PT's Parking Blog

It’s a tangled web they weave….

When they demand "Free" Parking.

Macclesfield, in England, is considering "free" parking on Saturday. The local Merchants are demanding it as part of "Recession Mitigation." The local authority is balking a bit since it would cost about $50,000 in decreased revenue each year. From the City's point of view, that's a bad thing.

The merchants are saying that their customers complain about parking costs and that free parking would bring in more business.

I wonder if the merchants have considered the fact that free parking would also bring in folks who aren't customers, but just want a place to park for free. Employees, sightseers, those visiting friends, and the like. What will they do if instead of people complaining of paying for parking, they complain of no available parking?

I have not heard of a place where "free" parking was instituted that business increased. IN virtually every case, increased business was related to better stores, prices, more reasons for people to come downtown.

If the merchants are so worried, why not have a pile of pound coins and give them to people who complain. Problem solved.

OK, that wouldn't work since I would simply walk up the street complaining at every store. However certainly a "validation" type of program would work, and I'm sure the P and D supplier could help with a "two part ticket," one for the car and one for validations. You give your ticket to the merchant get a pound or whatever. Problem really solved.

JVH

Alternative Fuel Vehicles Get “Free” Parking?

Well, they are thinking about it in Estes Park, CO, which is somewhere near Boulder.

The proposal is to select a few spaces and reserve them for "alternative fuel" vehicles. There is some discussion that would allow drivers of these cars to park there all day long, while those driving Belchfire 12s will have normal parking times.

Will it never end?

OK, we allow high mileage vehicles to park all day for free, thus taking them off the road, but the low mileage SUV's, of which there are many in this area, have to move on and spew their poison into the air.

Also, what is an alternative fuel vehicle? Is it a hybrid? There are Lexus hybrids that don't get 30 MPG. What about pedal power? CNG, LNG, Body fat, Electric. I wonder whether the idea shouldn't be based on MPG, not the type of fuel. There are gas powered vehicles that get 50 MPG. Why shouldn't they qualify?

Of course, the officer on the beat will have to make the decision, OR they will have to check a list, that would be updated regularly. Of course whether or not a car is properly tuned would be important.

But then, this is a regressive policy. Only people with big bucks can afford the extra cost of a hybrid vehicle. So then upper class folks get a pass on their parking charges and the poor driving hand me down Chevy's get screwed.

I say that if you are going to charge different prices for different vehicles, charge by square footage. A 1970 Cadillac or a 2008 Navigator should pay more than a Mini or a Sunbeam Alpine. Then the officer would have to carry a tape measure, and meters would have to have "Small, medium, large, and gigantic" buttons so the drivers could select the "proper" vehicle size.

Or, we could just charge everyone the same and get on with it.

JVH

Ticketing in the Rain

The Columbia, MO, enforcement folks are taking a bit of backwater concerning problems with writing parking tickets in the rain. Seems their automatic ticket writing equipment gets wet and doesn't perform when the heavens open. Read all about it.

I am in agreement with folks who say that this is an operational problem, not an enforcement problem. I have travelled all over the world and seen citations in every type of weather, wet and dry, cold and hot. They are placed in little sealed baggies and put on the windshields and that is that.

If weather is inclement, the officers drive cars or put their printers under their raincoats. These folks need to learn something from the USPS – Neither rain nor snow…

JVH

Floating Garage

There seems to be some discussion about a "floating" garage proposal in Pensacola, FL. A local boat designer has made the recommendation. It was panned by the local press, and he has responded. Here's the Link and another one

Correspondent Mark has these comments:

Call me crazy, but I can't see the sense in this.  Where do you put the ingress/egress lanes to the garage?  If you build it along the lines of a ferry dock you eliminate the flexibility of placement that he argues about.  His argument about hurricanes doesn't make sense to me.  Once a storm is in the Gulf exactly how do you "move" the thing to get it out of the way.  Today's article talks about using it as a ferry of sorts, can you imagine how long that crossing would take?  I don't know, it sounds absurd to me. Of course, the very fact that I'm writing this means the concept is at least provoking some thought on the issues they have in Pensacola.

Mark and I are of a different opinion on this one. I think it's an idea that should be explored. Parking garages come in all shapes and sizes, why not one that floats. We have casinos, office buildings, hotels, and why not a garage.

I'm sure there are issues, but their always are.

JVH

Educational Program at the IPI

The Conventional Wisdom at the IPI show was that the educational programs were the best ever. There were a large number of them and from what I heard both at the Temecula Group and on the floor, the quality was very good.

That being said, one comment permeated the discussions. There were a LOT of educational sessions, some conflicted with others, many people would go to one, discover they didn't think it fit what they needed or picked up literature and then left and went to another. Some though the schedule was very confusing, not unusual when there is such a large number of events.

My recommendation == reduce the number of sessions and make them very high power. If you want to keep the large number, find a way to stagger them, or configure the schedule so they are easy to find.

I'm not the guy who would do it, but there are people who do know how to do this.

Remember – most people in our industry are novices, whether they are heads of parking or line managers.

When we did boot camp at PIE a few years ago, we had more senior people in the room than entry staff.

JVH

PS: Be sure that when you have moderators for "round table" or "Power talk" sessions, you train them well. A good moderator can "make" the session, a bad one can ruin it. Moderators need to do just that, moderate, not talk for the sake of talking.

Attendance and the IPI

We discussed the attendance at the IPI show at the Temecula Group Breakfast and agreed that they did very well considering the economy and all. 1700 plus attendees and exhibitors is not a bad number and most exhibitors told me that the quality of attendee was very high.

But we also agreed that there should be 2000 or 3000 attendees (not including exhibitor personnel) or more at the show. (There were just over 700 attendees at the show this year).

The TPG doesn't just blather about problems, but also come up with some possible solutions. We felt that the IPI could analyze the attendance and would probably find that 500 or so attendees would come no matter what. The rest are "first timers" and the like.

Why not concentrate on the newbies – give them a "first timer" much MUCH lower rate. Charge exhibitors a bit more and allow anyone who wants to come to the show for free. (sell tickets for food/drink). Hold the event in locations where there are a ton of parking folks within driving distance (LA, Chicago, NYC Area, Dallas/Houston}, Really promote in the local area. Get people who can drive in for the day, or overnight. Sell the show, as well as the educational and "party" parts of the program.

You could allow folks to come to the show for free and PAY for the other services offered at the show (educational, recreational events etc). Make it attractive.

I know that a number of years ago the IPI did a survey and found that the exhibition itself was the number one reason people came to the Conference. Most networking and the like was done on the exhibition floor.

Just a bunch sitting around getting charged up on caffeine and offering ideas. They are probably worth what they cost

JVH

 

Amano McGann – Men (and Woman) In Black

Our booth at the IPI was right across from Amano McGann. As you know they won "best in show" for their Parking as Art display but I digress.

On opening day, before the show started, most of the major companies had meetings in their booths to organize the team and the like. Amano McGann was no exception. There were at least 15 salespersons gathered around and someone was talking about this feature or that.

What I found intriguing was that they all were wearing black suits. I asked if they were required to wear a certain 'uniform' for the show and was told that there was no instruction that went out.

They couldn't have been copying the boss, Terry McGann was wearing a great gray (dark green?) suit with his signature bow tie.

Just a coincidence, I guess.

JVH

Boy –

Did I get the wrong number, at least as far as Transcore is concerned. Frank Dittoe waylayed me as I was heading out at the end of the show and told me that they have a ton of locations where toll road tags are being used to activate parking garage gates. I was surprised because I thought it was Frank that told me that they had only a few, but that was probably five years ago and I haven't kept up.

I accused him of hiding his lamp under a bushel and he said that corporate would be coming out with a news release on this type of activity soon.

I must not spend enough time with certain technologies. Apologies to Transcore and any other group that has AVI based clearing house style operations associated with parking garages and toll roads.

I'm sure Frank and Co will get me the straight information soon and I will pass it along.

JVH

Jim Hunnicutt at the IPI

Had to stop the last entry to talk to Jim Hunnicutt who drop by to say hello. He accused me of being famous. I told him that he was the famous one, I was just notorious.

He is one of the original founders of the IPI. He said that when they had their first show, there were four companies who put their wares on card tables. They have come a long way, baby..He told me he had eleven operations last year. He said that, like Minnie Pearl, he was just glad to be here.

Jim laughed and said that technology has moved so far along that he's not sure what a lot of the things in this room do. A wonderful, charming man, Jim Hunnicutt.

JVH

Wow, Boomerang Systems

OK, I thought it was just another automated parking system, boy was I wrong. These guys make a system that is truly different, I think –

The garage is a standard concrete garage but with no ramps. There are little robots that scurry around under the cars following wires buried in the floor. They pick up and move cars as necessary.

Color me impressed.

Drop by their booth 1020 or look em up at www.boomerangsystems.com

JVH