A parking management plan lays out the objectives and policies to optimize a car park. Plans often focus on areas such as occupancy, layout, violation management and allocation. In this blog, we’ll look at the three main types of parking management plan and who tends to prepare them.
1. Office parking management plan
Generally, this strategy will fall under the remit of a facilities professional. Although input from HR and the landlord will be key. The primary consideration for an office focused plan will be space usage.
“Employers are looking to ensure the car park is adding as much value to employees as possible”
We troubleshot the most common employee parking problems in a previous blog.
An office focused car park management plan will be broken down into a couple of key categories.
Layout – how many parking spaces can be fit into the space? Is double parking allowing? Do you need EV charging points?
Control – how will companies manage who can access a car park? Is there going to be gates or barriers? If so how will employees be able to get through them?
Allocation – which employees get what space? How do employees know which spaces to park in? What happens if a spaceholder isn’t coming to the office on a particular day? How are waiting lists managed?
Occupancy – how do companies track what space is in use and when? How do companies monitor whether they need to reduce or increase space? How do employers limit staff arriving at work with cars when the car park is already full?
Violation Management – what do employers do when someone is parked somewhere they shouldn’t be? How are violations communicated with employees? Are there any penalties for misbehavior?
A robust parking management plan is a key tool for any employer who is looking to reduce parking pain at work.
2. Residential parking management plan
This maps out how parking works at a residential development. It will most commonly be used in apartment blocks or in mixed used developments.
The key areas to consider when looking at a residential plan are:
Planning – is there a minimum number of spaces required by law? Can addditional car park sharing or carsharing technologies be applied to reduce thresholds?
Layout – how can parking spaces be laid out to ensure easy access to homes for residents? How many spaces per housing unit?
Control – how are residents given access to the car park? Who is making sure that only permitted cars are in the car park? What happens to rogue parkers?
Guest – people have guests to their homes, what happens when they do? Where do these people park and how are they granted access?
A little simpler to manage then an office car park due to less coming and going of vehicles. However, a clear plan is key to managing parking for apartment blocks.
3. City parking management plan
This is where things can get complicated and fast. All cities need a parking management strategy to decide how parking works in their district.
“Most cities have a broad range of parking facilities including timed parking, multi-storey parking, residential parking, on-street parking, employee parking and special permit parking”
Preparation of any strategy will likely differ from any residential or office plan. Generally cities will contract expert consultants to liaise with all stakeholders to build a plan which looks at the following key areas:
Supply – is there enough space or too much? Could space be better used for other public infrastructure projects? Are spaces in the right places?
Environment – are there ongoing congestion and environmental issues in district? Will changing parking supply and pricing impact this positively or negatively?
Pricing – is the current pricing structure incentivizing or disincentivizing people to travel to your urban area? What impact will price changes have on revenue and traffic projections?
Retail – what supports do retailers need to ensure access is easy to their stores? What impact does reducing/increasing supply and/or pricing have on local shops?
Management – who will oversee revenue collection? Who will monitor compliance and issue penalties accordingly?
Developing a detailed parking plan is a must for all cities particularly with climate concerns placing increased pressure on local governments to respond to the needs of the modern world.
Discover more about the world of parking technology with our guides to parking technology, parking software and smart parking.
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