again

Let's see if I have this right. Hizzoner the Mayor Bloomie of New York City has cut the number of parking permits given to city workers from 80,000 to just under 55,000. These are permits that the driver can put on their car dash and park just about anywhere in the city. I think they are supposed to use only legitimate parking spaces, but I understand that enforcement folks shy away from writing tickets to those parked blocking drives or in front of fire hydrants or maybe just a tad too close to the corner. Who knows just whose car you might be ticketing. But that's for another day.

Let's see. In New York City, city workers (mostly police) get free parking anywhere in the city. Originally there were 49,000 permits given to the police, but there were 37,000 officers. You do the math. They seem to have gotten that under control and most of the permits withdrawn come from the police.

But here's the kicker – If you include the permits given to the department of education, and various other agencies, the total number of permits, AFTER the reduction is over 100,000. That's right. One Hundred Thousand.

And remember, these are permits that allow these folks to park on the streets of the city, basically anywhere, any time, without paying. My question is: Why?

Why should city employees be able to park without paying. No one else does. New York has some of the best public transportation in the country. Why is there a need for 100,000 people to drive in and park in the city every day for FREE?

Oh, there are the emergency workers who are called in off their shift, and police who have to respond to murders and whatnot quickly from home, and of course all those teachers that need to have their cars close at hand just in case..of what, I'm not sure.

This is simply a case of the city providing a benefit to their employees "that doesn't cost anything." It doesn't? Baloney. Parking is not free. No matter where you park it costs someone something. What they should do is pay each city employee a parking allowance and then if they want a permit, charge them for it. My guess is that the number of permits would drop 80% in one month. People who have the money in hand will find alternatives, car pool, ride the bus or subway. Money is a great motivator.

Of course that won't happen. When the city discovers what it costs to park cars, they will "opt out" of that idea and simply treat their employees like the other 10 million that go to work every day in the city. If you want to work there, you find your way to work like everyone else.

Of course I live in LA where there's always a place to park. Right…

JVH

What’s the Problem Here

Logan, UT, is attempting to clean up its parkways. The city is "clamping down" on people who park in what they call "park Strips", or the area between the sidewalk and the streets. I'm rather stunned. I know I live in LA LA land, but why is this even up for discussion. There is a law, even in Logan, that says you can't park your car on the front lawn, or on the parkway. Why is it so difficult for the enforcement folks to simply ticket these cars, and when they aren't moved, simply tow them? I know it may be a tad of an issue if the cars are on their lawns, private property, and I'll get to that in a moment, but when they are in the parkway, they are on city property. It's the same as leaving a car parked on the street and abandoning it. The city has every right to tow it.

Now, what about those on lawns…Well, the city has the right to come in and mow your lawn, or clear brush if it becomes a hazard or take your dog when it is abused or barks too much. From my point of view, parking cars on parkways or lawns is right up there with brush and barking dogs. I don't want to look at it. They should have the right to come and enforce the law. If you want to live where you can park on your lawn, move to the desert (whoops, maybe Logan is the desert).

The apartment owners are worried that students who park on the parkways and rent from them will go somewhere else if they can't find a place to park. Well, gol darn it, let them walk a few blocks to a parking lot and pay for the right to park their car. This all goes back to my mantra. If they charged for on street parking and enforced the parking rules, there would be plenty of room for people who live in the area to park on the streets. Around apartments, if payment was required, the renters would either rent places that included parking, or make arrangements to park in lots nearby, or sell their cars. Tell me where it's the city's responsibility to provide free parking for people who live there?

JVH

Letting in a little Sunlight

Fingers in the Till?

The Philadelphia Parking Authority is beginning to clean up its act. I have been told that a little sunlight is often the best antiseptic . The Local press has been slamming them for over a year about overpayments, high salaries, padding payrolls and the like. Even the governor was quoted as being "shocked SHOCKED" at the goings on in the PPA.

What's really classy is that the Republicans roared at the Democrats for the PPA scandals, and when they took over it seemed it was business as usual.

The latest is that they have fired a number of Consultants and are letting senior staff retire and lowering salaries of newcomers. Read all about it here.

I'm proud that fellow members of the fourth estate are doing some parking good in Philly. This town has been a hotbed of problems for years, going back to the airport scandals and continuing through "parking wars."

We need more good reporting like this. Way to go Philly Enquirer.

JVH

Yes – Charge the Handicapped to Park

Finally, someone has the right idea. It's time to put on my Simon Legree hat and say that handicapped people should pay for parking. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, they have told the handicapped folks that they are going to start enforcing the law. Seems the law says that handicapped people get two hours free, but it was impossible to track that using the old style meters. The new P and D meters allow for that tracking, so the disabled will have to pay for parking.

Here's the deal. Most disabled want access, not charity. The problem is that there are many more disabled placards out there than there are legitimately disabled people. In Manitoba, it turns out that there are 2 and a half times the national average of disabled placards issued. Why? Will duh – so people can park for free and take spaces from those who legitimately need them.

There have been scandals at universities where athletes have gotten permits and in states where forged doctor's notes means free parking. Funny thing, though, where you have to pay whether disabled or not, the incidence of cheating goes way down.

The Florida Disabled Vets told me a few years ago that they were lobbying for pay as you go parking for the handicapped. Florida has one of the worst records of cheating with handicapped placards. The seasoned citizens in the state, and there are a lot of them, feel that they should have the 'right' to park for free and are taking all the spaces that truly handicapped people need. The law there has been tightened a bit.

I know Winnipeg relatively well. These are folks of great Midwestern stock. They have a beautiful city, great ballet, theater, and symphony. They know how to take care of their own. And they are doing it the right way.

JVH

Parking is a “Liberal-Conservative” issue…

Did you know that parking was a "liberal-conservative" issue. Well neither did I. Or if I did, I thought it was the other way around than in this seaside town in the UK. Liberals are against parking fees, conservatives for it. Most of the conservatives I know rail against parking fees…Not in the UK.

The local town council is liberal, the county is conservative. The county tried to put in meters and enforce parking regulations last year, the local town got the courts (who else) to stop it. The net net is that the place is in parking hell, busses and delivery vans can't get through, and little is being done about it.

Here's what I think – The county was going to take all the money from parking and leave the town high and dry. My guess is that if the county told the city they would receive, what, a couple of million pounds a year from parking fees and fines, that the conversation would be over in a New York (or is that London) minute.

If you like, you can read about it here.

JVH

Hoboken in the Headlines again

This is interesting – The fabled Hoboken Automatic Garage had an "incident" the other day with a car getting damaged when a sensor went awry. Read all about it here. The damage seemed to be minor. But that isn't the point.

When there was a problem with the operation a couple of years ago when Robotic Parking ran the site, something like this would have been seen as the world coming to an end. However, now that the city of Hoboken runs the garage, it's a case of "all machines have problems."

I wonder what effect this will have on Robotic's breach of contract suit against the city. Time will tell.

JVH

Parking Fees as a Tax part XX

Our buddies in Baghdad by the Bay at least aren't hiding it. They come right out and say it. They need more money so they are raising parking fees. Here is an excerpt from the Examiner.com:

An unpopular proposal to increase meter rates citywide by 50 cents has been shelved by Muni officials, who are counting, instead, on a program of costlier parking stays during peak travel times in certain parts of The City to help make up a budget shortfall.

Initially projected to have an $81 million shortfall over the next two fiscal years, the SFMTA has reconciled that gap in part by adding $10 to all parking fines, implementing a $10 raise to Muni's 30-day Fast Pass and increasing costs for residential parking permits. On Tuesday, the increases will be voted on, within a two-year budget proposal, by the department's board of directors.

I wonder if it occurred to anyone at the MUNI to simply work on lowering their costs. Of course they are using parking fees to provide low cost busses and other rapid transit in the city. And, when the concept works and people starting taking the bus and the number of parkers goes down, one could assume that revenue will drop, too. Whoops.

So they will raise bus tickets and people will go back to driving…

JVH

OH CRAPPP

Well, that's the name of the new web site – Crappp.co.uk – Croydon Residents against punitive parking policies. This is the next tidbit I found this AM adding to my stack of stuff on governments using parking to collect revenue. These folks did some research and found that the London borough collected $60 million over the past three years in parking fees and fines. And they think it's too much. I'm not sure whether it is or not, but these folks are going after the local government big time.

Look, parking is a resource and needs to be nurtured and protected. No doubt. But obviously folks are not looking on parking as something akin to the local park or recreation area. I think they would, and could, with a little better PR on the part of those that enforce the rules.

In the meantime, its all just CRAPPP.

 

JVH

Law of Unintended Consequences, part XIX

From the UK – The local council in the Caradon district in Cornwall decided that they wanted to lower the parking rates for the first hour of on street parking and penalize those parking longer than an hour with a steep increase for the second and succeeding hours. So they lowered the amount to 20 cents for the first hour. In comes the law of unintended consequences.

Their revenue took a sharp drop. Well Duh. Didn't anyone think of looking at how long the average parker in the area actually parks on street? If they had, they would have realized the problem and could have either made an adjustment or simply took the hit for the revenue drop. They are "studying" the problem and a committee of consultants and counselors will report back to the council next week.

One more little fact that shores up my contention that governments are more concerned about collecting money from parkers than using the rates to affect policy. Let's face it, it's just another tax.

JVH

How do you Park a 777

Well, American Airlines and JFK airport seem to have discovered for the first time that there are two types of these new Boeing monoliths. There is a 777-200 and a 222-300. Oh, you can't park a 200 and a 300 in the same place. And if you do it wrong, it takes half and hour to straighten it out.

I just hate it when that happens. You know, you have been on a plane for 7 hours. Fair enough. But when it lands, you want the hell off the thing. We were all up in the aisles, getting coats and bags, and then were told to sit down again so they could move the plane.

Sigh – And I'll bet that no one will be counseled or have something put in their record over this little error. It will be just another 300 people inconvenienced.

JVH

I felt a bit of balance was due…

 

I always print when someone complains, so I felt a bit of balance was due…

Good Afternoon, Mr. Van Horn!

We've met at the IPI show a time or two.

Firstly, I sent my #2, Kathy, to the P.I.E. (her first exposure to a parking conference and our first to PIE) and she roundly enjoyed it and found it to be meaningful….we'll be back!!

Second, regarding your CEO friend, my instant thought was, "There is a means, it's called a 'private' showing at the Trade Show".  I've done a couple of them over the years, after hours, all pre-arranged.  It's a great opportunity for the intimacy with serious customers that he rather wishes to make contact with.  I found them to be very good and would think that the two vendors' found it to be the same.

Third, I'm wholly unimpressed w/RFK, jr. and will skip that one.  Waste of resources, I say.  You're right that he's a "big name" but most of that is piggybacking on his dad's name.  I realize that green initiatives aren't the hallmark of Texas (I hail originally from Washington, where they are), but we probably could've found someone with more knowledge and less "name."

I very much enjoy the mag and your blog, you're a good egg!!

Best Wishes,
greg

Greg: I agree with everything you say – wow..However My CEO wanted to REPLACE his booth at the trade show with the Private meetings. That would mean that there would be no show. It's the show and all the flash and dash that brings folks out. I do completely agree that private meetings are in fact better and should be encouraged. I'll be at the IPI, but may have something to do with RFKj speaks.

JVH

Short is sweet

They say short is sweet – From time to time I get a few lines from Florence, Alabama. Here are the most recent:

To the editor:

After reading the article "He's got that right, but they have it wrong",  I cannot understand why business owners and employees think it's a good idea to park in front of their place of business.  It seems that this is a national trend.  If parking meters are downtown they are the first to blame and then the tickets.  No one ever complains about parking at a ball game or the state fair and so on but, they can complain about a ridiculous issue such as a parking meter or a parking ticket. 

Frank Chaney, Florence, AL

Can't add anything to that.

JVH

Aussies Complain Over Airport Parking Charges

Folks are up in arms in Australia because the major airports are making money on their parking operations. Well Duh. Isn't that what they are supposed to do? The parking lots are full, so you increase the fees. The locals are amazed that 18% of the airport revenue is from parking. Well they should get a load of major US airports where parking generates more than everything on the airport except in some cases, landing fees.

Why is this such a major kerfuffle. They will continue to raise rates until the people don't drive anymore. That's the way it works.

Now, if they had a lot of private off airport parking at these locations, competition would keep the price down. The airports, if they are like those in the US, will fight them tooth and nail. After all, who wants to compete when they don't have to.

JVH

Networking at Intertraffic

The Intertraffic Show is primarily a networking one for me…I have great interest in new innovation (see May PT for some of those). I get to make new professional friends and renew old ones. Americans I saw included John Hammerschlag, Tom Carter, Greg Parzych, Tom Wunk and Jeff Sparrow, Keith Lynch, but few others. The American contingent does itself a disservice in its absence. The Europeans are coming, bet on it.

Here's a few of the parking leaders I met with in Amsterdam. You can expect a more lengthy story or two to come out of those meetings to be published in PT over the next few months.

Phillippe Princet, VP of International Operations for Vinci Park. The French aren't coming, in the words of Lafayette "we are here." Phillippe is every bit as charming as his French accent. He spoke of growth, quality, and service. He is happy with his company's purchases in Canada (from Central and others) making them the second largest operator north of the border. He spoke kindly of Alan Lazowski and Laz Parking; Vinci bought a half interest in the group late last year. The Vinici/Laz connection has also purchased Classified Parking in Dallas and Sunset Parking in San Diego. More is on the horizon. With the dollar down, it's a fire sale. The Europeans, Princet included are looking for a rebound in the dollar in the future. They are looking for bargains now.

Yves Chambeau, President of Parkeon, sees the US Market booming, but from a slightly different perspective. He sees his company moving from a simple supplier of P and D/S equipment to a complete solution for cities, providing a dashboard/database to combine all the information from all parking sources. He says that with over 10,000 machines installed in North America, Parkeon needs to listen to its customers and support product development in the US.  He talks of "channels" of information – meters, citations, counts, on street, off street, that need to be coordinated and managed.

Robert Weiskopf, Chief Marketing and Sales officer for Car Access at Skidata used the word "partner" over and over. He sees the need for partnering with the operators and owners to ensure that his products meet their needs. He wants Skidata to become the service and support arms of the operator. If they need something, it should be readily available. The company's first user group workshop will be held in early 2009. 'Our customers need to know our products as well as we do. Our goal is to interface each device over the internet so the data from all a customer's garages are readily available." Technology? Skidata wants to be on the cutting edge, as he demonstrated their "wheel"  based gui interface. It has the feel of an iPhone and will enable customers to perform all types of actions at a Pay on Foot, not just pay for parking.

Thomas Braunhalder from Magnetic Automation is settled in after his move from Zeag last year. "I love it, I live in Switzerland, Work in Germany. It's only an hour drive to work. That's less than most commutes in the US. His smile? Our sales are up 30 %. We are listening and giving our customers what they want. I took a picture of him in front of a Boa Constrictor wrapped around one of his gates. "We have a menagerie - snake, cheetah, parrot, they all reflect some aspect of our product.

US director of Operations Tom Wunk at Scheidt and Bachmann and Director of R and D Markus Schneider, proudly put me in a top end Audi and demonstrated how the car could enter, leave, and pay parking fees using the internal on board computer system of the vehicle. I was told that new cars are now using the same avi style system build in, so manufacturers can use the car's ID to track all types of activity, including parking. I'm not too sure, since I can't set the clock in my car, but the Germans say it's easy as PIE.

Mark Reed and John Lovell, North American Heads for Zeag were touting their newly designed equipment. Although it had a "feel" of the original equipment, it takes on a more traditional approach. New displays, new software, and a different approach to marketing in some areas. (Zeag is, for instance, now direct in southern California).

Ali Khaksar, US head of Tagmaster took me on a tour of their new products, including one avi tag and antenna that read at 85 feet. "It's a specialized application,' he noted, "but useful in freight and marshalling facilitates."

At that's just the tip of the iceberg, 

Plan to attend this "show of shows" in 2010. Manufacturers use the every other year format to introduce new products and display some future cutting edge technologies.

Gotta run, meetings here in London.

More later

JVH

 

OK, NPA is Number Three, We’re Number Four

I have been notified by the NPA that my numbers below were incorrect. It was probably just a glow of coming off a successful event. It was also ignorance...As I told Marty, I must have missed the news release on the 1200 who attended their show in LA. I was, at the time, swirling in a drug induced simi coma..oh well. As Marty Stein, Executive director of the NPA put it:

It appears that, in your calculations, you neglected to recognize the National Parking Association (NPA) as having a show larger than yours. Last fall in Los Angeles/Hollywood, we had over 1200 registrations and, this year in Las Vegas, we expect to eclipse that number.

Wow – Congratulations to the NPA. Over a thousand folks in Hollywood. Who would have thought it….

Hey, we have no problem being number four. Andy and I are receiving kudos daily on our show in Chicago this week. They come from attendees and vendors. All we want is to expose parking and its intricacies to all parts of the industry, most importantly those who missed the events in Tampa, Hollywood, and upcoming in Dallas.

All the best to both the NPA and the IPI. I hope their future shows are filled to overflowing.

JVH

PS. Marty and I like to compare numbers from time to time – it's a man thing.

Intertraffic is, well, Intertraffic

I'm now in Amsterdam at the Intertraffic Trade Fair. Through a desire to work with our hotel and a last minute date change, we overlapped PIE with Intertraffic this year. I did my "two places at the same time" trip and hopped a plane on Tuesday night for the Dutch city and the largest parking and transportation show on earth.

This is simply unbelievable. There are over 750 exhibitors and 25,000 attendees over the four days of the show. In the European tradition, the show is open from 10 AM to 6 PM…whew – but you need the time.

We have a booth and a local staffer to help me. She staffs the booth while I wander around, take pictures and meet old friends. By the time its over I will have met with Scheidt and Bachmann, Skidata, Zeag, Magnetic Automation, Parkeon, Vinci Park, Schweers, plus a cast of 1000s who drop by the booth to chat and renew old friendships.

Watch the May Parking Today for pictures and comments on new innovations, and there are quite a few, I have seen at the show.

Gotta run, its almost 10 AM and the rush is about to begin.

JVH

Parking Industry Exhibition in the Record Books

PIE 2008 is in the record books and it was by any measure a grand success.  Don't believe me, ask any vendor or attendee. Andy and I tried to get them to complain about anything, so we could learn and fix the problems. Their biggest complaint – "Why isn't there going to be a show next year."

We had decided to go to an every other year schedule but after the positive input from this year, we may revisit that decision.

The final numbers aren't in yet, but Pat tells me that she made close to 800 badges. WOW

Thanks, of course to Andy, who made it all happen, and to Pat, Sandra, and Marcy who kept the machine running each day. I'm amazed that we handled four days of the show, exhibits, and 800 people with a staff of 5 (including me, who wasn't a big help) and three temp folks from Chicago.

Way to go gang.

JVH

PS -- Lets see, if you take out Intertraffic, which combines parking and transportation, these numbers make PIE the third largest parking event on the planet, after the Parkex in the UK (The largest) and the IPI. Not too shabby, for this little back street operation.

Major Emergency for Operators and Equipment Manufacturers

I met with the President of a major Midwestern Parking operator at PIE and he brought an issue to my attention that affects every parking equipment manufacturer, parking operator and parking facility owner.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) requires that no more than the last 5 digits of a credit card accepted by a machine at any merchant (including a parking facility) may be printed on the receipt plus the expiration date may NOT be printed on the receipt.

Fair enough…here's the problem – the act calls for fines of between $100 and $1000 for EACH violation (that's each receipt). In addition, my source knows that most revenue control systems have in the past printed more than five digits, and unless they have been recently upgraded may do so now.

In addition, a single Chicago Law Firm is investigating parking operations and when they find a violation are filing class action law suits against the operators and owners. At least three companies have been sued recently.

The Law does require "willful failure.´ Now that you are aware of the problem, you must take action immediately.

Review your receipts and if you are showing more than the last five digits or the expiration date, call your supplier and get it stopped immediately. (Most companies put the last four digits only.)

Manufacturers – I suggest you notify your customers immediately and begin a process of upgrading their software. You can be liable, too.

Unfortunately this is not an April Fool's Joke.

JVH

First Day at PIE

Just a few snaps so you can get the feel...

The management team - Marcy, Pat, Sandra, Andy

Andy, Marcy, and JVH

Boot camp -- 120 strong. Chuck Cullen opens the session

The Exhibit Hall Floor - 100 exhibitors, 500 attendees...It is jammed.

Matt Darst of the City of Chicago opened the exhibit hall. He commented that the City had attended many PIE events in the past and that its staff had learned much about parking technology and operations at the events. His comments surprised me. He said that much of the innovation that the city had instituted over the past few years came from PIE. WOW...

Gotta get back down there -- Rick West and his panel consisting of Dana Levenson, Emanuel Eads, Alan Lazowski and Thomas Lanctot are about to go on. Don't want to miss that.

JVH

Shopping and Free Parking

OK, I went shopping at the Grove, a local high end center in central Los Angeles. It has a great parking facility with counters telling you which floor has available space and everything. They spent over a million bucks on their valet lobby, but I digress.

I did my shopping and then asked for a validation (I left my ticket in my car). I was told by the store that since I didn't have my ticket, I should go to the concierge desk and they would give me an exit pass (I had spent enough to have a full day of free parking.)

The concierge told me that I couldn't get the pass unless I signed up for their "bonus club" program, a deal that meant filling out endless forms and probably exposing my email account to even more spam. So I simply asked again for the exit pass. I was again told, more firmly, that I would have to sign up.

Disgusted, I grumbled off, forming the letter I was going to write developer Rick Caruso telling him how his extremely high class and actually super shopping experience had been ruined by rules that couldn't be broken by line personnel. (I felt that when I waved my four figure receipt the answer should have been "yes sir, here's your exit pass, and thank you for visiting the Grove, " and not some bureaucratic double talk.

I got to my car, letter firmly in my brain and drove to the exit and put in my ticket, ready to pay, under protest, with my credit card. The gate opened. I had come and gone within the "free" time period. (I think its half an hour.)

My anger evaporated, the letter was forgotten.

However, in the end, that's not the point. The point is that line personnel need to be able to make on the spot decision which cost the company little or nothing, but create fantastic PR. One of Caruso's tenants, Nordstrom's, has built its reputation on just such decision making. The is an urban legend that someone showed up at a Nordstrom's store, asking to return some faulty tires. The clerk accepted the tires. Nordstrom's doesn't' sell tires.

It may have cost the store a few hundred bucks, but in the end, the publicity they got from that one incident has been worth millions.

JVH

Is this the beginning or the end of video enforcement?

I just don't buy it. The UK is going to authorize local municipal authorities to issue parking tickets using video. In other words, they can watch a spot by video and if a certain car is seen to have overstayed its welcome, they can mail the owner a ticket. They are also allowing the enforcement officers to write tickets without putting it on the windshield. Just mail it in.

I think this is absurd. I have mentioned this before, but the whole idea of a parking ticket is deterrence. Getting a ticket five days or more after the fact deters nothing and only makes people madder. If I'm standing there and see the ticket under my windshield wiper and then look at the sign and realize that I broke the rules, I can be angry, but actually only at myself. When I'm home going through my mail and find a ticket and I can't even remember where I was five days ago and will immediately get my dander up over "big brother" and the like.

This just isn't good policy. Period. But it's typical of someone sitting in an office somewhere trying to come up with an "idea" to raise more revenue, the parking public be dammed. If cities want more money, charge more to license a car, but don't do it by increasing fines and using all sorts of nefarious means to collect the money.

Along the same lines, I have learned that those red light and speed cameras are getting hit hard by the courts. Often they are out of calibration and in some cases work too well. One city noted that they weren't getting as many fines because people knew they were there and didn't speed or run the red lights. "We weren't collecting enough to pay for the cameras."

Well, la de da. Here's proof of what we knew all along. The purpose of these suckers wasn't to save lives or enforce the law, it was to collect money. Our government just HAS to get out of this money grabbing mode. If they don't…Well remember the reason for the Boston Tea Party. It was a hell of a lot more about taxation than about representation.

(Hat Tip Kyle Cashion)

JVH

Pregnancy and Parking

I have been trying to write about this for a couple of days, but I'm not sure which side of the issue I can stake out. It has to do with parking and pregnancy.

The State of California is discussing allowing third trimester women to get "handicapped" tags and allowing them to parking in handicapped spaces. Naturally all hell as broken lose because women don't want pregnancy to be considered a "handicap" however it is true, at least in my circle, that VERY pregnant women do have a bit of a problem getting around.

Some of those discussing the issue said that pregnant women should park further away since they need the exercise. Boy, I bet they slept on the couch after that little tidbit.

I think, after careful consideration, that this should be a decision left up to each individual store, merchant, and parking facility owner. If they want, then can put up a couple of "pregnant" only signs ( you know, nice little pink and blue ones with storks and babies on them.) I have seen them in front of some K-Marts and Wal Marts. I dare someone who isn't pregnant to park in the space when a full term mom shows up with her two year old. This will be self policing.

And it's good merchandising. Everyone will get a nice smile at the signs, and "almost a moms" will get a little relief.

They tried to do this four years ago in California and the brouhaha was so great that the bill died a quiet death. I'll bet that it happens again.

Yeah, this is the best approach. Keep the government out of it.

JVH

How Smart are Smart Cars

Smart cars are really smart, and easy to park. BUT be careful. If you buy one of the new Mercedes build tiny vehicles, be sure you park it the same way you currently do with your 20 foot long super tanker. Yep, even thought the car will fit nose to curb and still not protrude any further in the street than if you parked in a normal manner, the law says you must have your right tires within 18 inches of the curb. I'm told that in San Francisco, where else, that if you and your buddy park your smart cars in one space, that's legal, as long as someone pays the meter. If the time runs out, both cars are ticketed.

Of course my belief is that both should pay, but if you like, charge them less since they are using less curb space. Now that makes sense, just as a stretch Escalade should pay more than my Escort. Pay for what you use.

These cars are going to mean some changes in the laws. Not a bad idea.

Oh my sister-in-law in Calgary has one of these things. We were talking with her boyfriend one day about noise and being able to hear each other in the car. He says it's no problem. You are only inches apart.

JVH

Global Cooling? Really…

I know, I know, it has little to do with parking, but I just couldn't pass this up. You MUST read this article in the Australian. Basically is quotes a scientist, using UN and NASA data, as showing that global warming stopped in 1998 and in fact Global Cooling is now going on. HUH… This goes along with my theory that if politicians say something, believe the opposite.

If this is true, what is the industry set up because of Global Warming going to do? What of carbon footprints or the SUV demise. How about Al Gore's selling of carbon offsets? Does this mean he has to return his Nobel Prize?

What this article says, as many MANY scientists have said for years, is that our climate is much more complex that one might want to accept. As the temperature on earth increased, there was a corresponding increase in water vapor in the air, more clouds, and hence, a cooling period. Of course since green house gases made by man have Increased in the past decade, but the temperature has gone down, it seems that there may be little correlation between your Belchfire V-12 and global warming. It could be the sun's activity, or even something else.

What this all means, is that the models climate scientists have been using for the past couple of decades need to be tweaked to take into account this new data. Whoops!

I know this won't be on the front page of Time magazine or the lead story on the nightly news. I think what is happening is that so called Global Warming is going to take a long slow walk into that cold dark night – In like a lion, out like a lamb. It's just too embarrassing to be handled any other way.

JVH

Go Charlie Go…

My buddy Charlie Munn stepped in and gave me a hand with a couple of articles when I was out last fall having a bit of cow installed…or maybe it was bull. Anyway, thanks to Charlie.

However his work as a parking writer seems to have blossomed.  For some unknown reason I received my copy of the March issues of Parking and the Parking Professional on the same day this week and dutifully sat down to read every bon mot the IPI and NPA had to say. Suddenly I was confused.

I thought I had finished one magazine and had started the next, but found articles that weren't on the same topic, but were written with the same wit and turn of phrase. I looked at the author (I rarely do that) and low and behold, it was Charlie, and Charlie, and Charlie, and Charlie. He had penned four articles (two each) for the two magazines in the same month.

Then I went back and looked at the Parking Professional in February, January, and December, and found old Charlie boy had five bylined articles between the three issues. Wow, this guy is HOT!!!

I look forward to more and more of Charlie's holding forth on the parking industry over the next few issues of Parking and the Parking Pro.

Gee, maybe we'll get so we only have to read one to get the content of both…

JVH

I’ll be the one with the big smile on my face

Just got the latest number for PIE Attendees and I'm impressed. Andy and his team have done a great job. (Disclaimer: Usually I don't include exhibitor personnel in the numbers, but I have been convinced, by exhibitors, that all parking professionals in attendance are important. So with that in mind…) We currently have over 600 registered for PIE, and we normally get 20 percent of our pre conference registrations in the last week. In addition, we get about 25 percent of the attendees as walk ins at the show. So if you project it based on history, we expect to near 900 at the show, the largest in history. I'll be the one with the big smile on my face.

JVH

It Ruined my Breakfast

Even the comics couldn't bring me back. In the "home" section of the LA Times (I keep forgetting to cancel my subscription to this fishwrapper), there is a column this AM by one Joe Robinson entitled "When Parking Gets Personal." Go ahead, read it. It'll make your day.

The gist is that in residential neighborhoods people are at each other's throats because they are, can you believe it, parking on street in front of their neighbor's house. This is due to the "fact" that Americans are buying too much "stuff" and its filling the garages. Most people don't use their garages and the result is open parking warfare.

The solution – hire a shrink. Yes hire a mediator to come in and mediate your problem with your neighbor. For $100 an hour, subsidized by the city, you can bring the nincompoop next door who is parking in your petunias downtown and the two of you will leave in an hour singing kumbya and begin living in parking heaven. Give me a break.

There is only one real, fair, completely reasonable solution for this problem. Charge for on street parking in residential area. Nothing will motivate a resident to clean out AND USE his or her garage than a monthly bill for $50 for parking on the street. It might also prod them into getting rid of that junker in the driveway so they can park their "other car" off street.

But only in La La land would the city come up with an idea of having "conflict resolution" available for neighbors who simply are too lazy to throw away a bunch of junk in their garage or have a periodic yard sale.

Pass the Advil.

JVH

A solution to a complex problem

Municipalities find themselves in a bind. According to a friend in the Northeast, his city's enforcement and collections are a hodgepodge of pay and display, meters, hand helds, and two or three different back office software packages. He now wants to add pay by cell phone to the mix. He says that the cell phone companies are working with this software and hardware vendors but "aren't there" yet.

Fair enough. But what does one do in the mean time and who wants to be the "alpha site." Chicago took an interesting approach, but for a different reason. I went in to detail about this below, but suffice it to say that they didn't want to change their enforcement procedures at all. So they didn't. They added a pay by cell phone operation that works off an "in car meter."

This way, you (the city) do nothing. You continue as you have been. It's a "bridge" technology. You use it until something better comes along, or until it proves to be the way to go.

Is this perfect – of course not. Nothing is. But is can get past some of the problems and expense of having to re invent your back office or replace tons of on street equipment.

Just saying…

Ok, you cell phone guys, let me have it…

JVH

The 28% Conundrum

Percentages. What does it all mean? Sherlock Holmes had his 7% Solution – of Cocaine. Our industry's own drug of choice, is an accepted "loss" in a garage as a percentage of the gross revenue. Most operators or owners would tell you, informally and off the record, that a 5% loss factor was just about "as good as it gets." After all, we have a cash business and there you go…The operators try try TRY and simply can't get better than 5%. It's the industry standard.

Of course there are garages where the loss rate is as near "0" as is possible, and there are others that show losses much higher.

I was talking to a buddy (no that THAT buddy) the other day who audits garages and he told me that the 5% number was laughable. His firm has audited hundreds and hundreds of garages over the past few years and the numbers simply belie the "Industry Standard." He says the number is 28%. That's "twenty eight percent." Yes – on average, in garages across the fruited plain, over ONE QUARTER of the money that should have been collected, isn't. Since this is my personal experience I tend to agree.

Most owners would say "Sure, but that's an average. Some might be 56% and other perfect. I'm sure mine is among the perfect." Right.

He says that less than 5% of the 28%, or about 2% of the total loss, is from theft. Most of it is from incompetence, mismanagement, and simply not caring.

Some examples he gave me was access cards turned on, and in use, that were not invoiced on a monthly basis. He said he would go in to a garage, run an active card list, and find 1000 cards "on" but only 650 being billed.

Another problem deals with leases. When a tenant signs a lease, they may get a special "deal" on parking, say a 50% discount, for the first couple of years with an escalation clause that kicks in in year three. Very often, the garage neglects to "kick in" the clause and the tenant goes for years, often the life of their lease, paying the original rate.

A third problem deals with validations and other "deals" cut between the garage and local merchants. These deals are often perfectly legitimate, but, over time, their intricacies and codicils get lost in the mysts of new managers, owners, and operators. The information is passed from person to person and like the children's game of whispering a phrase in an ear, by the time it's passed a few times, it bears little resemblance to the original deal.

And of course there's the rate structure itself. My experience has been that there's the rate structure that's on the sign, the rate structure that's programmed in to the fee computer, the rate structure that the customer believes they are paying, and the rate structure as understood by the manager or the attendant. In many cases all are different.

The list is endless.

How does an owner sleep at night knowing that so much of their bottom line dollars are not being collected? That's a topic for a different blog. My concern now is just how to communicate that fact to the owner, and just what they should do about it.

Any ideas.

 

JVH

Upgrade to Vista – NEVER – Upgrade to Office 2007 Well……

I made the mistake of upgrading my "Microsoft Office" to Office 2007. It works the same, perhaps a bit more slowly, than 2003, but it just looks different and most of the commands are in different places. Its like leaning your language all over again.

But there is one nice thing. I can blog here in "Word" and then publish it directly on the 'net. A nice little feature. There are probably hundreds of others that I will discover over the next half a decade, when they will come out with 2012 and I will start all over again.

JVH

Flu

What's the worst part of the flu?  The cough, the flem, the drippy nose, the chills.How bout that liquid that fills your eyes and burns...I don't have much of a problem with all that because modern science has come up with pills and liquids that take care of most of those symptoms.  You can still get around without hacking and coughing on your neighbor.

The worst part, for me, is the depression.  I just can't make myself get moving. The dog looks at me with that little twist in her head that says "are we going for my walk now" and I just cower lower in my blankets, hoping that Rockford or Magnum will do something interesting so I can justify another hour in bed. Deadlines pass unmet, dinners uneaten, I'm just not up for anything. I took a shower the other morning -- was to go to lunch with a friend -- I then put on the same sweats I took off for the shower and climbed back in to bed.

This is not my way, but Mr. Flu just cuts me off at the knees. 

I'm a bit better today. Not as much coughing, chills are down, and dammit, I'm walking to the post office with Max (the wonderdog, an entirely different story.). I've got to get out of this funk.

They say you break writers block by writing, anything. I'm getting out of this by doing something, anything...

JVH

How Do People Get Themselves into these Situations?

The head of parking in Fresno was fired in 2006 for sexual harassment. He supposedly asked an employee to raise her shirt in exchange for $300 in city funds. She did. She also went to the city and complained. The city paid her an additional $150,000 and fired the parking head.

Oh it doesn't stop here. Robert Mandewell who had worked his way up through the ranks to run the parking, maintenance and landscaping department for the central California city, the raisin capital of the world, was put on trial this month for four felony counts including the sexual harassment, accepting $6200 in baseball tickets in exchange for lower parking rates for the team, nepotism (contracting with his brother to do some research, parking related).

The legal wizards in Frenso went to trial and couldn't even convict him on the baseball ticket charge, which he freely admitted.

You can go here and check out the stores in the local paper but I'm not absolutely sure Fresno got the better part of the deal.

When Mandewell became head of parking, they were netting 400K a year. In 2006, they netted $3 million. The deal he cut with the Local ball Club, the Grizzlies, gave him the ability to pass out tickets to his employees and enhance moral. As for his brother – the problem was nepotism, not the contract. For all I know, his brother was an expert in holding car shows on unused parking lots.

Obviously there wasn't enough smoke here to fan the flames in a jury's heart.

Oh, my comment on the sexual harassment. If he did it, he should be drawn and quartered. However this is a most difficult crime to prove and it is usually settled, as in this case, out of court with everyone agreeing to keep quiet and a lot of money being paid to someone. I just wish there was a better way to deal with folks who use their authority to ply favors…

 

JVH

Bay Area’s BART Beleaguered

Read the following at your own risk – the headline was great compared to the rest.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit District is getting flack from its own board members due to complaints from riders that the technology used in the parking areas is too complicated for the average driver in Baghdad by the Bay. If one tries to reach the Barbary Coast from Oakland or San Leandro you have to drive to the station, park, pay for parking at a Pay By Space machine, and then press on to your train and a transfer to a little cable car…

The problem is, it seems, is that folks can't remember their space numbers or they make an error punching in the three or four digits. That being the case, an alert enforcement officer nails them, a citation is written, and thus begins a conflict that probably ends at the ninth circuit court of appeals, who most likely will say that the charge for parking was unconstitutional, only to be overturned on a 9 zip decision by the Supreme court.

According to my buddy Kevin Hagerty of BART, parking is becoming a major issue as ridership increases and more and more folks are cheating on the lots. BART issues parking permits and often the reserved spaces are taken by non permit holders and the problem is made even worse.

This is a classic example where a bridge technology has been installed, only to be, extremely quickly, overtaken by another, potentially longer lasting technology.

Most of the wags in the industry, looking at the macro of on street parking, have posited that pay and display and pay on foot are technologies that is bridging between the parking meter and something out there, in San Francisco's case, halfway to the stars.

The problem is that folks are rushing to the train, don't want to take the time to deal with a meter, and haven't planned ahead enough to buy a permit, which, by the way, are sold in limited numbers. Naturally they will make mistakes at the P by S machine, or if they came from Berkeley and are heading for the Haight, might transpose a number or two.

The solution: Pay by Cell Phone.

I have noted earlier this week that Chicago (and innumerable other cities) use this technology. It doesn't replace the Pay by Space or Pay and Display, but it enables those who wish to pay their parking fees on the run so to speak. You park your car. Hit a preset on your phone, enter your space number, and that's it. No messing with money, cards, or waiting in line for the machine. This is the perfect application since most of the people in the lots use them every day. Of course this doesn't solve the problems with the folks from the smoke filled rooms in Berkeley because you still have to press the right button on the cell and enter the space number, but you can't have everything.

The neat thing about this is you can add it to your system with very little capital outlay, it solves the problem, and you can still keep your existing system for folks who prefer to use it.

JVH

“My Kinda Town”

With apologies to the Chairman of the board.

I spend a couple of days in Chicago last week, doing some prep work for PIE. By the way, the wonderful Pat reports that registrations for PIE are running 25% ahead of the same time last year. Plus Andy reports that we are SOLD OUT in the exhibition Hall. It promises to be a great show.

I had lunch with John Hammerschlag at his "club," The East Bank Club located on, you guessed it, the East Bank of the Chicago River. It's a health club and serves great food. John says he works out there three times a week. I certainly wouldn't mind eating there that often…They even give the caloric and fat content on every menu item.

John told me that his 201 Madison garage was peeking out at 92% credit card usage. That's a great number, of course he has hidden the 1 POF machine that takes cash in the back, under the stairw