by Jason Bolduc
“It’s Just Parking”: three words, spoken sometimes with passivity, sometimes with ignorance, but always with a lack of understanding of how much a parking asset can truly affect your property. Parking assets are not intended to be the destination point for any building; however, they are often the first and last impression that a guest may have of your property. That factor, along with others, means your parking asset is an essential component of your building’s overall performance.
As electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure expands, mobility hubs grow, curb management evolves, and cities adopt smarter transportation networks, buildings need adaptable parking and mobility systems. A major barrier in realizing this is the organizational silos that often emerge, causing various departments to operate with limited alignment.
In parking, private operators typically have a strong grasp of day-to-day operations, data trends, and localized marketing. Property owners, by contrast, usually bring a broader market perspective and long-term vision for their assets but may lack the operational understanding needed to manage parking effectively in support of those goals.
A consultant can help blend experience from hundreds of operations with a deep understanding of the entire parking industry, integrating it into your building’s master plan for the future. This includes analyzing data, designing an integrated technology architecture, and refining processes to create an operation that maximizes effectiveness today while remaining flexible for future change and growth.
When it comes to technology, the advances available to parking operations have rightfully surprised many people outside the industry. Systems such as License Plate Recognition (LPR), previously used only by government entities, are now commonplace in private garages and can create seamless, highly effective parking operations when implemented properly. Many organizations fail because they fall into the trap of believing that the technology itself will inherently solve all their problems. The truth is that even when technology is involved, the system needs to have:
- A set of capabilities and design features that complement the operation
- Said features and capabilities that have been enabled and configured properly
- A staff and user community who understand how and when to use the features
- A structured plan for using the system that is utilized effectively
- Regular maintenance, including software updates and training on new features
These five key components are needed not just for using technology, but also for the data that these systems can generate. With the amount of data available, it can certainly be overwhelming to use strategically or even tactically. If the data is derived from properly configured technology, and management understands and utilizes it correctly, it will maximize its effectiveness toward operational improvements and strategic growth. The additional key point to consider with data, however, is that the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used must be correlated properly with the desired results.
When it comes to maximizing the value realized from your parking assets, a parking operations consultant can be your translator, helping you understand your parking operation and make decisions that truly benefit your entire property.
Jason Bolduc
Jason Bolduc, CPP is parking operations consultant at Walker Consultants.
