PARKING – IT’S COME A LONG WAY BABY
From Parking Operators to Tech Leaders
I’ve been thinking a lot about the evolution of the Parking Industry now that I can look back from the outside in.
Like most everyone else in the industry, I entered the Parking world organically with no formal parking training or education. My education is mostly math, science, and finance and over 20 years ago, I was offered the opportunity to create a new Parking Authority ‘department’ at the City of Norwalk, CT. I graciously accepted and at the time, I viewed the opportunity as a revenue/expense and budget/financial challenge.
My how things have changed. The industry has gone from grappling with the concept of free to paid parking and how the public reacts. I remember just the idea of paid parking, the conversation with the public about paid parking would create extreme reactions. We’ve stepped up making it easier and affordable to pay for parking through multiple payment options and making it easier to find parking. We’ve become an industry of data, data, data coming from everywhere. We are now multidimensional, with diverse technological platforms all in the name of herding the public to understand, use and ‘love’ parking.
Parking has been about operating and managing large real estate assets to create revenue streams, managing mobility, encouraging and leading business development, engaging the public by offering solutions to make payment, finding parking convenient, easy and affordable.
During the pandemic and constant WFH and zooming with little to no human interaction (at least what we were used to) our behaviors quickly shifted, and we became a society of instant gratification through convenient on-demand deliveries, the ability to walk, and bike within close proximity to our homes. Restaurants pivoted by changing their tried-and-true business models by offering delivery, pick up, outdoor dining, creative family meals, and then even cocktails! There were pop up retail and restaurant offerings all over the place even garages and open lots. With restrictions being lifted, we still want proximity on-demand convenience.
PARKING is at the center and the driver of economic development leveraging parking dollars for community development and customer service. Our ‘beloved’ (sometimes grueling) industry is in the middle of an accelerated paradigm shift due to accelerated pandemic behaviors. The Parking industry is perfectly poised to take the lead in technology and customer service. We are transitioning from just parking operators and managers siloed into our individual expertise TO technology leaders driving the industry and customer convenience through connected partnerships. The Parking industry is leading the way to an integrated, multidimensional on-demand mobile technology solution(s) not only to ‘park’ cars but to manage the curb, install delivery convenience, create safe and accessible parking for different mobility options including autonomous vehicles, tnc’s, bikes, electric vehicles, micro transit, pedestrians and all within close proximity to work and/or home. Parking assets are already being leveraged for other services such as retail and restaurant pop-ups, outdoor dining and walkways, theater, movies, community gatherings, art shows, and musical festivals.
I see great things for all of us.