When to engage a Parking Consultant can sometimes be a difficult decision.
Do you use one on a big parking deck project and if so, when do you get them involved? . . .If you don’t charge for parking, do you need one? . . . If you handle all of your billing on a monthly basis “in-house", what could a parking consultant offer?
These are all valid questions so let’s take a brief look at each one.
We have seen many parking decks built over the years that had more spaces than were necessary or were inefficient in their parking layouts from the onset. When you consider that each marked car space in a parking deck will cost anywhere from $10-16,000 on average to build, you can see that an “extra” 70 spaces or so is $1 Million Dollars that did not have to be spent! And that’s without land cost! Still other times we’ve seen where an architect has done a beautiful job of conceptualizing a parking garage and used a layout “right out of the books” that should be functional. However, based on the various types of parkers will ultimately be utilizing the facility, we knew the layout would NOT flow smoothly or be “user-friendly” at all.
Since we are parking operators, we know first hand what parking layouts may be best suited for a particular user mix. We’ve been able to suggest alternative layouts that required altering column spacing slightly but the result was a more efficient utilization of parking space and a smoother in traffic flow. It is ALWAYS much easier to change a drawing than to change a parking deck after construction has begun or it’s been built!
Sometimes Hospital Employee or University Campus parking is essentially free and we have seen inefficient layouts or bottle neck producing traffic patterns. Too often, the number of parking spaces is overbuilt simply in the hopes of addressing overlapping shift changes and class attendance. We’ve even experienced a case where there were 742 employees but over the years and through different departments, 957 parking stickers were “out there"! Consequently, a commuter ride-sharing program had developed undetected!
Niche retailers in smaller towns and city areas seem to always say their customers have no place to park and that consequently, more parking spaces need to be built. Sometimes that is true. However, many times we’ve been able to determine that employees are soaking up all of the “front door” spaces or that parking meter enforcement is easily fooled or not enforced regularly. This forces true customers to circle endlessly looking for a space or having to park a few blocks away and walk. Instead of attempting to find land and financing to build a parking deck, maybe the problems can be alleviated by actively addressing the problems noted through alternative methods.
“In-house” parking can be a “hit or miss” proposition at times. We’ve seen some well run operations, but we have also seen many that had countless loopholes. Tenant lease parking requirements and charges were not being followed accurately, friendly “free-bees” were rampant, validations were out of control as everyone ended up having a “rubber stamp” in their drawer, and there was basically no way to audit the system!
This is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of occasions when a Parking Consultant would have been helpful but I think you at least get an idea of just how valuable experienced and knowledgeable parking input can be at various times.
If you have parking involved with your business you probably have some parking related problems. Best Park may be able to help. Unlike so many “Consultants” and “Experts", we are parking operators and we live with our decisions each and every day. We take great pride in problem solving and we are fully aware of how challenging some parking problems can be!
We invite you to contact us with your parking related problems. It just might be one of the Best calls you ever made!