ParkEngage recently participated in the 2021 IPMI Conference & Expo in Tampa. It was great to see so many familiar faces from throughout the industry, and meet new friends and colleagues, after over two years. The value and benefits of connecting with people in person, and the opportunity to have the important discussions, is something that is best done in person.

A lot has happened in our industry since we last met together as a whole. We were thrilled to have great discussions with industry leaders about the changing role of technology in the industry, the opportunities to incorporate new initiatives to enhance customer service, and how to create a more efficient and safe work environment for parking staff.

Parking technology continues to transform, and the COVID-19 crisis accelerated the advancement of many technologies. Decision-makers spoke of the need to incorporate touchless parking solutions to not only create a more seamless and convenient experience for their patrons, but also to enhance user safety and limit interactions with parking staff.

For instance, both municipal and university operations are integrating touchless parking solutions to a greater extent both due to COVID sensitivities, but also because mobility has become a basic requirement for this generation. Paper-based tickets or permits or hangtags are very undesirable, and slow down the process significantly.

Another issue many organizations are facing is the labor shortage. During COVID, many people retired from the labor force, thus leading to a huge shortage of available labor in the market and making it extremely difficult to staff up operations. While the operators, cities, and universities are struggling to hire people, they are prioritizing technology projects to reduce dependency on labor in the garage, looking at deploying touchless and other automation technologies like virtual permits and aggregator management that reduces need for labor while increasing customer satisfaction and self-service.

Finally, many operators spoke to the challenge of reduced budgets and the goal of limiting significant upfront investments into technologies like PARCS, ticket machines, cameras, onsite servers, and mobile enforcement vehicles equipped with expensive LPR systems. Many organizations are looking for solutions where their upfront investment is low, or easily passed on to the customer.

Touchless parking technologies range from contactless solutions at entry and exit, to virtual permits and online reservations. The goal is to create the most seamless parking experience possible, allowing the user to complete their entire parking journey through their mobile device. However, these solutions also help to significantly streamline the parking operation for organizations and their staff, reducing overhead, improving customer service, and increasing revenues.

ParkEngage looks forward to continuing to be a leader in the development and integration of touchless parking solutions across the parking and mobility industry. If you stopped by our booth last week, thank you for coming to check us out! If we missed you, please take a moment to check out our solutions and learn more about how we can help enhance your operation. Thank you to IPMI for putting on such a great show! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again next summer for the 2022 conference in New Orleans!

ParkEngage Touchless Parking recently went live at the new Zoo Atlanta Parking Facility. Working with AAA Parking, ParkEngage is integrating its touchless parking technology at the 1,000-space Grant Park Gateway parking facility. This new technology will transform the parking experience of the nearly 500,000 visitors of the zoo each year.

ParkEngage Touchless Parking is an innovative solution that tracks when the user arrives to the facility, where they park, and when they exit. It does not require the end user to download any apps and does not require any proprietary equipment to be installed. This new technology will allow Zoo visitors to perform all of their parking tasks from arrival to departure via their mobile phone, giving customers control of their parking experience right at their fingertips.

When visitors arrive at the new facility, they will use their phone to check in. The customer will then receive an eTicket on their mobile phone and proceed to their parking space. Upon returning to the facility, the customer will open their eTicket to initiate mobile payment, and be able to immediately checkout of the facility after retrieving their vehicle.

The ParkEngage Touchless Parking solution also provides AAA Parking and its customers with a number of additional benefits to create a seamless parking encounter, including:

• Eliminating backup times at gated exits or valet wait times
• Eliminating paper tickets through the provision of eTickets
• Eliminate cumbersome physical membership passes and use ePass in its place
• Implementation of efficient and convenient payment through mobile pay
• Promote special offers and event-based pricing
• Ability to sell add-on services that customers can purchase or reserve directly from their mobile devices
• Provide personalized customer service and create brand loyalty

This innovative technology complements the numerous groundbreaking features in the Grant Park facility. The garage is the world’s first project to receive both LEED Sites and Parksmart certifications, incorporating a 2.5-acre green roof, electric vehicle charging stations, and bike racks. The ParkEngage Touchless Parking solution enhances the sustainability features of the garage by significantly reducing the amount of time spent idling at the entrance and exits.