Safer and Easier Parking in Every City-Owned Facility

Safer and Easier Parking in Every City-Owned Facility
By Pamela Johnson

Parking at any of our 22 city-owned facilities is now easier and safer than ever. Late last month we completed the Parking Access Revenue and Control Systems (PARCS) project. This four-year effort replaced aging parking equipment with modern technology and significant operational upgrades.

Photo of Customer using new PARCS kiosk at North Beach parking garage

Customer using new PARCS kiosk at North Beach parking garage

Patrons will notice enhanced lighting, new wayfinding signs, audible alarms, cameras, gate arms, and payment machines with two-way digital intercoms. Behind the scenes is an all-new parking management system and 24/7 command center, connected to every machine.

Can’t find your ticket to pay for parking? No worries!

Thanks to license plate recognition technology, cameras located at every facility’s entrance capture patrons’ plate numbers as they arrive. If a customer loses her ticket, the manager is able to re-issue a ticket based on her license plate number. Previously, the customer would have been required to pay for a full day of parking.

Safety and Ease of Use

“The new system is a significant operational upgrade from our prior 16-year-old equipment” said Robert Aicardi, Operations Manager of SFMTA’s Off-Street Parking unit. Aicardi, who oversaw the day-to-day delivery of the PARCS upgrade project, noted that “The upgrades make for easier and safer access in and out of a parking facility and a better experience.”

Ted Graff, the Director of Parking & Curb Management added that “Thanks to modern technology, we can better manage the customer parking experience in our parking facilities and facility operations. We’ve also improved auditing and credit card security to protect customers, enabled real-time data collection, which helps with the implementation of dynamic or demand-responsive pricing and enabled universal validation to create a more efficient parking experience.”

Highlights

All payment machines have instructions in English, Chinese, and Spanish
Cameras have been installed at every point of sale and point of entry/exit to augment the intercoms
Both flashing lights and audible alarms are activated as vehicles exit the facility, improving safety in areas of high pedestrian traffic
Payment kiosks use industry-standard, end-to-end encryption for credit card transactions
Every point of sale enables mobile app contactless payments (including. Android Pay and Apple)

PARCS partners

To complete the upgrades, SFMTA’s Streets Division Off-Street Parking unit provided day-to-day oversight of the project, in partnership with SKIDATA, the PARCS vendor. Walker Parking Consultants served as the architect of record, and San Francisco Public Works oversaw all demolition and utility upgrades, which preceded PARCS equipment installation.

Visit the SFMTA’s website to learn more about the PARCS project and see a map of Garages & Lots that received the PARCS upgrades.

Published April 27, 2021 at 01:55AM
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