A study on how technology in modern public car parking facilities is developing to control access through improved and innovative management, with specific reference to Australian city districts
by Nerida Conisbee, Colliers International
Car parks in Australian central business districts (CBDs) are in many ways a finite product. There are now very few new car parks being built within CBDs, certainly not enough to keep up with demand. In addition, most City Councils are actively looking at ways to limit car access into CBDs. As a result, daily parking rates are becoming more expensive for commuters, although this is yet to have a discernible impact onvalues.
With changes to technology and the increasing cost of car parking, owners of car parks are having to become more innovative in the services that they provide to control access for both security and consumer convenience. These technological changes, as well as current societal trends and environmental concerns are already having a significant impact on off-street car parking and, although the world is not quite at the point of having driverless vehicles (General Motors has announced these will be ready by 2020), there are a number of changes that will impact upon the Australian parking industry as we know it.
Technological changes
Individual bay sensors have changed the way that customers approach car parks and have been the most significant customer service innovation in car parking technology in the last few years. What started out as a ‘nice to have’ for car park owners has now almost become a ‘must have’ both in new car parks being planned and in old car parks being upgraded.
The benefits for the customer are immediate: “follow the green light to the nearest available space”, “go to level 4 where there is lots of parking to choose from”, “turn right to find a space for disabled driver/parent with pram”. More recent developments will also allow customers to find their car at the end of their visit to the shopping centre or when returning to pick up their car at the airport car park, with kiosks being planned where drivers can punch in a registration plate or a ticket number and be told the location of the vehicle (by the use of camera-based systems).
Benefits for owners include increased occupancy, improved management of parking allocation, reduced ventilation costs due to a lower amount of redundant circulation and efficiency in the supply of parking. Although no specific data on individual car parks is available, it is generally accepted that parking guidance systems (PGS) have resulted in cost savings (no need to employ staff to direct customers to available spaces, particularly at busy periods), greater competitive advantage (against competitors who do not offer the service) and increased profitability of the car park operation.
City guidance
A natural extension of these systems is the development of city-wide guidance where a number of car parks collaborate in order to offer drivers clear information at key intersections as to the location and availability of parking. The initiative for these systems rests with local Councils who have overall transport and congestion issues on the roads under their control, particularly where they operate off-street and on-street parking facilities. Getting the private operators to participate ensures that drivers have a wide range of choice and, at the same time, reduces the amount of time spent driving around looking for a
space on the street or in a car park near their final destination. Although there are few examples of these systems currently in Australia, expect to see more of them in the coming years, similar to the
typical model that exists in many European cities.
Access control
License plate recognition (LPR) technology is also starting to gain traction in some car parks, initially to support existing access control equipment but with a longer term objective (at least according to the manufacturers) that they will eventually replace the more traditional ticket-based systems. Cameras located at entry and exit points can read a registration plate and allocate an entry and exit time, automatically calculating the parking fee.
Current systems are utilizing LPR to control the more common abuses in car parks which, for example, offer a certain amount of free parking (say 3 hours): if you work or study near that car park you may have been tempted to exit prior to the expiry of the free period and re-enter the car park immediately to take advantage of an additional free period (commonly known as the “three hour shuffle”). The cameras will detect vehicles with a registration number which has already used up its free period (normally over a 24 hour period) and will not let you out the second time without a paid ticket. LPR also assists in the management of Early Bird and staff parking areas within car parks.
Another use of this technology relates to airport parking (particularly in the long term car parks), where one may rather pay the charge for a lost ticket than the actual fee for a multi-day stay. By querying the data stored from the camera the car park attendant can easily verify the actual time that a registration number arrived in the car park and calculate the correct fee even if the customer has lost (or claimed to have lost) his ticket.
Remote monitoring
Developments in technology are evolving daily and owners and car park managers need to stay abreast of potential ways in which their car parks can operate more efficiently. Remote control rooms (by the installation of CCTV cameras and intercoms at each entry/exit/automatic payment machine) allow operators to monitor many car parks from a single central location and assist customers who may be having trouble with the operation of a particular piece of equipment. This greatly improves car park performance and reduces the number of people who need to be employed in individual car parks to collect parking fees and attend to certain equipment malfunctions. In a tightening market for car park revenues, the more efficient the operation, the higher the potential returns can be.
Technological improvements need to go hand in hand with improved customer service. The perceived absence of staff in car parks could be seen by customers as negative and increase a feeling of vulnerability unless they are aware that someone is watching out for their safety. Some car parks are introducing help points throughout their facilities in order to increase the level of security for customers.
Payment systems
Technological developments are also affecting the way people pay for parking. Traditional ticket-based systems are being challenged by electronic systems whereby parking charges are being calculated by LPR systems or electronic tags (such as those used on motorways) or through the use of credit cards at entry and exit. Online prepayment of parking fees for events or for long term stays at airports also eliminates the need for tickets by the use of bar codes which customers can download and print prior to undertaking the journey, much in the same way that flyers can print their boarding passes for air travel.
The advent of pay-by-phone systems has been slow to take hold in Australia, although they have proven very popular in the UK and other countries. This involves customers paying for parking in a specific location by registering with the provider of the system and charging the fee to a pre-registered credit card. The customer can receive a text message advising him of the expiry time and (if the parking rules allow it) top up the parking space with additional time. Subject to the uptake of mobile phones in a particular area, these systems do not require parking meters, eliminating the need for the original capital investment and ongoing costs such as equipment maintenance, cash collection, etc. Recent changes to local legislation are paving the way for these systems to become more widely used, again with the long term
outcome of reducing capital costs and ongoing repair and maintenance expenses on payment systems.
Control
The development and management of different parking products within one site requires the ability to implement variable pricing rates in order to maximize use of the asset at different times of the day or the year, or to create special packages to ensure customers are able to get the best value for money (and owners to maximize their overall revenues).
Online booking systems, which can seamlessly integrate with many types of parking control equipment, provide customers with the opportunity to shop around online for parking in a similar way as they currently do for purchasing such items as flights and tickets to concerts and sporting events.
Airports and entertainment venues can offer online booking and payment via credit card for specific times and durations at specific car parks or parking areas within a larger precinct. The customer pays upfront, thus reducing costs of collection and processing of cash and uses a pre-printed bar code or a predetermined credit card to enter and exit the car park. If you consider the queues that would be experienced at the end of a show both at the automatic pay stations and at the exits, it makes a lot of sense for the customer as well as for the owner to be able to offer this type of service.
Privacy issues apart, these technologies and developments are set to change how an owner markets its car park to its customers, with increased opportunities for the implementation of loyalty programs. The crossmarketing of parking with other services provided on site (eg. coffee shops) again provides the ability to implement loyalty incentives and result in additional revenues across the entire property.
Increased pressure being applied by local councils to reduce traffic flows into/out of CBDs at peak times creates an opportunity for owners and operators to adopt flexible pricing to encourage non peak time usage of the car park (before 7am, after 7pm and during the lunch time period).
New apps
We are all aware of the fact that every day new mobile phone apps appear on the market to increase the accessibility of information on all kinds of subjects. Parking is no different. There are now many “parking apps” available. There are apps which allow you to find a free parking space, remember where you parked your car (including directions of how to get there), find nearby car parks, keep track of the time left on the meter, get a reminder when it is about to expire and take photos of your location.
A recently launched app allows drivers around a city to identify the location of car parks it manages that have free spaces (and the number of spaces available) and even ‘stay up to date with special parking discounts and promotions’. Although it is difficult to vouch for the extent to which these apps are being
used, it is certainly a sign that the parking battle is getting tougher.