Personalized Parking

I know… I know.  It’s been many months since I last posted.  On two occasions I started to write essays to put here on the blog, but after writing I just didn’t feel that the topics were blogworthy.

However here’s one that I think you’ll like.  It’s about the personalization of parking.  It starts with some questions related to music:

Why is it that people complain about spending 99¢ to download a song from iTunes, but they’re willing to spend $2 on 15 seconds of that same song to use as a cell phone ringtone?  In other words, why would an otherwise sane individual spend twice as much for only a fraction of the song?

I think that the answer is personalization.  Your choice of ringtone is a statement about yourself, much like a getting tattoo or having pink hair.  People, in North America at least, are willing to spend their money on personalization from the many, many available choices that they have.

Parking is about choice too, but traditionally not about personalization.  For example downtown I can park short-term or long-term, on-street or off-street, surface or deck.  I even have the choice of parking illegally, but at the risk of getting cited.

There is growing evidence that the parking business, with the assistance of new technologies, is leading to more personalization rather than choice.

For several years Texas A&M University parking office has offered their parkers a choice of which access control credential to use in their lots.  TAMU actually has four that they use:  one is a magnetic stripe on the back of a hangtag, two are RFID transponders, and the last one is a student/staff ID card (mag-stripe on the back).

TAMU set up a web site where parkers, primarily students and staff members, could go online to My Parking Account and choose which of these four devices is “active” for parking.  So I can log on and activate my ID card today, and then tomorrow I can activate my transponder.  My choice is automatically “pushed” from the web site to the access control equipment.

While this is a step in the right direction it’s worth mentioning that TAMU is taking this to the next level: they have managed to tie the credential to the parker instead of the facility, meaning that parkers can now enter with one credential and exit with another – without having to visit the web site to activate a particular credential.

What’s interesting about this is that TAMU is assured that passback controls continue to operate properly even when a parker uses different credentials for entry and exit of a facility.  Loan your permit to a friend?  No problem… TAMU’s system lets the first parker in and bars the rest.

While TAMU may offer parkers some choice, the University of British Columbia parking office is offering even more in the way of personalization.

UBC offers a FlexPass credential which doubles as both a parking permit and an access control media.  It’s a permanent assignment, meaning that there’s no reissue cycle every year.  Once you’ve got your FlexPass it’s yours for life.

This “permanent credential” is not a new concept.

What makes UBC’s FlexPass innovative is the ability for parkers to choose where they want to park, when they want to park there, and pay only for the parking they’ve selected.  The FlexPass is valid in both garages and surface lots, and can be for as little as one-week or as long as forever (payroll deduction).  And the parker can make changes to the pass online, any time.

Now that’s parking personalization!

This is an example of what parkers want.  For the parking office it shifts the management focus from issuance – replaced by software business logic and pricing in the web pages – to auditing (restricting and enforcing access according to dynamic rules).

Such a level of parking personalization may not come from the parking industry per se, but rather from the transportation industry as a whole.  For example, in California the state is trending toward a mandated minimum required use of public transportation infrastructure.  California has already offered transit/vanpool subsidies and incentives for many years.

A technology-based solution of integrated public transit and parking is probably the only feasible way to meet this requirement.  Is it such a stretch to envision a combination transit-pass-and-parking-permit that allows one day of parking access for every two days you ride the bus?  This is yet another simple application for a smart card beyond the use of an electronic wallet.  Software and solution providers in parking may soon need to integrate more with transportation systems.

Anyway, when it comes to personalization I prefer the frivolous to the mandated.  So forget the law and just give me a personalized parking permit – let me choose where and when it’s valid (according to your business rules, of course) and then you price it accordingly based on what I pick.

And then the fun begins.  Let me personalize my permit.  When I order it (online, of course) let me upload a stylish picture of my pet or my kids to be printed on the back – just the same as post office lets you personalize stamps.  You keep your stuff on the front of the permit, but let me customize the back.  This is the parking permit equivalent of a ringtone, and I’ll gladly pay you a couple of extra bucks to have it my way!

Comments

[Pat Barry]

This was a great article. We're always trying to offer ways to better take care of our clients. But things run differently in the UK.

[Shawn Scott]

Blake,

I found this article to be very interesting and on point. We are currently developing a parking payment that addresses many of the points you have made here. I will be sure to keep you informed on our progress.

[Gary Harvey]

Who manages the parking at Pearson International Airport ?

At the rates charged there I should get my own personalized gold plated parking space !

[Rickie Pattenden]

Blake, as usual, you gave us parking admins something to think about, and, as usual with you and T2, today's dreams are tomorrow's reality. Keep me posted on the development of personal parking!

[Carole Whitehorne]

Glad to hear you are still alive and kicking. Looked for my self on your Clustrmap, but saw too many redheads!
I see a pattern.... See you in Charlottetown, we have a nice set of red braids for you - sported by none other that Dave Hill in Edmonton! That photo is for sale. Blog on....

[Blake Laufer]

Nope, not dead. Been busy with several projects. That's not much of an excuse - there's still lots happening in technology and parking for me to write (and rant) about. I'll try to do better :-)

[Mike]

Wow. I thought you were dead.