40 minute read
ASK THE EXPERTS
Studies say stress from COVID-19 remains pervasive. How are you keeping your stress levels down or lowering them when things get tense?
Debbie Hoffmann, CAPP
Director, Communications & Marketing, Special Events & Visitor Parking, and Parking Services Texas A&M University
I try to remain especially calm and gracious when things get tense to help remove the emotion and get back to focusing on the problem. Getting to solutions is therapeutic for us all. To keep my stress levels down, I spend time each day focusing on something that makes me feel good, such as sending a small surprise to a friend, exercise, healthy eating, fresh air or reconnecting with people in my inner circle.
Melonie Curry, MBA
Staff Analyst ParkHouston
For empty nesters, there are no distractions and you may be alone for most of the day. We can sit in one place and stare at a screen for eight to 10 hours. Go outside, get some fresh air, move, stretch, and take a break. Make sure you move.
Scott C. Bauman, CAPP
Manager of Parking & Mobility Services City of Aurora, Colo.
I remind (and often force) myself to slow down, take a break, and relax as often as possible—to just stop everything I am doing and take a few deep relaxing breaths to clear my head of all the crazy COVID-19 noise and distractions.
Victor Hill, CAPP, MPA
Account Manager T2 Systems
I changed jobs and moved my family from Wisconsin to Virginia in the midst of all of this. I cannot overstate the importance of staying connected with family, friends, and colleagues to help manage stress and tension. Our physical distance is limited but our connections are more vital than ever for health and sanity. Keep reaching out so we can lift each other up.
Nicole Chinea, CAPP
Senior Project Manager WGI
Adapting to the new way of working post-COVID has been a challenge for me. I tend to use exercise and getting outdoors more to keep the stress at bay. I don’t always have as much time as I would like to exercise or get outside, but every little bit helps on those days when things get tense.
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Vanessa Cummings, CAPP
CEO Ms. V Consulting, LLC
Walks and exercise, getting out of the house for fresh air, meditation, and an occasional beverage never hurts.
Brian Shaw, CAPP
I have encouraged my team to take time off for themselves and I am doing the same with at least one long weekend a month. We also host a monthly Zoom happy hour for the team and openly acknowledge the challenging times we are handling and focus on not taking things personally.
Kim Jackson, CAPP
During COVID-19, I have been able reduce stress through physical activity and being mindful of the moment, not dwelling on the past or future. With staff, we established early in the pandemic weekly coffee hangouts: No agendas, just time to reconnect, catch up on anything, and everyone enjoys sharing.
Kathryn Hebert, PhD
Continuing to stay involved and active with the community, with networks and associations; staying in touch with friends, family and colleagues even if it’s through social media; spending lots of time with my husband and daughter; working out; and sometimes just hanging out watching Netflix!
Casey Jones, CAPP
Senior Parking & Mobility Planner DESMAN
Once each week I have a 30-minute video call with a few of my closest friends. We find things to laugh about, sometimes we blow off some steam together, and often we focus on each other rather than ourselves, which has helped me stay as centered as possible.
/HAVE A QUESTION? Send it to editor@parking-mobility.org and watch this space for answers from the experts. The opinions and thoughts expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions and viewpoints of the International Parking & Mobility Institute or official policies of IPMI.
The Making M of idtown Park
A new Houston property offers an urban oasis of sustainable and innovative design
By Brian Lozano, PMP
HISTORICALLY KNOWN as Houston’s second residential neighborhood, Midtown flourished through the mid-1940s, boasting Victorian homes owned by well-known families. After declining in the 1980s and 1990s, Midtown has rebounded to become one of Houston’s most bustling neighborhoods. It is now also home to Midtown Park, a landmark project completed near the end of 2018 that features a 2.5-acre park above a parking garage plus an entertainment pavilion, water features, an additional half-acre pocket park, restaurants, and luxury apartments.
“In addition to increasing community gathering opportunities and enhancing quality of life for current Midtown residents, the park will become an economic development catalyst to attract new development to Midtown,” says Marlon Marshall, director of engineering and construction at Midtown Redevelopment Authority (MRA), a nonprofit organization created to manage basic infrastructure improvements and encourage new residential and commercial development in the neighborhood.
Premier Park Space
Since the late 1990s, MRA had been working with developers and property owners to assemble what became a 6-acre tract of land commonly referred to as “the Midtown SuperBlock.” Through the years, the MRA board, staff, and design team consultants, with community and stakeholder input, worked to create a vision for a mixed-use project featuring an underground garage. “We wanted to create a premier urban park space in the heart of Midtown to become the focal point for the community and attract new development along the Main Street corridor,” says Marshall. The group brought in national engineering and consulting firm Walter P Moore as lead design consultant for the project. The goal was to bring nature to Midtown and revitalize the East Side, which had experienced a decline in retail occupancy.
Camden McGowen Station occupies three of the six total acres of development. The eight-story complex boasts more than 300 luxury studios, apartments, and townhomes. The multifamily community will include amenities such as a private parking garage, chef-inspired kitchens, spa-reminiscent bathrooms, and—capitalizing on its serene location—a community pool overlooking a portion of Midtown Park. Camden specifically responded to the scheme of the park with the design of their building forming an H and allowing for both park and downtown views.
One challenge that proved surmountable was how to host a living, sustainable park above a below-grade parking garage. Walter P Moore utilized a collaborative and integrated design approach to design an operationally efficient garage while allowing the park’s trees to also
grow and thrive. Partnering with landscape architect Design Workshop, Walter P Moore and Midtown MRA determined that providing both a large open lawn space and mature trees would help enhance the park’s aesthetic, attract visitors, and, most importantly, attract wildlife that was lacking in Midtown. Due to the compact size of the park and the fact that a large underground garage was located directly beneath the development, the team strategically located large trees throughout the park that required over five feet of clearance from the soil to the top of the structure to allow the roots to grow. The lid of the garage was sloped from the center outward to not only allow for enhanced drainage, but also provide adequate clearance for the grass blanketing the lawn space and a greater distance to sustain the trees.
Sustainable Solutions
The 400-space parking facility—which opened February 2017, just in time for Super Bowl weekend—sits virtually unnoticed below the SuperBlock. An intricate system of underslab draining capabilities, robust waterproofing, pumps, and a rainwater vault not only serve to self-water the landscape but also prevented the garage from flooding during Hurricane Harvey, which destroyed many surrounding homes and underground structures in August and September 2017.
Because the garage resides below an active and thriving park and just above the water table, a robust waterproofing system was provided to ensure long term
durability. A custom, hot-applied waterproofing membrane with a state-of-the-art integrated vector mapping leak detection system was installed to keep the lid of the garage dry and accurately detect the source of potential leaks. The basement walls and slabs are protected with a bentonite waterproofing membrane, a dual wall drainage system, and a full under-slab drainage system.
As a nod to Houston’s “Bayou City” nickname, the Park’s bayou landscape and waterway serve as part of the park’s stormwater infrastructure, mimicking the recirculating system of natural bayous and wetlands. Rainwater is collected through a piping system in the garage before it is pumped into a 70,000-gallon irrigation vault underground. The team planned for the impressive rainfall that often hits the Houston area and integrated a backup plan. The parking garage underslab drainage system pumps water into the irrigation vault, which is used to water the various landscape features in the park. When the vault fills up and cannot receive any additional water, a series of valves in the system allows the water to bypass the vault and drain into the bayou water feature, which also serves as the detention for the Midtown Park site.
Additionally, the parking structure meets the rigorous sustainability requirements of the district by providing energy efficient LED lighting with motion detection and dimming capabilities. Most importantly, the entire garage and park is powered by a 100 percent renewable energy provider.
Safety and Structure
The design of the garage accounts for various operational and long-term maintenance considerations to ensure it will operate efficiently and achieve a lifespan beyond 60 years. Enhanced wayfinding and a two-way traffic flow with dual express ramps allow for maximum operational flexibility during normal operation and events. Additionally, the garage utilizes an automated pay on foot revenue collection system. During events, payment collected upon entry allows for frictionless exiting. Currently, a manned security presence patrols both the park and garage, but the garage has infrastructure to accommodate security cameras and emergency phones. In addition to ensuring that the parking garage met all safety standards, the parking team at Walter P Moore designed additional lighting to help drivers adjust when transitioning from below ground to above ground. Additionally, the structure itself was designed with additional vertical clearance with the primary goal of helping people feel t extremely safe when parking in the garage.
There are many beautiful architectural features that the park and garage share, including the breathtaking 5,000-square-foot performance stage and pavilion that houses the main elevator lobby and stair that leads pedestrians from the park into the garage. The elevator lobby is surrounded by a custom and state-ofthe-art Novum glass curtain wall that is affectionately referred to as the glass cube. The performance pavilion also includes a one-of-a-kind water feature that simulates a thunderstorm as it builds in intensity.
The beautiful glass cube language translates down into the garage, allowing tons of natural light to pour in from the park above. To help with pedestrian wayfinding, each garage pedestrian portal was designed with cues from the park above and include color matching and patterned concrete with custom patterns in the basement walls.
Abundant Amenities
Midtown Park and Garage serves a variety of user groups. Visitors to the local eateries and night life and commuters alike utilize the garage as a transportation hub due to its adjacency to a METRO light rail station and onsite METRO bus shelters. B-Cycle stations were installed in the park to attract more pedestrians to the development.
Aside from visitors and commuters, the local community college uses the park for outdoor teaching opportunities at the custom chalkboard located on the park grounds.
The vehicular entry portal into the garage also provided a wonderful opportunity to integrate a oneof-a- kind dog play area. The entry ramp includes a lid where a dog run was constructed on the sloping portion to allow dog owners to run up and down the ramp with their furry friends. This unique feature provided a wonderful opportunity to capture an otherwise unusable space in the park. The ventilation system for the garage also received special architectural consideration as it is concealed entirely under the performance pavilion stage. This allowed for the stage to be raised above the surrounding park and provide a spectacular view and allow fresh air into the garage through concealed ventilation fans.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) was utilized throughout the design of the park and influenced the design of the garage. The garage design includes clear sight lines with minimal hidden corners. To aid in wayfinding, the garage is divided into three color zones with custom column wraps.
Fun Meets Functional
Bound by the SuperBlock of Main, McGowen, Travis, and Anita streets, Midtown Park offers residents a blend of urban living and functional green space. Many educational and sustainable features are interwoven into the fabric of the park’s design. When we considered the audience that would be utilizing the space, we pictured young professionals living in the area, working in downtown. The first day the gates came down, we saw urbanites in the park with their four-legged friends.
All of the spaces in the park and garage were employed to create a multiuse area that appeals to all brands of outdoor enthusiasts. The slope of the garage entrance, for instance, also operates as a portion of the off-leash dog park and serves as a highly popular dog run.
The Camden Pavilion’s water feature boasts a rainfall simulation program that can be turned on and off
to allow a still layer of water to remain (approximately 1/4-inch deep) that appears as clear as glass but morphs into a replication of a rainstorm in mere seconds. Jets shoot up through the water, making it look like raindrops. The intensity gradually increases, and the lights within the feature and around the pavilion come on, which is quite mesmerizing to watch.
A playground encourages exploration as well as activity, with climbing spheres, sound tubes, adult-size swings and interactive pipe sections. The social games area—where patrons can play bocce, washer pitching (a game similar to horseshoes), and other games—is surrounded by lush gardens.
The park contains a pavilion and stage area where concerts and other types of performances, as well as exercise classes and various other public events, will be held. There is also a designated space with plug-ins for food trucks, and the area behind the stage is wide enough for vehicles to pull up behind it to unload equipment. Tent anchors are set into the ground along the Promenade, encouraging farmers markets, craft fairs and other similar events.
“Since the start of construction at Midtown Park, there have been six new private development projects announced within three blocks of the park,” says Marshall. “These ongoing, planned or recently announced redevelopment projects include mixed-use residential/retail, multifamily and office projects, which we expect to generate an estimated $338 million in new taxable value in Midtown.”
Parks help maximize the long-term value of real estate since businesses and residents are willing to pay a premium to be near them. As a direct result, the park has become an economic catalyst attracting new development to the area. Midtown Park answers the need for a flourishing green space in an urban area while maintaining a stunning backdrop of the downtown skyline. ◆
BRIAN LOZANO, PMP, is principal with Walter P Moore. He can be reached at blozano@walterpmoore. com.
IPMI Lauches Revamped Awards & Recognition Programs
IPMI’S ANNUAL AWARDS AND RECOGNITION PROGRAMS celebrate individuals and organizations in the parking, transportation, and mobility industry. Winners in three major award categories—Awards of
Excellence, Professional Recognition, and Marketing—exemplify industry excellence.
The awards submission process will close October 30, 2020.
Submit today!
Awards of Excellence
Showcasing outstanding parking and transportation facilities and innovative programs in a number of categories, the Awards of Excellence require a formal entry submission and judging process. Many winning projects receive state, regional, national, and international media coverage. Owners, operators, and all project team members may submit their projects in these categories:
Best Design of a Mixed or Multi-Use
Parking & Transportation Facility.
Best Design of Parking Facility.
Best Design/Implementation of a
Surface Parking Lot.
Innovation in Mobility, Transportation, or Parking Program.
Best Parking/Transportation Facility
Rehabilitation or Restoration.
Award for Excellence in Sustainable
Design.
NEW: Award for Excellence in Sustainable Management.
Award for Excellence in Architectural
Design.
NEW! Award for Excellence in Innovation (in Mobility and Parking
Planning).
Professional Recognition Awards
Professional Recognition Awards recognize the individual contributions of parking, transportation, and mobility industry professionals—our industry’s best.
Entrants for these prestigious awards may be self- or peer-nominated. Nominees must be IPMI members in good standing and there is no nomination fee. Categories include:
Industry Professional of the Year.
Organization of the Year.
Emerging Leader of the Year.
NEW! Professional Excellence Award.
This new category recognizes all staff, from the frontline to management. Awards will recognize outstanding performance in a variety of areas, which may include Customer
Service, Operations, Marketing, etc.
Marketing Awards
These awards recognize outstanding marketing, public relations, and communications programs with the parking and mobility sector. Organizations may submit multiple submissions, but can only win one marketing award. IPMI encourages submissions in all marketing endeavors, and possible categories include:
Best Mobility Marketing Program
Best Parking Marketing Program
Best Social Media Program
Best Rebranding Campaign
IPMI offers a streamlined awards entry process via a sophisticated online platform. We encourage entries from all market segments and sectors; all IPMI members are invited to submit in all categories.
Submit your best people, programs, and projects—and be sure to share great pictures and visuals as part of the process.
Download comprehensive awards details and entry criteria at parking-mobility.org/awards.
IPMI Roadmap to Recovery
2020
Managing Through
Airport parking, mobility, and transportation department professionals share their COVID-19 experiences, what they’ve learned, and where they go from here.
IT WASN’T LONG AFTER COVID-19 SHUTDOWNS STARTED BACK IN MARCH that news cameras began descending on airports—empty, desolate airports. Every sector of the parking industry has experienced change thanks to the pandemic, but few have been hit as hard as those in and around airports. We reached out to our airport members to share their experiences; this is what they said.
Ben Carpenter, CAPP
Ben is manager of landslide operations at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, overseeing all aspects of the parking and ground transportation programs. Prior to this role, he was aviation superintendent of Parking Services at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. He started his career in parking management in 2004, working in the San Francisco Bay Area with SP+ for more than a decade.
At the Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) we are experiencing the same impact as all other airports; a serious decline in passengers that has directly correlated to a loss in parking and ground transportation (GT) customers. However, due to Reno being somewhat isolated in geography and not having any direct airport competition, (Sacramento International Airport is a two and a half hour drive away), our decline has been slightly less than the national average. But that shouldn’t lessen the severity of what we are seeing.
The parking impact is obvious. As the largest non-aeronautical revenue provider to the airport, seeing the parking demand drop has translated into a significant revenue decline for RNO.
In our GT program, we have seen some of our smaller providers cease operations at the airport, as well as a large decline in trips from our larger providers such as casino shuttles, TNCs, and taxis. Thankfully, throughout this uncertainty, we have not noticed any tangible drop in customer service from our travelers relying on our GT providers. This just goes to show how good our transportation partners are.
We are hoping to expand our technology where applicable in the parking program. Our near-term goal is to implement a parking reservation system (PRS) as a customer service amenity as well as to benefit from the touchless nature of those programs. We are also closely monitoring all metrics and trends as closely as possible to determine what the next few years will look like; one of these metrics is an increase in parking as a mode choice for travelers. Our parking transactions per enplaned passenger have increased at the same time as we have seen a decrease in the same metric for TNCs and taxis. This falls in line with the theory that travelers may be more likely to choose to be in their own cars as opposed to using shared or public transportation. It is too soon to determine if this is a trend or an anomaly however. If this does turn out to be a trend that has staying power, this will directly impact how we plan to accommodate parkers in the future.
What’s your longer term planning look like?
Before the pandemic began, we had a serious shortage of parking spaces, routinely averaging above 95 percent occupancy and implementing overflow parking procedures several weekends per year. For this year, we predicted that we would need overflow parking on 25 weekends with an additional four weekends needing some form of offsite parking from neighboring businesses. (Last year we used a local high school parking lot during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.) While nobody has a crystal ball and estimates about a full recovery time vary quite a bit, we are still looking at how to expand our parking layout for when demand gets back to pre-COVID levels.
A project that had been slated for this fiscal year was expanding our overflow parking footprint into an undeveloped lot. This would have yielded approximately 350 additional spaces that could be used for customer or employee parking. While that project is now delayed, we are still planning to move forward with it once we see the demand come back. We are also still in the development phase of a new CONRAC (consolidated rental car facility).
First and foremost, we have dramatically upped our cleaning procedures of our high touchpoint areas—entrances, exits, and pay stations. We are also in the process of looking at touchless capabilities of our PARCS system, whether it is an LPR solution, enhanced credit card in or out, or some of the other programs our PARCS partner has to offer.
One thing I am trying to do as a manager is keep employee morale as high as possible. Our parking and GT programs are run inhouse, therefore our staff of parking professionals are all part of the immediate RNO family. In this time of so much craziness, it’s important for managers to make sure the work environment is as positive and dare I say as fun as possible. We have several frontline staff that have been working full-time since the beginning of the pandemic, so it is immensely important that their efforts are recognized and celebrated.
Are there any silver linings?
One of the positives we have seen is our ability to tackle some long-needed maintenance projects. While I would much prefer for us to not have the ability to so easily complete these projects, finding some silver linings where possible has been a big win in a time when wins have been hard to come by.
Allen Corry, CAPP
Assistant Vice President. Transportation and Parking Business Unit Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas
Allen served 30 years in the U.S. Army, and began his parking career in 1998 at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, as associate director of parking and transportation for nine years. He worked for eight years as director of parking services for the Town of Greenwich, Conn., and is currently AVP of the Parking Business Unit at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Texas and a member of IPMI’s Board of Directors..
Our effort to retain and protect employees while supporting the airlines as they reduce their flights due to passenger reductions caused by the pandemic. We are allowing employee personnel who can support their operation from home to do so and providing them with the communication and technology to accomplish their tasks. For those who are not able to work from home because of their position, we ensure they have the proper PPE and social distancing instructions to properly and safely conduct their tasks.
Mike Maromaty, CAPP
Parking Manager Dane County Regional Airport
Mike’s parking career began immediately after receiving his management degree from Purdue. For several years, he worked for a parking operator in downtown Chicago terms of health, safety, customer service, facility cleanliness, and completing scheduled maintenance with little customer impact.
What’s on the horizon for your organization
managing a variety of location types, and for more than five We have been carefully following health and safety procedures; we have decreased our number of face-toface cash transactions through effective signage, tech
years, he has managed the Parking Division at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisc.
The extreme decline in revenue. Despite the shortfall, we are working to maintain a positive facility image in
We will continue to monitor the situation and enforce all health safety guidelines in the airport. We would like to continue to move forward with all capital improvement programs (CIP), but timing could shift for projects depending on urgency as we are in a reactive environment.
to your organization and parking and
nology, and customer service.
Continue efforts to make your patrons feel healthy, safe, and appreciated.
We have implemented “new normal” procedures, providing masks not only to employees but customers as well, mandating facial coverings, and sanitizing vehicles daily after use. All employees will have their temperature taken when they enter the workplace. Each employee has been issued a pandemic kit that includes thermometers to take their own temperature at home before they come to work every day and if they do not feel well, they are asked to stay home. We have implemented signage on buses and in terminals reminding customers to wear facial coverings, wash their hands, and social distance.
We’ve developed additional guidance and best practices for a safe recovery and re-opening, including establishing a flexible work schedule policy; leveraging IT for tools, training, and best practices for telecommuting; developing enhanced tools and guidance on how to manage performance for remote work; and creating an internal, dedicated COVID-19/New Normal webpage to keep employees informed.
Foremost, insist or mandate employees and customers wear facial coverings, maintain at least six feet of distance between people, and remind all to wash hands often by installing signage throughout the terminals, restrooms, and common areas. It is critical that all employees take responsibility to curb the spread of this deadly virus, both when at work and away from the airport.
Leadership can ensure that employees understand of the seriousness of the emergency and that they follow the guidance and instructions to reduce community spread. This has helped keep the number of cases down at DFW. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that we must be prepared for any other emergency of this nature with a protocol to address this in the future.
Frank Ragozzino
Frank has served more than 37 years at the Philadelphia Parking Authority, and started his career as a parking enforcement officer at the city’s On-Street Parking Program in 1983. He has held various positions during his career in the On-Street Parking Division, PPA administration, including the last 15 years as director of airport operations.
We’ve been developing core strategies for guest and business recovery, which is an ongoing process. To date, we have cut back on operating expenses. We’ve accomplished this with reductions in staffing, holds on capital projects, closing our economy lot facility, and repurposing garage parking for multi-use demand (long- and short-term, employee parking, and extended stay discount) to meet the various needs of our customers.
What’s on the horizon for your organization and your policies in response to the protracted nature of the pandemic? What’s your longer-term planning look like?
As an organization, we will continue with our No. 1 objective: to keep our employees and customers safe. We will remain diligent by following and enforcing the number of new policies and procedures that have been implemented. Longer term, we are focused on developing strategies and programs for business recovery. Based on the airport’s data we anticipate as much as three-year recovery period.
In terms of employee and customer safety, the Philadelphia Parking Authority established a COVID-19 playbook to be followed by all departments and employees. Also, the airport’s Division of Aviation has published and implemented new policies and procedure for their tenants, employees, and travelers.
Understand the evolving needs of your operation in these difficult times. Be supportive and flexible to meet the needs of both patrons and staff. Continue to engage and share information as an industry as we all work though these difficult times.
Matt Sherwood, CM
Matt is revenue strategy program manager with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. He is responsible for helping manage revenue and consumer strategy for the parking and ground transportation offerings for the nation’s capital’s airports.
As passenger activity has dropped significantly, we are challenged to adjust our operations to limit costs while still providing convenient and safe parking and transportation offerings for our passengers.
We have focused on developing a comprehensive and careful recovery plan that is extremely flexible to allow the organization the agility necessary to adapt to the current dynamic environment.
Are there any silver linings?
We see this as a unique opportunity to reset the pricing of our products to shrink the operation. It’s an opportunity to move customers into our in-close facilities, which will ultimately improve the customer experience and decrease the reliance on shuttling. ◆
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in Public Places ART
From Steel and Asphalt to Art in Public Places
WHO DOESN’T LIKE ART? It makes us think and feel and can bring beauty into our lives. Public art serves the same functions. Cities become more interesting and vibrant when their residents and visitors experience art in public places as they go about their day.
The first public art programs started as part of the New Deal, with the formation of the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture in 1934.
The City of Norwalk, Conn., recognized the importance of creating public art spaces to enhance economic development. They did this by leveraging parking dollars and municipal capital funds while partnering with the Arts Commission to create community inspired public spaces.
Art In and On Garages
In Norwalk, public art abounds. The Norwalk Parking Authority has been a large proponent of public art with its Art in Parking Places initiative, in collaboration with the Norwalk Arts Commission. In one parking garage, the Maritime Garage, there is an urban art gallery; situated across from the Maritime Aquarium, the gallery features regular juried art shows and community exhibits.
The Yankee Doodle Garage in the Wall Street area is itself a work of art with a light installation on its facade. The installation gives a sense of movement through logistically and creatively placed LED lighting that illuminate the exterior wall while drawing light from the garage interior LED lights.
Two other Art in Parking Places initiatives are in the South Norwalk Train Station. The first includes hand-sized, cast aluminum forms distributed throughout the station that depict items associated with South Norwalk, including an oyster schooner, a buoy, and lighthouse, as well as a hat on a hat box. The second is located in the tunnel connecting eastbound and westbound sides of the station. A mural of silhouetted figures illustrating the transit history of the South Norwalk railroad station and the surrounding community reflected by the fashion of the generations of passengers that have passed through.
Traffic Boxes
Another unconventional public art project in the city is found on traffic boxes. The Traffic Graphic Program brings creativity and color to traffic boxes all over Norwalk. Dull traffic boxes have been turned into vibrant works of public art with themes including literary works, music, and Connecticut at Work, representing aspects of Norwalk’s many diverse current and historic industries such as manufacturing, farming, transportation, and oystering.
Crosswalks
In 2019, the City of Norwalk created an Artistic Crosswalk Program. Artistic Crosswalks use colors, textures, and patterns to enliven city streets as engaging and safe places for people. They can be designed to reflect the special character of a neighborhood, mark the gateway to a district, or otherwise create local identity and pride. They offer a playful, cost-efficient, and low-maintenance tool to highlight marked pedestrian crossings. In addition to being fun, they raise awareness of pedestrian safety. Artistic Crosswalks are used around the country and world to promote art, enhance pedestrian safety and to help identify the uniqueness of a neighborhood or area.
Outside Dining
This summer, as a result of COVID-19 safe distancing policies and in an effort to help restaurants open, the City of Norwalk repurposed on-street parking and expanded an outdoor dining area on the sidewalk while creating a safe pedestrian walkway on Washington Street in the
From Steel and Asphalt to Art in Public Places
SoNo Area. The walkway was created using concrete barriers. The city and the parking authority partnered with the Arts Commission and collaborated and created an outdoor mural that covers the walkway barriers.
Murals
Norwalk also is home to its own New Deal murals—the largest collection in the U.S. These WPA murals are located in City Hall, the Norwalk Transit District, Norwalk Community College, the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, and the Norwalk Public Library. Other public murals are located around town at Calf Pasture Beach and in SoNo. Sculpture is also represented in a number of public places around Norwalk, including Oyster Shell, Cranbury, and Veteran’s Parks, and Washington Street Plaza.
Seeing art around us in our homes and in our public spaces is good for the soul (some studies say it’s even good for our health!). We can stop, ponder, take a breath, feel different emotions, and think beyond the day-to-day. Public art can even be an icebreaker, allowing us to start up conversations with strangers on the street. Norwalk has many spaces for us to do this. So get out, explore, and enjoy! ◆
KATHRYN HEBERT, PhD, is director of transportation, mobility, and parking with the City of Norwalk, Conn. and a member of IPMI’s Board of Directors. She can be reached at khebert601@gmail.com.
OPINION
How North American airports can grow loyalty and revenue by embracing a European model for parking.
AS FELLOW MOBILITY NERDS, do you ever sit back and think about what the travel day experience used to look like before technology took over? Wasn’t it amazing planning in extra time to beat traffic, circling the airport parking lots—crossing your fingers to find a spot quickly—printing your boarding pass, and rushing to get through security? If you woke up late and didn’t live somewhere where taxis clogged city veins, your flight might take off without you. Now, technology has made our travel days easier, quicker, and less stressful. Figuring out how to speed up travel while providing an outstanding customer experience is a challenge many North American airports are looking to solve.
TAKING
In major European cities, travelers have long had the ability to compare airport parking online, order a ride in a rush, or stick to the old classic and have a friend drop them off at the curb. The airport curb has changed drastically in just five years and that change isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon. Although Western airports are working to change infrastructure and find efficiencies in current designs, there is still room for advancement. North American airports can easily catch up to the European model by adding online parking reservations, diverse channel partners, and leveraging dynamic pricing.
Airport Mobility
European travelers benefit from accessible mobility options through multiple marketing channels. Providing diverse mobility options opens the door to reach a different demographic of customers, creating higher visibility and awareness. It is not surprising that technology erases multiple layers of travel friction. While the U.S. airport traveler can do research in advance to determine official airport parking rates, reserve off-airport parking options, or order a ride-share, most often, it can’t all be done through one central app or website. This creates friction and frustration for customers looking to price-compare, often resulting (at least, pre-COVID) in losing customers to the most seamless of these options: rideshare. Most European airports have long allowed travelers the ability to compare on and off-airport parking options on multiple apps and websites they probably already use, by distributing their parking inventory across multiple third-party marketing channels.
Offering multiple transport options improves the customer experience and eases congestion. Several airports in North American are starting to adapt the European model by pairing online reservations with dynamic pricing.
“Although U.S. airports are starting to implement online booking systems, there is still a long way to go for them to catch up to the European model,” says Dean Holmes, client success director, AeroParker. Examples of airports adding these services include Ontario International Airport (ONT), which implemented online parking reservations and dynamic pricing a year ago, and Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), which launched similar features in February.
Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) was the first North American airport to distribute parking inventory across multiple third-party channel partners. Toronto Pearson is also one of the most recent North American airports to have started building a diverse mobility portfolio for airport transportation to cut down travel friction.
“It is our vision to ensure that anyone travelling through Toronto Pearson experiences a healthy airport environment,” the GTAA says. “We continue to enhance existing measures and implement new initiatives and processes that ensure a healthy experience for passengers and all airport workers, including through our various transportation offerings. Of course, in addition to the measures implemented as a result of the pandemic, we continue to provide convenient parking options that feature a contactless experience, flex bookings that may be cancelled within 24 hours’ notice and on-site covered parking just steps away from the terminal with no shuttle required. Parking with us is comfortable, seamless and stress-free.”
Creating a hassle-free travel experience starts by offering online parking not only on the airport’s website, but also the apps and websites that travelers already use.
Online Reservations
The first step North American airports can take to catch up to European Airports is to launch an online parking reservation system. With an estimated 57 percent of the globe’s population using the internet, airports need to have an online presence. Creating an online reservations system allows the airport to start collecting user profiles and use that information in addition to the standard email collected when travelers sign into the airport’s public wifi. Knowing when a frequent flyer typically parks before their flight is especially valuable for forecasting occupancy and allows for mass data collection, which is essential to successful dynamic pricing.
One North American airport that recently implemented the European model is Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). Charlotte Airport now offers travelers the option to book airport parking ahead of time directly from its website. When customers book parking ahead of time, they cut down on travel friction and may even be rewarded with a lower daily rate when parking for extended periods of time— through dynamic pricing.
Customers around the globe turn to an array of booking services whenever they’re planning ahead of time. Mobile applications are just one of the many avenues drivers turn down, along with searching online. Airport parking is one of the top terms among mobility searches, and in the age of technology, customers seek options. Many European airports have seen success using channel partners to grow their business.
How European Channel Partners Grow Business
It’s no secret that the majority of travelers actually prefer parking over other options to get to the airport. The European model for airport transportation highlights the importance of using channel partners to make parking more visible.Travelers who stick to drive-up and enjoy that experience are loyal customers, but what about tapping into a network of travelers who prefer to be prepared? European airports excel at partnering with channel partners to reach a new audience.
U.K. airports commonly list available parking inventory on more than 50 distribution channels. By listing on an array of different channels, U.K. airports expand marketing reach and make inventory visible to acquire new customers. Comparing the traditional email capture to the new approach exponentially grows user profiles. Gathering data can be a useful tool to acquire new customers, grow revenue, and implement demand-based pricing.
What Is Demand-Based Pricing?
Demand-based pricing, also called yield management, is an algorithm that combines online and drive-up demand to suggest an optimized price. This newer feature shook up the mobility landscape recently, but airlines have used this strategy for years. For example, customers can search for flights from Toronto to Chicago on several different search engines and see different prices. This pricing transparency creates a winning situation for both the airport and the traveler.
“Dynamic pricing allows airports to move from rigid pricing rules to a flexible approach that enables them to tailor pricing to the demand of their specific lots, growing revenues by optimizing utilization and rates offered,” says Ryan MacLagan, account executive at IDeaS. “As travelers’ demands continue to evolve, they will demand personalized, seamless, integrated experiences at the best price. A dynamic pricing strategy for parking supports a better traveler experience, while driving commercial growth from the airport asset.” Demand-based pricing wins over customers.
Whenever airport parking is low in demand, customers can save money over waiting until demand has increased. Capturing a customer is important regardless of where they are in the pre-travel day journey. Travelers who have a parking reservation are less likely to cancel it and consider an alternative mode of transportation. Changing plans last minute adds another layer of friction to the customer’s travel day.
Listing inventory through an online channel will expose the business to new customers and demand-based pricing maximizes revenue potential. Most on- and off-airport locations in North America price spots per day, while many European airports moved to dynamic pricing years ago and left daily pricing at the gate. Airport operators across the globe that have implemented dynamic pricing often see the impact almost immediately.
“Evidenced in Europe from first adoption of IDeaS CPRMS nearly 15 years ago, clients of all sizes are experiencing revenue growth year after year. Typically an IDeaS Airport client experiences double digit incremental revenue growth in the first year. An example from here in the Americas, Montreal Trudeau International grew revenues by more than 12 percent, even with capacity down by 15 percent due to construction.” says MacLagan.
North American airports can easily catch up to the European airport model by implementing an online reservation system, leveraging third-party channel partners and utilizing dynamic pricing. Channel partners and airports can create the ultimate customer experience, together. Thanks to technology and partnerships, the only extra time travelers need to plan into the travel day is time to relax. ◆
STEVEN JUNKINS is senior vertical sales manager with SpotHero. He can be reached at steven@ spothero.com.
