Page 2 - Handheld Ticket Writers

Hello from IPI!

Monday, May 10, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

The IPI Tradeshow opened this morning and right from the start we were busy with demos of T2 Flex, PermitNow and our handheld ticket writers. This year we have two new tools to demonstrate as well. Of course, our new T2 Revenue Control hardware is creating quite a buzz on the tradeshow floor. T2 is also debuting a new integration with Genetec as well as an eTicketing solution where parking enforcement officers can write and issue parking tickets from a laptop computer.

It has been a big year for T2 Systems and we aren't even half way through...stay tuned for more from IPI.

Gimme a break...for my parking ticket

Thursday, March 25, 2010 by Maggie Vercoe

Who says there is no customer friendliness in the world of parking?

Not our friends at Arizona State University. I had the pleasure of visiting them this week to work on their T2 Systems eBusiness project. While I was there, I got to hear a message left for Melinda Helton, the Assistant Director. A message, that well, shocked me.

It was praise! For a parking ticket! Well, not exactly for the ticket itself, but for the card that accompanied it that said "Gimme a Break". The call was from a parent of a prospective student. She thanked ASU for having such a program as it can be difficult to navigate where to park when you are not familiar with the area.

The program is designed to give a first offender a break. With the information sent to the handheld ticket writers, the officers know if the customer has been cited before. If not, they issue a $0.00 citation that "gives them a break". Of course if they park in violation again, a ticket with an associated fee will be issued. Melinda said that this was probably the third call she has had in the last couple of weeks. Can you imagine?

Thankfully the program is in place. My "Gimme a Break" was on my windshield as I left. :)

Game Over!

Saturday, February 27, 2010 by Stu Glaeser

Well the games are over and I am back in the home office and normality of life will resume for both myself and the staff in Whistler. I know the By-Law officers are glad to resume normal hours of operations opposed

to the 12 hour shifts they have been working the last three weeks.

There were no major parking adventures so to speak and the crowd was very cooperative and followed the rules and regulations. The MC75 handheld ticket writers have done an outstanding job both weather wise as well as ease of use. There were a number of redeployed employees assigned to the By-Law Office that are not normal users who have expressed to me how much they have enjoyed using the units. The hardware has been dependable and the software was self explanatory and easy to use. Now that is something I like to hear!

I was so impressed by the operation of the By-Law office and the entire parking staff at Whistler. What an outstanding job of taking care of business while at the same time being the friendly host to thousands of visitors who converged on the town. The RMO had an excellent plan, regular morning briefings and a commitment to excellence which attributed to the overall success of the operations.

In the next few weeks Whistler will be changing their setup and moving to the HCS Webservices and Real Time Wireless functionality with the handhelds. They are extremely excited about this new endeavor and feel like it will make their operations much more efficient!

In closing I would like to say thank you again to Sandra Smith, Jim Watts, their staff, family and friends for making this a great and wonderful experience! Though there was a lot of work involved there was some spare time to enjoy the games as well as the beauty of Whistler-thanks to all of them! If you are ever up for a trip I highly recommend Whistler as your destination.

After spending the last 21 one days in Canada I can officially say I am Somewhat Officially Authentically Canadian! What is that you ask? Well if you can answer 4 out of these 5 questions you too can qualify EH?

1. Which of these is a classic Canadian Icon?
    a. Bread
    b. Beaver
    c. Zebra

2. What are the ingredients of Poutine?
    a. Ice cream, yams, cranberry sauce
    b. Cereal, milk, peanut butter
    c. French Fries, cheese curds, gravy

3. In the flag what do the number of points on the maple leaf signify?
    a. The Provinces and Territories
    b. Lucky number 11
    c. Nothing

4. Complete this sentence:
    Nice weather we're having ____?

5. Which is considered Canada's national summer sport
    a. Lacrosse
    b. Capoeira
    c. Table Tennis

A Different Parking Perspective In Whistler

Sunday, February 21, 2010 by Stu Glaeser

As you know I am here working with the RMO and their parking operations during the Olympic Games where things have been going great! We are in our third and final week of Olympic Operations and the By-Law staff have done an outstanding job regulating and enforcing the parking!

There is however another side to parking here in Whistler which operates from a slightly different perspective. So I thought I would tell you about another one of our T2 Customers based in Whistler named FastPark! FastPark is a private parking entity owned and operated by Jim Watts. Fastpark picks up where the RMO leaves off around the area and manages approximately 2000 private spaces here in Whistler. Some are owned by Merchant Groups and others by individuals or corporations. The difference here is that the locations Jim is in control of were not obtained by VANOC as were the majority of the Municipal lots.

Jim's main focus is to keep the parking for the merchants free and clear so their patrons can get in and out of the lots to perform business as necessary. One of the largest lots is the Marketplace which is the busiest because of it's close proximity to the Village where a lot of the activities are taking place. The lot has a maximum one hour time limit so there is plenty of work to be done with regards to parking enforcement.

Jim has several tools at his disposal that assist him in his day to day operations. He of course uses T2 Flex for the backend systems and uses the MC75/Oneil handheld ticket writer bundle for the ticket issuance. He uses the Real Time Wireless option on the handhelds as well as the HCS Web Services which gives him direct results that are needed in his operation. He also uses the Verrus system for monitoring paid spaces in the lot and is currently testing the AutoView system as well during the games. Besides himself he also has several full time employees that assist him in the daily operations.

Jim has also been my host family while I am here and I have been staying with him and his family. I want to give a special thank you to him and his family for taking such great care of me while I am here! I also have to give kuddos and a word of admiration for his 11 year old son Reed who is actually a Luge athlete! All I can say is WOW! If you got to watch any of the Luge events as I did and see how fast they go down the track, just imagine the courage and the skill that this young man has. He won a gold medal himself last year and this year in local competitions!

Stay tuned!

Hats off to the Parking Enforcement Officers!

Friday, February 19, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

Recently I was visiting a customer site and I got the chance of a lifetime...I tagged along with parking enforcement officers. Now, some of you are saying "big deal, I do that every day." However, for those of us way, way, way behind the front lines, this was a fantastic experience.

We started out on a street with parking meters and immediately we saw that red light flashing. EXPIRED!! Yes! This is my chance to catch a parking enforcement officer in action. We jumped out of the van rather "COPS"-esque and off we go to issue the parking citation to the violator. We had to work fast, mostly because it was cold. There I was, recording his every move. Wes, the parking enforcement officer, wrote that ticket in a matter of seconds, slid the orange envelope of shame under the wiper blade and away we went, back to the van and on to the next adventure.

Our next parking ticket came on a permitted street. You know, I have no idea how they spotted the violator. I am such a novice. Anyways, the van door slid open and out we jumped, like members of a SWAT team. No permit, YESSSS! This time, Wes took a picture of the illegally parked car with his handheld ticket writer. Nice! That picture will go on to the parking citation in the parking management system which virtually makes the ticket iron clad.

After a few more tickets and a not so happy parker turned violator, we were back at the office. Wow, what a day. I am not too sure how the parking enforcement officers do it on a daily basis. My kudos go out to them!!

Let The Games Begin!

Thursday, February 11, 2010 by Stu Glaeser

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

In the event you haven’t heard the 2010 Olympics are about to start from Vancouver BC, Canada. One of T2 Systems customers, The Resort Municipality of Whistler, is a host city. I was given the incredible opportunity to come to Whistler and will be your roving blog reporter from the games. Most importantly, I am here to assist with the parking operation and support of handheld ticket writers throughout the Olympics.

I arrived in Whistler on Wednesday morning and was picked up by Sandra Smith, Supervisor of By-Law Services. For those of you that don’t know Sandra, she is one of the most fantastic people you could ever want to meet! She immediately introduced me around to all the staff in the office, got me settled into my own work space and equipped me with all my Olympic gear! I got a chance to visit with all the By-Law Officers as well. The excitement over the Motorola MC75 handhelds was evident. They absolutely love them!

Whistler currently has four of the new Motorola MC75/Oneil Printer combinations that they have been using for about a month. In anticipation of the extra manpower and work needed throughout the Olympics, an additional ten units have been brought up to increase their fleet to a total of fourteen.

They are expecting parking to get complicated. Simply put, there is not enough parking to go around. The eight municipal parking lots in Whistler will be used to support the 2010 Winter Games, leaving limited parking around the Village. This alone will create very limited parking, considering the enormous influx of people and vehicles that will begin arriving in the next few days. Like chain reactions, the By-Law officers are expecting considerably more work while enforcing the limited parking and keeping the spaces available for much needed short term parking. There has been numerous additional staff deployed to the By-Law office to assist with the operation. They will be out in full force in a twenty-four hour presence to insure parking is being enforced.

So my part for the first couple of days prior to the Opening Ceremony are complete, the fourteen handhelds are setup and ready for deployment. The additional staff has been trained and ready to go. Let’s see where the next couple of days take us as the parkers converge here in Whistler. I will keep you posted and up to date, so stay tuned! And again, Let the Games Begin!

I give it an "A" for originality...

Monday, February 1, 2010 by Stef Faulkenberry

I will admit it...I have attempted (very unsuccessfully I might add) to get out of many speeding tickets in my driving career. Yes, I have a lead foot and that has cost me some pretty good money over the years. I have cried. I have used my powers of female persuasion, which come to find out aren't all that persuasive. I even hit rock bottom, I faked being sick. Nothing has saved me from the impending doom.

Parking tickets, on the other hand, I just take as a fact of life. I see the Parking Enforcement Officer coming with their handheld ticket writer and I just know what's coming. So, instead of trying to get out of it, I just accept the parking citation and move on. That's not because I work for a company that produces parking management software, it's because I just don't want to put forth that much effort to avoid the inevitable.

This commercial, however, shows some of the lengths people will go to it avoid that horrible parking citation. I mean really...like it is all that bad. I would much rather pay for a $25 parking ticket than that $180 speeding ticket and 4 points on my license...I'm just sayin'.

Scoop from Daytona!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 by Stef Faulkenberry

Well, here I am in beautiful Daytona Beach. The weather has been a bit cool, but today it is gorgeous! That's kinda old news tho. The real scoop I am writing about is the T2 Systems User Group Conference.

I was going to highlight some of the festivities for you, but instead...here's the lowdown.

There's big buzz around our handheld ticket writers. As you may well know, writing parking citations is a breeze with a handheld ticket writer. So naturally our customers are interested in our latest offerings, including our newest handheld, the Motorola MC-75.

Tons of interest has been generated for PermitNow as well. PermitNow is T2 Systems' event parking solution. We have put a lot of work into it and that's getting noticed. Organizations can track the amount of cars parked in each lot in real time. Plus, there is greater accountability with staff. Here's the part I like best, parking organizations can finally take credit cards in the field. Now that's pretty cool. As you well know, many people use credit cards to pay for everything these days...why not event parking as well?

OK...I have to run, but I will keep you updated as the conference continues.

User Group - It's Closer than You Think!

Friday, September 25, 2009 by Stef Faulkenberry

T minus 36 days and counting until our annual User Group conference. This year T2 Systems is hosting the event in Daytona, FL. You remember Daytona, right? Beach, sand, warm weather, Spring Break...wait...maybe you don't remember Daytona. Well, regardless, we are planning a conference packed full of fun and fabulous (virtual) prizes.

This year we will be demo-ing parking access and revenue control as well as our new handheld ticket writers. Of course our customers can always stop by the CCS booth to investigate our parking citation collections service.

News Flash...we will also be running demos of our training website! This website has proven to be an invaluable resource for many of our customers.

We hope to see all of our customers - both new and current- at our User Group Conference!!

User Group is 60 Days Away - Freaking Out to Begin in 2 Weeks

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 by Stef Faulkenberry

I can't believe it's September already - Holy Cow!! That means T2 System's Powerhouse User Group conference is only 2 months away. For those of us in the marketing department, this means we are T minus 60 days from our most important event of the year and we are in high gear - that translates into flying 100 miles per hour with our hair on fire.

What is Powerhouse User Group you might ask? Well it is an opportunity for T2 customers to learn more about T2 Flex, their parking management software. It also gives our customers the opportunity to discover cool new features and hardware offerings. This year, as in years past, our customers will be able to demo the latest in handheld ticket writer options as well as experience a truly unified parking management system. We will even have parking access and revenue control hardware so our customers can see how T2 Flex raises and lowers gates for garages and parking lots.

The conference is not only about discovering new T2 solutions, it is also about networking with other parking professionals to explore new ways of managing parking operations.

I have to end my blog here - have to get some promotional material out for the conference.

See you in November!

Parking Enforcement Officers...not just a pretty face!

Friday, August 21, 2009 by Stef Faulkenberry

Recently T2 Systems was asked about providing a loaner handheld ticket writer from one of our customers. The answer was of course, but we weren't too sure why our customer needed this loaner.

Well...it seems as though one of our customers' parking enforcement officers was attacked by 2 construction workers who were tired of getting parking citations from the "Gestapo".

One fact these 2 didn't know prior to their attack, is that the officer is a former boxer.

Long story short - one ended up with a broken jaw and the other is a little scuffed up as well. The officer had a few bumps and bruises, but was given a long weekend to recuperate. Most of the officer's injuries seem to have come from the fact that at one point, one of the attackers used the parking enforcement officer's handheld ticket writer as a weapon.

Needless to say...they needed a loaner handheld ticket writer.

Way to go Mr. Former-Boxer-turned-Parking Enforcement Officer!