COVID-19 and Parking – Creating a New Normal

By Brandy Stanley, City of Las Vegas

Pretty much universally those of us in the parking industry saw our revenues drop by 90% virtually overnight. Layoffs were rampant and life came to a complete halt. Now, as the country and the economy are starting to reopen, there is a realization that there will be a “new normal” that includes parking as well. The bottom line is that COVID-19 has not gone away and will be with us for some time. That realization has spawned some unique opportunities. Here is what we are doing in Las Vegas.

Touchless is the new “buzzword”

Touchless parking technology has been around for a LONG time, but we struggle with adoption. This isn’t necessarily a parking problem; think about the painfully slow adoption rates for Apple Pay and Google Pay and you realize it’s a reluctance by the consumer to try something new. I am guilty; I never tried Apple Pay until COVID-19. It is super easy and super fast; hold your phone near a machine, click the side button twice and your transaction is complete in about 1 second. Why did I not do this before? I didn’t really have a reason to change – but COVID-19 created one.

So when a couple of our technology partners introduced new touchless technology, we jumped:

• Motion sensors for ticket spitters – wave your hand in front of a sensor and the machine generates a ticket for you.
• Pay using a QR code or NFC tag – scan or tap and you can pay for parking using Apple/Google Pay. The system gives you a QR code to scan and you get in and out without touching anything but your phone.

The time is right to introduce this type of technology. If it is a great experience, you’ve got a repeat user.

Using Parking Rates to Encourage Adoption

We also are sensitive to the fact that charging for parking is especially unpopular as people start venturing out again; many have been unemployed and are struggling. So parking fees, as is often the case, come under fire. Offering customers a break is always positive PR but if you can combine it with pushing new technology, it builds adoption and repeat customers down the line.  So we decided to try:

• Offer a 50% discount on all day parking if customers reserve parking in advance at select locations
• Offer free parking at one location for everyone who downloads a special downtown Las Vegas app and redeems the free parking offer

New Tech on the Way

We are also partnering with our vendors to roll out and test even more new technology. While some of it isn’t ready today, it will be soon so we are going to have a “second wave” of promotions to keep people interested in coming downtown. As I pointed out earlier, COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere anytime soon so we have an extended period of time when customers will be more willing to try new things.

• Expand Apple/Google Pay to our parking meters on the street and in our parking lots, not just our garages
• Roll out a new mobile payment provider that works in ALL of our facilities; garages, lots and surface lots, and also allows you to reserve parking in advance for events
• Retrofit 100 of our parking meters to touchscreen technology that is easy to see and intuitive to use

In short we have a unique opportunity in front of us and it’s a rare chance to change the way people interact with parking. We here in Las Vegas are trying to create a new normal where people use technology to make the parking experience a better one. The technology has been ready for a while and now the consumer is ready to use it.