Whether you are planning a brand new parking garage or upgrading an older structure, parking guidance systems are the new essential feature to enhance efficiency in an ever-expanding parking and transportation challenge facing airports around the globe. Can you imagine a passenger terminal without signs and monitors guiding travelers to their departure gates or to the correct baggage claim area? Of course not! Why then, would you not want to begin the airport customer experience out on the roadway, guiding them to the most convenient, available, parking space with real-time dynamic signage and single space indicators? We have all suffered the agony of searching up and down full aisles, trying to find an open space. It’s an experience we all dread, especially knowing that we need to be inside the airport to catch a flight or to meet an arriving friend or family member. You check your watch, and your stress level rises as you are burning gas, creating CO2, adding to the congestion, and praying for an empty space behind that big white van – Darn! There’s a Mini hiding in there! You hit the gas and head to the next aisle.
Parking guidance brings advanced organization and efficiency to reduce congestion, stress and pollution. This is achieved by the use of integrated intelligent software and hardware in and around the parking structure. The system directs drivers to the most available parking structure by the use of wayfinding signs on the roadway. At the entrance of the parking structure, the driver is informed of the number of available spaces on each level. Yes, many airports have already installed such systems, but the challenge remains in the last few hundred yards where the driver is left to comb the aisles looking for those illusive open spots which were promised by the level signs. Unfortunately, level counting systems are often plagued with errors which compound daily and eventually render the system useless, creating frustration for drivers and parking operations managers alike. Here’s where a parking guidance system with single space monitoring and color coded LED indicators fills the gap. Once inside the structure the driver is guided to an aisle with open spaces with aisle count signs. Finally, in the aisle, open spaces are easily identified by green LED lights among rows of otherwise red lights (occupied spaces). So you will know in advance if that Mini is behind the van or not! Once the driver is parked in the space, the LED light above the space changes to red, and the amount of open spaces is reduced by one in the aisle, level, and garage count signs throughout the system. Designated ADA-handicapped and EV charging spots can also be indicated with blue and purple LEDs, respectively, for easy identification.
The benefits of single space monitoring parking guidance systems are considerable: a 2 – 5 % increase in patronage and customer loyalty by reducing search times and reducing bottlenecks. Revenue is boosted by higher turnover and increased occupancy. Facility utilization is increased when motorists find the open spaces more easily, and recirculation routes can even be converted to more parking spaces to increase capacity of a new or old structure. CO2 is also reduced by as much as 250,000 lbs a year based on a 1,000 car garage. Your sustainability officer will certainly perk-up hearing that!
One recent installation has reported drivers have been able to locate a parking space on average in 2.5 minutes, compared with a previously reported 15 minute average search. That’s more than 12 minutes of additional shopping, eating, drinking, or just plain relaxing for your time-starved customers.
Today’s complete parking guidance system provides a clear path from approach, to structure entry, to floor levels and rows, and finally to the first available space. It’s an investment that pays back every year with measurable results in customer loyalty, reduced CO2, optimized capacity utilization, and increased revenue!