Controlling parking space is essential to ensure a consistent throughput of traffic to your business location.  Contrary to popular belief, providing free parking does not increase customer walk-in traffic and in fact, more usually decreases walk-ins because of non-availability of parking space – your largest area is typically utilized by people by have no intention of visiting your store.

Even when you are not operating a business which caters to the retail sector, controlling parking is essential to ensure employees are productive and maintain their morale, while equally, you want visitors to be able to park quickly and securely when they are doing business at your location.  Controlling site access and parking is also essential for effective delivery and dispatch of raw materials and finished goods

Parking permits and tags are usually considered to be the domain of the local agencies who are responsible for policing parking areas in towns and municipalities, however they have direct application for private landowners and businesses too.  Parking permits act as an authorization to enter and park at a location, but they also control when parking and access may take place by restricting times and dates when the permit may be used.  Where a privately owned location is using permits, the rules are at the discretion of the operator of the parking system (usually the business owner).  Where parking permits are utilized in public places, then their use and application must conform to state and county laws and regulations, including enforcement action.

There are a large number of styles and formats for parking permits which can be used in a wide variety of situations.  You may need to issue permanent parking permits, in which case they need to be robust, usually capable of being fixed to a windshield for permanent display, or alternatively, you may want to issue a temporary permit to allow a visitor access for a short visit or just the day.

The most common types of parking permit are:

• Hang Tags – these typically hang from the rearview mirror and are the most commonly used parking permit available as they lend themselves to both permanent and temporary use.  When not needed, they can be easily slipped off the rearview mirror, and when in use, they are highly visible which allows for simple enforcement and control to be exercised.  Typically, they are constructed using polyethylene which is tough and durable and you can source them as blanks, ready for you to apply your own serial or record numbers on them or you can have them pre-printed – there is no adhesive or sticky mess to contend with and the fabric of the car is unaffected;
• Bumper stickers – these are typically manufactured from a tough, weather resistant plastic with strong adhesive backing and are ideal for permanent use;
• Mirror decals – mirror decals are not placed on your car mirrors, but they have a “mirror” effect due to their design.  They have an adhesive backing or front to fix them in the car window; and
• Windshield tags – typically transparent, they are fixed to the windshield or even to the body of the car; tough and weather resistant they are a cheap and cheerful solution for permanent permits.

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Offering customer parking facilities has long been viewed as essential for attracting customers to your business, and especially for retail outlets.  Offering free parking is not the end of the story however, because “free” parking comes with a cost to your business and if you are not controlling who is using this service, and especially for how long it is being utilised, then you are failing to optimize the ROI (Return On Investment) for your business.

Curbside parking outside your store is one reason why merchants look to prime retail developments, especially downtown, as the idea is that providing parking space enhances the convenience and opportunity for through-traffic in the store.  While this sounds like it must be true from an intuitive perspective, you may be surprised to learn that curbside parking meters were not installed by any city or municipal government, but by a store owner in Oklahoma way back in 1935.  He had the idea, correct in this instance, that he needed to ensure there was available parking for customers who were going to actually use the store and not just the parking.  Available parking was continuously in use, not by customers to the store but as a point of convenient parking for visiting the downtown area – the benefit to the store owner was negligible if it was of any benefit at all.

Regulating who parks by or on your premises increases store traffic by ensuring you always have available parking.  Frequently, this entails charging for parking (which goes against the grain as 99% of parking is currently free in the US), but it focuses customer activity on your store, not the merchant area generally.  You can offset the cost to the customer by refunding the parking charge against in-store purchases, which will not deter genuine shoppers using your business.  Another technique is to ration the amount of parking time that the available space may be used – there is little benefit to your business of a free space being used by a downtown commuter for the bulk of the day or a shopper intent on convenient parking who never crosses the store threshold.

Parking permit labels and hang-tags are simple to source – online parking permit suppliers can be used to readily find parking permits which are extremely cheap and implement into a controlled parking solution.  You do not need to be concerned about spending a great deal of time or money on designing parking permits, labels or tags as many suppliers who specialise in this area, already provide easy-to-use template designs.  By combining your business identity and logo onto parking hang tags, you also help to cement your brand name in the minds of the customer.

With parking space regulations, typically designed to control vehicle emissions rather than revenue enhancement, becoming more frequent amongst many city and town agencies, you can combine the parking control policy with your own environmental efforts to reduce your carbon footprint.  For over 35 years, parking policy has largely been a dormant topic, however this is now one area where improving business effectiveness and reducing environmental impact are in harmony.

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The daily school run is a major cause of traffic congestion in the peak morning rush hour, despite the widespread use of school buses. The problem is compounded with the safety issue of congested traffic trying to get children to school safely whilst other road users are also trying to get into work.  The problem is further compounded with school teachers trying to get into work to manage the daily inflow of substantial numbers of students, and in high schools where students are driving their own cars, the situation is even worse.

Parking permits are a major tool to combat traffic congestion around schools.  The typical scenario is for children to be taken to school and dropped off by parents who try to park their vehicles anywhere they can, as long as it is close to school. Even with small numbers of parents trying to park close by school, the traffic congestion this causes in hindering the normal traffic flow is extensive. Unfortunately, the numbers involved are not small and they are also growing.

The problem of traffic congestion around schools is particularly sensitive because with traffic congestion comes a heightened risk of traffic accidents. Driver attention is stretched with so many external factors to watch out for and take into account for safe driving. Combining this with the fact that children are inherently unpredictable, and especially because they have a reduced sense of danger from road users, this is a recipe for disaster. Many car accidents involving children occur within 100 yards of a school, and frequently accidents occur on the school premises as parents drive onto school property.

By reducing traffic congestion around and on school premises, the risk to children is dramatically reduced. At the same time, traffic is able to flow faster and more safely for all road users involved.

Parking permits are an effective method of controlling parking around schools. By ensuring that only parents and vehicles with parking permits can park upon school grounds and the surrounding roads within a certain controlled zone, the amount of traffic congestion will be significantly reduced. A parking permit is an easily managed solution which ensures that only vehicles with permission are allowed to park close by schools. By ensuring that parking permits must be displayed it becomes a simple solution to police and enforce.

A further advantage of enforcing parking permit schemes close by school is that polluting emissions are reduced.  Children are highly susceptible to pollution from cars and other road users, and especially kids suffering from respiratory complaints such as asthma or allergies suffer disproportionately.

Overall, introducing school parking permits reduces congestion and speeds up the time it takes to have children safely onto the school premises.  The school commute time is reduced overall too, and school safety is significantly improved for those educational establishments controlling traffic on and around their premises.

Instituting a school parking permit scheme is simple.  Parking permits can easily be sourced and it is a simple task to issue and enforce the scheme once it is introduced. Obtaining the necessary permissions from local government is also fairly easy to achieve as such schemes have no downside – children are protected, road congestion is eased and the environment is protected which makes it practically impossible to argue against.

Reducing Traffic Congestion with Carpooling Parking Permits

99% of car journeys in the United States end with free parking, however with traffic congestion rising and strangling economic development, as well as incurring huge costs, this is unsustainable. Urban areas and inner cities have long known that barring traffic from certain zones is one way to control traffic congestion, however without an adequate public transportation system, essential traffic carrying residents and commuter workers.

A solution to the issue is to implement a car pooling parking permit scheme.

Car pooling is a win-win situation whereby even with a two people sharing a car, the traffic congestion factor is reduced by half. If three people share a ride, that is two additional vehicles removed from the equation and so on.

It is not just congestion which is eased as there is a range of other factors at work.  Not least is the environmental issue with the reduction in pollution from car emissions and the reduced noise from fewer cars on the road.  Localized pollution and environmental concerns are therefore very quickly addressed; however the benefits do not end there. There are environmental benefits on the macro scale too. Car travel is highly inefficient from a fuel consumption perspective, which is why public transportation networks are so highly favored and desired. In terms of fuel consumption per commute, even full cars are highly inefficient, but by carpooling at least maximum car efficiency can be achieved which in turn reduces overall fuel consumption.

Parking is widely regarded as a ‘right’ rather than what it really is – a convenient privilege which comes with a significant cost attached.

By implementing a car pooling scheme which has advantages and benefits conferred upon users, it will be a more attractive option for commuters who will more readily adopt the practice. We see the impact that High Occupancy Lanes already has for many commuters who are regularly snarled and delayed in heavy traffic conditions, whilst car poolers are able to use free highway lanes reserved for their use. It makes sense to extend the benefits of car pooling to commuters by making it simpler and easier for them to find parking too.

By designating parking spaces strictly for car poolers, traffic management is able to make the work commute and regular traffic flows easier for everyone involved. At its fundamental heart, by controlling parking privileges the traffic flow can be controlled and every road users’ behaviors can be influenced. After all, if you are unable to park a vehicle conveniently, then car travel becomes less attractive unless there is some other attached benefit to using them. From the perspective of residents and businesses within high congestion zones, it makes a great deal of sense to impose and maintain strict control over the traffic flows and who can park in areas with limited space. Businesses benefit by increased and more convenient access for essential workers and customers, whilst residents benefit from living in a less traffic congested area.

Implementing car pooling parking schemes are not difficult as they follow the pattern of traditional parking permit schemes.  These have been around for long enough now that the process for implementation and enforcement is well understood. The benefits are significant and hard to argue against, so obtaining the consent of local government agencies involved and adoption by road users is almost guaranteed.

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