Parking Facilities

Looking for a place to park the car is a tough consuming engagement for most workers. This is especially the case in the morning hours as most people report to their jobs. Areas where there are many corporate buildings is especially susceptible to such incidences, where people squabble for parking spaces, which can sometimes end in nasty incidences of road rage. The solution to this lies in a number of planning objectives. The most notable is proper planning by the constructors, who must always ensure that there are sufficient parking areas in and around their construction projects. Overall, however, the government and the private sector must play an active role in ensuring that there is sufficient development of parking spaces around commercial houses. Other solutions are:

• Regulate parking
• Limit the amount of time a person can park in commercial areas or near the entrance of major buildings
• Charge according to the duration of parking
• Limit the time that permanent residents can park along streets during the peak working hours
• Limit parking of large vehicles along the streets during peak working hours
• Reserve parking for vendors and workers during the peak office hours

Parking facilities are made of different materials. Such include concrete, asphalt, gravel and special paving material made of water permeable resources. While some businesses have just one parking facility, others may have several large-sized parking bays.

The use of parking spaces varies between commercial and residential areas. While the residential area parking may be organized, commercial parking tends to have less binding rules. For example, the parking areas around residential plots are designated to individuals, and some allowances are left to cater for visitors. Reserved parking on the other hand, is not very popular in commercial parking, thus meaning that car owners have to get parking on a daily basis. Due to such uncertainties, some car owner’s ends up parking on different areas of the city on different days. The good side about such parking arrangements however, is the fact that everyone has access to parking facilities around commercial plots. These include employees of organizations based in the commercial plots, customers and vendors. The parking meters in such parking areas ensure that the car owners pay according to the time they left their cars in the commercial parking facilities. The charges are fair than the lump sum charge that does not consider the amount of time that a person parks his or her car on the facility.

Some parking facilities have reserved areas for the handicapped and vendors. Usually, reservations for handicapped people are wider and closer to the entrance of the commercial store or building. Since such reserved spaces are minimal (usually two or three slots), only cars with the handicapped tag are allowed access. Other car users are encouraged to use the ordinary parking spaces.

Another major parking solution adopted by many commercial buildings is the multi-level basement parking. Due to the enormous size of such facilities however, one can easily loose track of the where they are and the exact location of their vehicle. To assist people with this, such parking facilities usually have identification details printed on the parking tickets issued to car owners. To make driving easier in such facilities, there are clearly marked driving lanes distinct from the parking spaces. Other things put in place to assist car owners in large parking areas include, pedestrian cross walks, stop signs and speed limits. The basement parking facilities are usually well lit using bright, overhead lights, thus ensuring that everything runs smoothly in such facilities.

To maintain security in parking facilities, patrol units are designated to the areas most vulnerable to incidences criminal attacks. Certain hours of the day also attract more special security attention. Such include night hours. Winter also calls for special attention to the parking bays in open spaces. This happens by using a snowplow to clear the snow in order to ensure that car owners have an easy drive to and from the parking facility.

Shared Parking: This allows different user to use the available parking spaces at different times. Often, such spaces charge according to how much time a car is parked on the parking slot
Priced Parking: In such parking facilities, the motorist pays for a lump sum figure for using the facility regardless of how much time he or she uses within a day

Parking Management: This is a type of parking, which seeks to recover the monies used by the government or the commercial plot owner in constructing the parking. Such type of parking may adopt any of the charging methods in order to recover the money soonest. Some of the most popular charging methods include the priced method or the monthly parking charges, where a motorist rents a parking space for a month. The payments are usually made in advance. The advantage of using such includes cheaper rates and discounts, in addition to the assurance that he or she will always have a ready parking waiting them regardless of the time that they arrive to work.

Parking Cash out: This is a monetary incentive issued to commuters, with an aim of encouraging them to use alternative transport means in order to avoid shortage of parking spaces in commercial areas. The commuters may also receive subsidized parking fees in alternative areas in order to free parking space for use by vendors and customers. Such incentives are offered by employers, who encourage their staff members to use alternative transport means to work. As such, the incentives compensate for the commuting charges and the inconvenience of having to ride on the public transport means.

Remote Parking: This is whereby an employee contracts the services of a parking facility far away from the office building for use by his or her staff. This ensures that the parking spaces near the office are used by the customers only. In other cases, a business owner may hire parking spaces near his business for use by his customers and vendors.

Car Condos: These are facilities where a person can store his or her car, bike or motorcycle over long periods. The environment in such facilities is always climate-controlled. The car condos offer people with more than one car in places like New York and Miami, where parking is not only a scarce but also charged at a premium, a solution to the ever-persistent parking problem.

Multi-story car parks: These are facilities where cars are parked in multi-level facilities

Automatic Multi-story Car Parks: This is multi-story parking that uses mechanical equipment to park cars. Such does not take up much building space, but the cost of the mechanical equipment can be prohibitive

• Interior and exterior ramps constructed for convenience
• Provision of adequate signs that guide people into the different areas of the parking
• Improvements made to the walking areas between residential or commercial buildings and the parking facilities. For example, the walkways can be shaded, or capsule lifts and elevators provided to multi-level parking facilities.
• The use of aesthetic features greatly improves the beauty of parking places. Such include landscaping, public art, selective use of quality construction materials, and indoor lighting.
• The quality of care and the security apparatus available in parking facilities also serves to improve its affinity to the public. Most facilities have cleaning crews who clean the facilities at regular intervals. Regular patrols also ensure that the parking facilities enjoy maximum security at all times.
• The roads in the parking facilities are made of either gravel or asphalt. Water management during bad weather is also an important activity that no cars suffer damage during such weather.
• Safety is also vital in modern parking facilities. As such, constructors consider the management of accidents, fires or obstruction and put in the necessary precautionary measures.
• Security concerns in a quality parking facility are addressed by the use of surveillance systems, emergency alarms, Closed Circuit TV Cameras and sufficient night lighting. In addition, towing crews may be employed to handle any cases of obstruction or stalled vehicles.

Attendant parking, which is also known as valet parking is popular in large cities, where parking is scarce and charged at a premium. In cities where such parking is practiced, the driver hands over the vehicle to an attendant. The attendants usually arrange the cars in the parking facility in such a way that little space is lost between the cars. In other cases, the cars may be arranged in parallel or perpendicular layers. In tangential parking, very small turning areas are left between cars.

• Tandem parking is popular in residential areas, whereby vehicles are parked nose-to-end. In such parking, there is no access to the second vehicle until the first vehicle is moved.
• Parallel parking is popular along city streets.
• Perpendicular parking is whereby; the cars are parked perpendicular to a building’s wall, side to side in a parallel manner.
• Angle parking on the other hand is a parking style used in parking lots to maximize on the usage of space. This type of parking is more economical than perpendicular or parallel parking and some cities use it in order to create more parking spaces for dwellers.

Car-park Guidance systems, also known as Parking Guidance and Information Systems (PGI) has the ability to greatly improve the efficiency finding parking spaces in a large parking facility. The system does this by providing the driver with monitoring signals. This is especially helpful to people with minimal knowledge about the parking facility.
There are two advantages of the PGI system:

• Saves time
• Motorists can find the nearest parking by using the onboard indicator on his car

The use of a transportation access Guide can greatly improve the provision of accurate and quick information regarding the availability of parking spaces, the exact location and the charges. In addition, a guide can provide information on how to reach a specific area either through a private car, buses or the train.

The provision of adequate parking information is also a vital way of ensuring that services at a parking facility are improved. Such include giving motorists maps or brochures, marking the facility with clear signs, position information kiosks in strategic areas within the facility and using a GPS positioning system. Electronic communication systems can also be used to alert motorists about available parking slots, location and pricing, they can also be used to improve security and convenience.

Local governments, residential area groups and association formed in industrial localities all play a part in implementing efficient management strategies in their respective areas. This is done in order to reduce congestion during peak travel hours. In areas where congestion in parking areas persists despite the efforts by different players, the town planners must work together with transport engineers, consultants and public agencies in order to find a lasting solution to the congestion problem.

Parking management surveys the parking requirements and balances them against the cost thereby reducing the parking requirements. Efficient parking management further increases parking spaces and consequently reduces the costs. In the long term however, parking management identifies behaviors in traffic flow and practices, therefore formulating tasks, schedules and adjusting budgets in order to meet the various needs that arise in the specific location.

Parking spaces are properly utilized by evaluating specific requirements against the availability of parking facilities. Such Include:

• No discounts should be offered to long leaseholders and rent should be higher for peak traffic hours
• Timely information should be provided to users through the use of road signs, GPS, PGI, brochures and maps
• The handicapped should be provided with convenient parking spaces. Other parking services such as valet parking, condo parking, and attendant parking should also be provided to premium users. Around commercial buildings, convenient short-term parking should be provided for vendors, visitors and customers.

Overall, a congestion free city can be achieved through the concerted efforts of local authorities and the residents. However, they must be ready to implement an efficient management plan that addresses on-street parking and off-street parking on both commercial and residential areas.