Having worked for a banking technology company for nearly 19 years, I'm relatively new to the parking industry. Since Joining T2 Systems in 2007, my eyes have opened to the complexity and scale of modern parking. That said, one thing still baffles me. Why are there still so many facilities that don't accept credit cards? Don't get me wrong. I understand how hard it is to take credit cards when you're standing in a grass field that usually isn't used for parking. There are Parking Management Solutions for that (and T2 has one), but I'm not talking about grass fields. I'm talking about taking credit cards at parking facilities. Permanent lots or structures that already have gate arms and cashier booths.
A few years ago I got trapped (OK, so I wasn't trapped -- my car was) in an unattended garage because the paper currency acceptor was broken and I didn't have enough quarters in my pocket for an evening at an 80's video game arcade. I walked nearly a mile to get change. Not cool. More recently, I was parked in a downtown garage and found that I needed $20 in cash to exit. When parking is a buck or two for the day, I understand cash only, but $20 is a lot more then I spend on lunch and I always charge that.
Credit cards aren't the future. They're the present. Accepting credit cards doesn't have to be a pain. They can often be deployed as an extension to the Parking Permit Software and Garage Parking Solutions that you already have in place. T2 Flex has modules that handle credit cards as part of a total Parking Access and Revenue Control system. Accepting credit cards can lower costs for a facility, reduce involuntary profit sharing, and can make it parkers happier (or at least less frustrated).
As a part of the T2 Systems team, it isn't hard to guess that I have a bias for our solutions, but in writing this I'm also speaking as somebody that parks in these facilities. Nobody likes paying for parking (me included), but the less painful it is to pay, the better an experience parkers will have, and the more likely they are to come back to the same facility. I can assure you that's I know exactly which garage I got stuck in.
Happy parking.
A few years ago I got trapped (OK, so I wasn't trapped -- my car was) in an unattended garage because the paper currency acceptor was broken and I didn't have enough quarters in my pocket for an evening at an 80's video game arcade. I walked nearly a mile to get change. Not cool. More recently, I was parked in a downtown garage and found that I needed $20 in cash to exit. When parking is a buck or two for the day, I understand cash only, but $20 is a lot more then I spend on lunch and I always charge that.
Credit cards aren't the future. They're the present. Accepting credit cards doesn't have to be a pain. They can often be deployed as an extension to the Parking Permit Software and Garage Parking Solutions that you already have in place. T2 Flex has modules that handle credit cards as part of a total Parking Access and Revenue Control system. Accepting credit cards can lower costs for a facility, reduce involuntary profit sharing, and can make it parkers happier (or at least less frustrated).
As a part of the T2 Systems team, it isn't hard to guess that I have a bias for our solutions, but in writing this I'm also speaking as somebody that parks in these facilities. Nobody likes paying for parking (me included), but the less painful it is to pay, the better an experience parkers will have, and the more likely they are to come back to the same facility. I can assure you that's I know exactly which garage I got stuck in.
Happy parking.
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