Rivalry - Improves Parking Performance - Parking Today

Hi all,

Here is an article published in the magazine Parking Today (Jan 13 edition).

The general premise is that parking machines and new phone technology are merely portals to get the revenue out of the parking space and into your bank accounts.  It doesn't matter how many bells and whistles the meters and software programs have, the prime purpose is to funnel the funds to the bank account.  So why don't we demand competition in that space?

Read on......

Rivalry - Improves Parking Performance - Parking Today

Kevin Warwood













The views and opinions stated here are personal.

More Revenue - Its a Great Thing for Everyone

I am constantly concerned by the lack of drive for local body politicians in Councils and Health Boards that will not see, nor do anything about, the benefits of paid parking in their institutions. 

The benefits are more revenue to proved more opportunity for improvements, better machinery and equipment and mostly, an ability to drive better behaviours in parking habits.

Hospitals have the best opportunity to improve their ‘lot’ in life as the extra revenue will always help out a hospital, yet they cannot put up a car park building to house the demand for parking from the public, patients and staff.  A parking building pays for itself and doesn’t need to come out of ‘vote health’ at all. Yet one of the biggest gripes about hospitals is a lack of parking.  There are so many ways that technology and modern parking methodologies can support the vulnerable so that they are looked after in a paid parking environment, but these are getting ignored.

Council’s can support the growth of a city, in a small way, by how it organises and operates its parking.  Key support should be given to maximising the use of every bay the Council owns and operates.  It cannot do that with ‘abstract’ parking prices.  You cannot affect positively the activity in an area if you charge the same price in a busy area as a slow area.  We have seen recently Auckland’s response with vast swathes of city linked together with the same price for parking, assuming that occupancy, supply and demand are all similar.  I don’t think so.  It’s the response of politicians getting involved in something they have a passing knowledge of.

These organisations can drive the growth in good habits by adopting a modern parking methodology that allows for a constantly adjusting (within parameters), dynamic network of parking resources that responds to the changing balance of supply and demand in the localised area.  The by-product is increased revenue and that’s a good by-product to have.

Kevin Warwood

"How big is the global parking industry in revenue?" was the question asked of me at a recent cocktail party. I had no idea. Can anyone give me an estimate?