May-June-2022 - 28

COVER STORY
AUTHOR Paul McIlvride
Five Clear Changes You Can
Make This Year To Dramatically
Improve Your Airport Parking
Customer Experience
scalable solutions that can grow with
your business, leveraging new software
functionality to meet your growth plans.
2.
Increase the number of
payment options available
for parking.
At the customer level, the speed of
At LaGuardia Airport, the parking system and equipment includes Pre Booking, EZ Pass
RFID functionality, numerous payment options (ticketless and ticketed), license plate
recognition and centralized reporting.
DESIGNA
NO LONGER are airports just providing parking, they are
now managing and driving a thriving parking business.
Important decisions are being made about parking, not
only relating to capacity and availability, but also about
technology, products and pricing. Parking revenues are
becoming increasingly important to the overall business
model and, in some cases, are a primary source
of revenue for an airport.
IT professionals are becoming
involved in the decision-making and
implementation phases of parking
upgrades, due to rapid changes in
technology, an increase in cloud-based
systems, as well as security standards and
resultant policies. This was not the case
five years ago.
DESIGNA recently conducted a poll
asking who, or what, is the main driver
of what happens in airport parking facilABOUT
THE AUTHOR
PAUL MCILVRIDE
Paul McIlvride has been working as part of DESIGNA for
24 years, first in Australia then in the U.S. In 2017 he began
as the program manager for the parking contract with the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, implementing
new integrated systems to the major airports in New York
and New Jersey. Successfully completing that project,
McIlvride is now responsible for the projects and engineering
division of DESIGNA US, where airports are a primary focus.
McIlvride is uniquely qualified to share how parking is a
critical part of the customer experience for airports.
28 \ AIRPORT BUSINESS / MAY/JUNE 2022
ities. Half (48%) of the survey respondents
said the top driver was the need or
desire to improve the customer experience.
To echo that feedback, here are
five changes you can make this year
to dramatically improve your parking
customer experience.
1.
Evaluate your parking, access
and revenue control system
(PARCS), and the vendor company,
to determine if they are meeting
your needs now and in the future.
Advancements in technology may
mean your current system is outdated
and costing you more money to maintain
than is necessary. Are you spending
a significant amount of money on
technical and hardware supports? Are
you able to integrate with the leading
parking applications and access cloudbased
applications? A changing market
requires future-oriented technologies
and digitalization is the key. You need
entry and exit, and increased convenience
are important. Your customers and
your management have become more
convenience and price conscious. To
address the increasing choices for passengers,
such as off-airport facilities and
rideshare companies, airport executives
and parking managers need to think
about the competition and what technologies
can be deployed to improve
your position in the market. How can
you use technology to enhance the customer
experience and engender loyalty?
Pre-booking has been on the rise,
and the number of pre-booking providers
and parking aggregators has
increased over
recent years to
provide these
services.
Next, automation.
This
is probably the
biggest technology change we have
seen, and are still continuing to see, as
cashiers at airport parking exits have
been disappearing. Airports have also
seen the benefits of other technologies
including license plate recognition,
which now provides frictionless entry
and exit, credit card payment (including
NFC), credit card at entry and exit, and
integrations with other platforms including
intermobility, such as a tollway pass
for a ticketless entry and exit.
One of the leading trends with digitalization
is self-service parking management
for employees, contractors,
for-hire vehicles and other ground
transportation services.
Through self-management of the
parker through web-based systems,
individual companies, users or partners
can manage their contract parking
requirements, and lessen the administrative
burden of parking management.
3.
Introduce improved wayfinding
and guidance to and
within your facilities.
Technology is driving change within
the parking industry and one of the
May-June-2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May-June-2022
