I read with interest Casey Jones’ entry at the Parking Matters Blog a couple of days ago. Basically he is beating the global warming drum and touting the IPI’s support for all things sustainable. Fair Enough.
However I think I must have missed something. Supporters, companies, countries and the like are falling off the Global Warming/Climate Change bandwagon right and left. The last two UN meetings have been complete busts, by any measure. Scientist after Scientist are finding fact after fact that debunk the so called ‘settled science.’ While many organizations that base their existence on Global Warming alarmists and still stirring the pot, their voices are becoming less and less strident.
We find almost daily that ‘facts’ that proved “Global Warming/Climate change” aren’t. Polar Bears are thriving, Glaciers aren’t receding, temperatures and bumping around in ways not predicted three or five years ago, what appears sustainable (ethanol) really isn’t, the carbon footprint of this or that “green” item is really worse than its predecessor.
Even President Obama, not known for his skeptical views, failed to even mention Climate Change in his 2012 Earth Day proclamation, even though last year it was the primary theme of his speech. Last month 49 retired NASA scientists wrote to the director “admonishing the agency for it’s role in advocating a high degree of certainty that man-made CO2 is a major cause of climate change while neglecting empirical evidence that calls the theory into question.” Read all about it here.
And then there’s this article, in the London Daily Mail which quotes UK Meteorologists and NASA on ….well read it yourself — but it does have the Thames freezing over.
All the information I listed above was in journals, newspapers, and reports over the last three months. This isn’t new, it’s now finding its way into the mainstream media. To say that the ‘science is settled’ seems to me to be a tad overstated.
I like Todd Meyers, keynote speaker at PIE’s, approach — Strive for good stewardship. Spend money on sustainability when it makes a difference. Expensive solar panels and wind farms make little economic sense, but that same money could be spent on better design, research, and ways to move us from one energy system to another without bankrupting society. Remember, it will be the least among us who will suffer when economic times worsen.
Moving headlong into one program or another without question is usually fraught with disaster. Unintended consequences tend to pop up everywhere. We might do better to check the schedule and see just which one has left the station. We might be in the wrong car.
JVH
The BBC reported here what began as a pitch for a new book on parking and ended as a summary of what parking is like around the world. A nice puff piece. Check it out. What caught my eye was a sidebar:
My Kingdom for a Parking Space
Parking lots can occasionally be places of culture. In New York the Shakespeare in the Lot project puts on the bard’s plays for free in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
The project’s artistic director, Hamilton Delancey, who has been involved for 11 years, said: “We set out about 50 plastic seats and people bring their own chairs and blankets and we usually get up to 250 for a performance.
Mr Delancey, who is putting on The Merry Wives Of Windsor and Coriolanus this summer, said: “Sometimes it can quite get quite surreal. You could be staging Othello and a driver will come back to pick up their car and there’s an audience surrounding it.
“But the actors will stop, step aside, everybody will move their chairs, the cars backs out, then the audience sits back down, the actor – still in character – carries on without missing a beat.”
This is terrific — People crowd around, watch the play, and if someone wants their car, they just stop the play, move out of the way, the car is retrieved, then they press on. I love it.
Yet another use for the poor browbeaten parking garage. Break a leg.
JVH
I have added the ParkMe blog to the list over on the left hand column. They write this week about the new light rail line that is opening up between downtown LA and Culver City, and its wonders. There are a number of interesting articles including a review of the parking issues in the Dodger sale, SF Park, and new apps that are coming out way.
I’m just skeptical that Los Angeles is built for this type of rapid transit and if we can survive the costs. The distances are so great here — its what 14 miles from Santa Monica to downtown LA. This new line is 7 miles long. Can the stations be close enough so people can walk from the stations to their destinations? That is the case in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Paris, and other places where such transit systems are in place.
Of course, time will tell. They have been building the London system for over 100 years, the most recent line opening about a decade ago (Jubilee extension to the docklands, for those who care). So maybe in 100 years, underground rail and light rail will be so pervasive here in LA that it will work.
The problem is always who will foot the bill. I’m not sure its the responsibility of a taxpayer in Kansas or Maryland to pay for rapid transit in Los Angeles. And at what, I have heard numbers of up to $1 billion a mile, it ain’t cheap.
The blogger loves the new line but he lives walking distance from a new station. I find that I’m a good two miles from the nearest station, a bit further than most want to walk, and if I get in my car, why not just continue to drive to where I’m going?
As one wag told me a few years ago — he was against the metro, however he would probably be its most avid supporter after it was finished. I’m probably the same.
JVH
Cities are lining up to use supply and demand to set their parking rates. This is of course how they should be set. But there is a problem. When gas stations raise or lower prices, there are huge signs telling their prospective customers what the new price is. That price can mean whether or not I turn in to one station or drive a few feet further to another.
When the prices for on street pricing change from block to block, will I consider walking a few more feet in order to save even potentially a lot of money. Sure, if I know about it, or if I have the time, or if I’m not lazy.
Consider the first issue — if I know about it. We have seen that in SF PARK, the raising of rates on one block face has made little difference in the number of free spaces. This means that people are ignoring the higher pricing and parking there anyway. It could also mean that when a person get out of their car and goes to the meter, credit card in hand, and finds that it costs $4 an hour to park, they shrug and simply say ‘hell, I’ll pay it, I don’t want to go to the trouble to move. Plus, how do you know there’s cheaper parking a few blocks away?
Studies have shown that people just don’t want to walk in some circumstances, but will walk miles in others. They won’t walk two blocks to see their dentist, but will walk half a mile to see their favorite baseball team play. Human nature.
Will people make the decision to park a few block away and walk? First they have to know they have a choice. Second it had better not be raining, or snowing, or cold, or hot, or….Well you get the idea.
To change a person’s behavior, you need to have a motivation that is more powerful, perhaps, than a few dollars difference in parking charges. Will cities have the courage to charge $30 an hour ( like in NYC) to motivate people to park elsewhere or take rapid transit?
Time will tell.
JVH
One of the companies represented at the Temecula Parking Group had done an extensive study on what it costs to take and process cash in parking operations. Their goal was to compare the costs of handling cash to the fees charged by credit card companies. The result, the cost to handle cash was 6.5%, much higher than any credit card fee.
Some of the group members thought the number was low but we were told that in its efforts to be fair, the survey always rounded down and took the lower estimates when loss due to theft and carelessness were considered. Did you know that banks charge a fee to take cash deposits? When you have large cash receipts, you need armored cars, vaults, and often guards that would be unnecessary if there was little or no cash involved in the process.
Cash acceptance means that cashiers probably have to be present. Sure you can accept notes and coin at POF machines, but there is usually a fall back person in a central location to step in when machines fail or the customer cannot negotiate the process. A tremendous amount of auditing time and energy is put forth dealing with and accounting for cash transactions. Consider the difference in cost of a POF that accepts only credit cards and one that accepts cash and gives change. That number can be in the $40K range.
Often owners see a line item that says “credit card fees” and balk. They don’t see that cumulative costs of dealing with cash.
JVH
The infamous Temecula Parking Group met this past weekend in LA. The “Parking Think Tank” was my brainchild and has been meeting annually for the past six or seven years. The name? We began meeting in the Southern California Wine country community of Temecula, since there is a lot of wine and golf there, and the TPG members like both. (Also, I happen to have a small vacation home in the area:)
The members? It began as a group of my friends in the parking business. We have expanded it to include board members of the IPI and NPA and senior parking managers from cities, universities, hospitals, and parking operators. Typically we have about 25 to 30 attendees.
Over the three days we meet for about 12 hours and then golf, shop, hike, sleep, and attend two hosted parties in the evenings. One is a more formal dinner and the second is an informal “chili” party where discussions are continued in a more ‘relaxed’ atmosphere. Often, as was the case this weekend, more cogent discussions were held informally than in the ’roundtable’ sessions we held.
So, what is the purpose? That questions is asked at each meeting and often the direction of the TPG is attempted to be nudged or shifted into a dynamic organization that can set policy and goals for the entire parking industry.
What we end up doing, however, is discussing important topics and then culling the discussions into articles and white papers that are published in parking media. The ‘results’ of TPG conversations are typically ideas than hopefully can assist in generating changes and policies in manufacturing, parking organizations, operators, owners, and municipal and university parking operations.
This year we focused on a couple of areas — one was technology and PCI. The members expressed concern that owners and many operators didn’t truly understand that just because a particular revenue control system 0r credit card module was PCI compliant, that didn’t mean that the owner met PCI regulations. Owners and operators find, often at their horror, that PCI is more than just complex software. It involves operations, and complex auditing procedures that are time consuming, and very expensive.We discussed these issues in detail and how to communicate them to the industry.
The second area had to do with professionalism in our industry. How does one take a service industry like ours and make it a ‘profession.’ We had to define “professional” and then determine how to move ‘parking’ in that direction. Most professions have ‘standards’ and then ways of measuring performance against those standards. The TPG has a smaller group working on those standards, which will be reviewed and published in the next few months as a “white paper” that hopefully can lead to an industry where when someone asks what the ‘industry standard’ on a certain topic, say ‘acceptable loss in revenue in off street operations’ or ‘minimal training requirements for garage or enforcement personnel’ there will be an answer.
I will provide ‘snippets’ in the next week or so in this space concerning discussions we held. As usual, if you find it interesting and wish to participate in future TPG meetings, just let me know and you will be put on our invitation list. Its that easy.
JVH
OK — I just heard about a webinar that is coming this week:
Designing products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design: Dr. Sharon Joines at the Center for Universal Design of North Carolina State University, will talk about how universal design, sometimes referred to as “lifespan design” or “transgenerational design,” encompasses and goes beyond the accessible, adaptable and barrier-free design concepts. Dr. Joines will explain how Universal Design is an effective marketing tool as well as a design concept since products and spaces that are more universally usable are marketable to nearly everyone
Its sponsored by the Green Parking Council and you can go to their web site to get more information. Conflicts determine that I won’t be able to attend the webinar but I had this little nagging voice deep inside asking questions.
Since my discussions in the UK with Helen Dolphin, head of the Disabled Motoring Group, I’ve been a little gun shy on this topic so I thought I would ask her opinion. Here’s how she responded:
Hi John, I am also a great sceptic of this. In the UK we have so called “homes for life” which have things like ramps instead of stairs but there will always need to be a need for adaptation. For example the needs of disabled people are so diverse, our Chairman who is a wheelchair user always requires a bath whereas other wheelchair users require a shower. The adaptations for someone with a visual impairment are very different to those with mobility difficulties or speech problems. There are also some people with mobility issues who find a few steps easier than a steep ramp. Taking my own house, I have a tiny button entry pad as I can’t use a key, not very accessible for a blind person. So I guess in short, there are of course some things that can be done like putting in a downstairs loo and not making the doorways too narrow but other adaptations are very disability specific and certainly not going to be needed by everyone.
I think her concern is that when we head down this path, we begin to go for a ‘one size fits all” and in doing so, of course it doesn’t. Its been my experience that whenever well meaning groups attempt to fix a problem, others pop up. One that comes to mind is cost. There is no question that disabled friendly environments cost more than the alternative. So if we require that booths used by valets be wheelchair accessible even though a person in a wheel chair could not be a valet, it increases the costs and money goes into a place where it well never be used, and diverted from places where access for disabled is needed.
One thing that meeting Helen told me is that there is more to the disabled than just blind or halt. Helen can walk (on artificial legs) but also uses a wheel chair — she can’t climb the smallest step, but can navigate well in the flats. She has no hands but a prosthetic device on one arm that she uses to pick up some things. She cannot use most any type of device that requires inserting keys, coin, or bills — which means she can’t pay for parking at any machine we currently use. But, she can drive. Her dog is a great help, and can open doors (when they are adjusted for him), and certainly handles many ‘fetch’ and like tasks.
My experience is that disabled ‘adapt’ more to the world around them, than the world adapts to them.
All that being said, technology can help in many areas, and certainly in the area of collecting money through the use of contactless cards and the like. However we may have a way to go if we expect some disabled drivers to input their license plates and drop coin or insert cards into the machine.
There’s a lot to consider in this area.
JVH
The May issue of Parking Today has just been sent to the printer and its a winner, even from my slightly biased point of view.
The 84 page magazine features a number of articles about parking trade shows. This spring has or will see four major parking events, two in Europe and two here in the US. We do a follow up on PIE, Intertraffic, and Parkex, and a prequal on the IPI show to be held next month in Phoenix.
Plus we have articles on
- The NPA Pricing Study
- CSU Fullerton and its new equipment
- A ‘blowback’ on PT the Auditor’s last piece on grace periods.
- My look into the futures of parking with no equipment at all — Can you say Google.
- A Feature on Karen Pradhan, a woman in parking who packs a “punch.”
- Our correspondent in the UK, Peter Guest, returns with a picture of his new pride and joy.
And the normal:
- Bon mots from yours truly
- Our favorite auditors attack on parking operations
- The Amateur Parker’s desire to have ‘reverse’ removed from the gear shift
And if that’s still not enough, we have 80 companies showing their wares, in preparation for their exhibition at the IPI Show.
This issue will be in the mail by the second week in May, but you can check it out on line at www.parkingtoday.com later this week.
JVH
I have been thinking a lot these days about information overload. Do we just have too much information too soon? How can a reporter on the scene of an event report unbiased information if they are required to instantly give news without a bit of thought or editing. The tragic case of the Florida shooting is a good example. We were told one set of ‘facts’ moments after the shooting, and as other ‘facts’ came to light, the incident began to take on a different hue. Those that heard the first reports but no follow up think one thing, others now think another. And who is right?
I have been here in he UK since Saturday and basically cut off from my normal news sources. The internet is ‘dodgy’, I don’t read the local papers, there is not TV in my room. So I don’t know what’s going on. Is my life better or worse for that.
When I return home on Thursday, I can catch up, but will I feel more ‘complete’ knowing what this or that politician said, or what this or that bimbo did or didn’t do, or whether or not global warming is now climate change? What can I do about it anyway.
I was discussing this at lunch yesterday and a fellow at the table said:
Information should be like food — we should get a small amount several times a day.
I understand his point.. Maybe a bit when we get up so we will know whether or not to wear a sweater, a tad more at noon so we will know where the traffic is or is not, and a bit more in the evening. Fair enough — in most cases his list are things that affect our lives directly, traffic and weather.
The rest – I’ll wait until the book comes out.
JVH
A woman walked into the PT booth at Parkex and started to talk to me about disabled drivers, ‘blue badges’ and disabled motoring in the UK. She is the editor of Disabled Motoring UK Magazine and her cover article this month is on a crackdown on “Blue Badge” cheaters in the London Borough of Brixton. For those of you not anglophiles “Blue badge” is the term for disabled drivers who have permits to park in disabled spaces. By the way, the term is ‘Disabled” not handicapped.
Helen Dolphin is Director of Policy and Campaigns for Disabled Motoring as well as editor of their monthly magazine DM, Disabled Motoring UK
Mrs Dolphin spend a day on the streets of Brixton with a group of enforcement staff and writes a telling story about cracking down on violators. She will honor PT in the next few months with an article about the trials of the disabled as they deal with parking in the UK.
In the poster behind her in the picture above, she is with her pooch, Yancy, demonstrating the difficulty the disabled have even reaching a pay and display machine which is mounted behind a curb. She laughed when she told me that it really didn’t matter with her because she couldn’t operate the machine anyway.
I’ll tell you that I wouldn’t want this young woman on my case if I was the enforcement staff of a local authority in the UK. I read that she is a ‘keen’ swimmer and we find paralympic sports creeping into the editorial of her magazine, including fencing and goal ball.
She holds a pretty strong case why the disabled should pay a lower fee, or none at all for parking. But that’s for a later time when I will entice her to join us here on the blog as well as in the pages of PT.
JVH
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