Posts tagged traffic congestion
Parking Operator Denison Parking Improves Enforcement by Deploying CleverCompliance

Parking operator Denison Parking recently achieved a 50% increase in enforcement revenues and 10% decrease in labor costs by deploying Cleverciti’s CleverCompliance solution. The successful collection and utilization of parking data has become a key issue for all parking owners and operators today. Parking technology has come a long way in a short amount of time, and it has completely transformed and expanded opportunities to achieve nearly any goal stakeholders may have.

Quality data has quickly become the answer to many of the issues these organizations face, from increasing revenues and streamlining staffing, to reducing carbon emissions and enhancing the user experience. With the right solution in place, it is now possible to obtain truly real-time parking data (occupancy, utilization, payment compliance, etc.) from multiple parking locations simultaneously. This allows organizations to evaluate and make immediate improvements across their entire portfolio. Parking operator Denison Parking recently achieved a 50% increase in enforcement revenues and 10% decrease in labor costs by deploying Cleverciti’s CleverCompliance solution.

Like many operators, Denison Parking was looking for a more efficient way to enforce and manage their portfolio of parking lots and garages through technology. Since developing the first self-park garage in Indianapolis (only the fifth in the country) and growing to now operate more than 90,000 parking spaces across the country, Denison has cemented its legacy of innovation and thought leadership. 

Inspired by a rich history of forward-thinking solutions, and the specific goal of increasing compliance and enforcement revenues, Denison engaged Cleverciti to identify a parking intelligence solution to meet the unique needs of a parking lot in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. The extremely high turnover lot provides parking for city residents and visitors to numerous destinations including events, restaurants, office buildings, and more.

The location had become difficult to enforce given an extensive range of payment options available to users including parking permits, mobile payment apps, and multi-space meters. While this setup accomplished the purpose of enhancing convenience for customers, it presented challenges to enforcement staff, requiring them to manually check each payment. Further, many parkers had taken advantage of this situation, especially during very short parking periods, allowing them to arrive and depart quickly without paying. Denison knew they were not only missing out on enforcement revenues, but also accruing unnecessary labor costs through this process.

Cleverciti worked with Denison to identify the solution that would best meet their needs. The objectives for this project were to decrease labor through automation, generate data to evaluate parking utilization, improve compliance, and obtain real-time compliance levels and alerts to automate enforcement.

Cleverciti installed two overhead, optical occupancy detection sensors to cover 69 parking spaces across the project area. The solution included Cleverciti’s space detection and management service, as well as enhanced analytics software. The Cleverciti Space Management solution monitors real-time parking occupancy, enabling Denison to gather and analyze the most accurate parking data updated every few seconds, as well as view historical data to predict and evaluate parking demand and habits to support smart parking decisions.

Denison and Cleverciti also collaborated to develop the CleverCompliance solution to provide payment compliance by space. This feature takes the occupancy data obtained through Cleverciti’s solutions and compares it to payment data from the parking meters and mobile app, revealing concrete real-time compliance data. Further, the solution also sends compliance alerts directly to parking enforcement officers, allowing them to immediately identify vehicles parked illegally or that have overstayed, and ticket them rather than sift through extensive payment information to identify violators.

The results of this project have been groundbreaking and will serve as a platform for future rollouts. Denison has identified numerous improvements to the operation at the lot including:

·        50% increase in enforcement revenues

·        10% decrease in labor costs

Prior to this project, Denison was only able to view parking lot utilization based on payments. Today, they can evaluate utilization based on occupancy, significantly improving the efficiency of the lot. This project has successfully achieved all identified objectives including streamlining enforcement, capturing lost revenues, and obtaining highly accurate and real-time utilization data. Additionally, they recently installed a new Cleverciti Sign, a fully digital dynamic messaging sign to show parking occupancy to the driver before arriving. This has been beneficial advertising the available spaces, thereby increasing utilization of the hard to see spaces at the rear of the lot.

According to Denison President Perry Griffith, III, “This partnership between Denison and Cleverciti has transformed our ability to obtain and understand parking compliance data in this key asset in our portfolio. The solutions implemented have greatly improved the ability of staff to enforce the lot, allowing us to improve compliance and identify inefficiencies. We are very pleased with the results, having increased our enforcement revenues and streamlined our operations staff so they can focus on more valuable activities like lot safety, customer service, and maintenance.”

To learn more about how Cleverciti can provide your organization with the solutions to meet your unique needs visitwww.cleverciti.com or contact Andrew LaMothe, Vice President of Sales, North America.

What is Smart Tourism?

Smart tourism makes a smart city

Smart tourism plays a key role in the development of smart cities, as initiatives to attract tourists can cause a significant increase in people and cars in even the smallest of towns. Smart solutions, such as smart parking, can make a good destination into a great destination. 

Smart tourism in short

Smart Tourism

According to the European Capital of Smart Tourism Initiative, a smart tourism destination is:

“A destination facilitating access to tourism and hospitality products, services, spaces, and experiences through ICT-based tools. It is a healthy social and cultural environment, which can be found through a focus on the city’s social and human capital. It also implements innovative, intelligent solutions and fosters the development of entrepreneurial businesses and their interconnectedness.”

Smart tourism vs. Smart parking

Tourism causes traffic influx in popular tourist destinations resulting in rush hours with more and more people searching for parking spaces. Smart parking solutions detect parking space availability in real-time, helping to optimize on-street parking around busy areas. 

The average tourist aims to park their vehicle in the city center or as close to major tourist attractions, such as beaches or ski resorts, as possible. The resulting search traffic not only increases congestion and traffic hazards but also influences the quality of life for residents and visitors alike. Smart parking solutions help reduce search traffic by providing turn-by-turn guidance navigating drivers to the most convenient (nearest) parking space.

The average driver spends ten to twenty minutes each time they search for a parking space—a waste of time and a serious stressor with a negative environmental impact. Smart parking solutions can remedy the situation and considerably enhance the experience that smart tourism provides. 

Smart tourism in practice

Public-private partnership is essential when running a smart tourism initiative. A public-private partnership means that two or more public and private organizations make a long-term arrangement to work together. In other words, governments and businesses come together to complete a project or to provide services to the inhabitants. A great example of a public-private partnership is the project that Cleverciti did in collaboration with the tourism agency of the Lübeck Bay, where smart parking sensors were placed near the local beaches to measure occupancy and availability and guide the visitor to the nearest available spot. This project was honoured with the German Tourism Price 2020. 

Other examples of smart tourism initiatives are a public water fountain locator as part of a tourism website, or an app that offers city tours with audio to be downloaded on the visitor’s own device. The great thing about smart tourism apps: they are not dependent on seasonality. 

Want to know more about smart tourism? Read our article on the 7 future trends of smart tourism here

If you would like to know how to turn your city into a smart tourism destination, then book a meeting with one of our smart parking experts by clicking the button below. 

El Monte applies Cleverciti's smart parking guidance to accommodate shoppers and stimulate the use of public transport
Cleverciti Circ in El Monte, CA

Cleverciti recently announced a new smart parking guidance installation coming up in El Monte, California, tailored to downtown commuters and visitors. The installation is aimed to support local businesses, reduce emissions and traffic in the suburb of Los Angeles. 

The project began in March 2021 and will be completed in July 2021. Cleverciti’s technology will be deployed at El Monte’s Main Street and MetroLink parking lots, as these are two of the busiest and most congested areas of the suburb.

Cleverciti’s turn-by-turn guidance signage covers over 400 parking spaces and is accompanied by the Cleverciti App that is available to drivers through a mobile device. The app shows in real-time where available parking spaces are in the chosen areas. 

Around El Monte’s Metrolink and Main Street lots, Cleverciti Circ® 360 LED signs, installed on existing lampposts, display live parking information in 360 degrees, leading drivers to the nearest available parking space.

Better access to the Main Street parking lot will allow residents and visitors to enjoy downtown restaurants, retail shops, and more, which in its turn will boost the local economy. Better access to the Metrolink parking lots makes the commuters’ journey into the downtown area a lot more enjoyable and easy. Cleverciti’s information on parking space availability in combination with Metrolink’s data on the capacity on the train is meant to make the choice for commuters to take the train an easy one; while reducing vehicle miles traffic, greenhouse gas emissions, and traffic congestion. 

Cleverciti is very excited to work with the city of El Monte to support local small and medium-sized businesses, while also improving the quality of life for residents and visitors. 

Read the full press release here: