Parking is fun

Parking and transportation demand management (TDM) go hand in hand. In fact, both disciplines are often managed by the same group of people in a university parking and transportation department or municipal parking authority. And this year, for the first time, IPI and ACT - Association for Commuter Transportation - joined forces to present a day long joint summit.

Most of the discussion centered on parking management systems and strategies that promote use of alternative transportation, reduction of mandatory parking  requirements for developers, and improving the customer's experience during multimodal trips - when they drive part of the way and then park and ride public transit.

I was particularly interested in understanding what T2 Systems, as a parking management system provider, can do to support these TDM initiatives, and the speakers delivered. Lots of ideas for smart people at T2 to think about. One in particular sticks out: how can a parking system support the concept of shared parking? If anyone has ideas, please send them to me.

Oh, and in keeping with the spirit of the conference, I took Megabus from Indianapolis to Chicago instead of driving my car.