“A significant impact shall be felt by parking (lot/infrastructure) operators and municipal on street parking management until we can better forecast the future percent changes in the increasing modal split for the autonomous vehicles’ presence on our roads and parking and charging needs from those vehicles for am/pm peak periods and special events in road-congested central business districts (CBDs). We need to better forecast this for both multi (shared) passenger and single passenger autonomous vehicles that drop off and pick up in CBDs in conjunction with how autonomous vehicles are programmed to either stay on the roads or to park (and electrically recharge) within or just outside the CBDs.”

“I foresee Vehicle Fleet Electrification being a trend that will significantly impact our industry over the next five years. As a National Program Manager developing and innovating infrastructure solutions for a 100,000-fleet electrification program, I’m experiencing first-hand the opportunities and challenges posed by the transition to EV. By driving innovation and optimizing deployment for these fleet programs, we are increasing the speed to market for our partners.”

“A few items come to mind: in addition to observing EV sales growth, pay attention to the size and weights of the EV for potential future loading adjustments in structured parking. Strive for a proactive approach regarding structure maintenance and addressing safety (now more than ever) to protect the public, and not let an incident be the trigger to act.”

“EV charging supported by solar powered canopies produces electricity on site while shading customers’ cars from heat and snow. Additionally, increasing use of recycled materials, porous pavements, and water reclamation systems in facility design and investing in transit and shuttle vehicles that run on alternative fuels, and other infrastructure elements incorporated during design and ongoing capital planning will compliment management practices that also focus on sustainability in customer experience. These practices include the growing offering and use of anti-idling and contactless payment systems and a continued shift in focus toward equitable transportation demand management strategies, that build on the long-effective strategy of paid parking, to reduce traffic congestion, improve transit and alternative mode reliability and convenience, and an overall reliance on single occupant vehicles for daily commuting.”

“A growing number of cities are removing parking requirements from their zoning codes in downtown districts. This will be an interesting trend to monitor as parking supply will be determined by developers instead of prescriptive zoning. This policy is geared toward residential development and parking but may have impacts on daily visitor and employee permit parking availability and cost.”

“The need to collect, understand and analyze data. With the recent boom in technology and data collection, the parking industry now has more opportunities to analyze an entire ecosystem and perform data analysis to determine the best programs to implement. Connecting the curb data with off-street parking will allow agencies to provide more opportunities to patrons as well as enhance enforcement and understanding how all parking is being utilized. While more technology will be needed and agencies will collect more data, there is also an increased need to evaluate it, clean it and summarize it in ways that will allow decision makers to have the best tools available.”

“The growth and adoption of Electric Vehicles will have huge impact on garage operations and stall layouts, both in new facilities and existing. Considerations include how much EV supply equipment to install (vs. EV ready / EV capable), new revenue generation streams from EV charging, space layout geometrics that provide access and ADA accessibility, and retrofitting existing garages to accommodate EV. The parking industry must quickly work to develop best practice guidelines around these key elements.”

“As the focus on curb management access continues to require the industry to rethink about which groups should be granted access to the public rights of way, the planning, design, and construction community will need to consider options for expanding short-term access needs to grade-level areas within in our parking structures. Such options will not only include the already popular pick up and drop off staging needs, but also areas where routine delivery and receipt of goods and services may occur without adding to local street congestion. Coordination of Merchant and Business District Associations will play a significant role toward implementing this innovative change.”

“While it’s difficult to identify one specific trend that will have the most impact to our industry over the next five years, we anticipate a focus on sustainability/green building technology such as vehicles powered by renewable energy sources, vast increases in code required EV charging stations, parking guidance systems and smart phone apps that inform users about pricing and parking availability, reducing travel time spent searching for parking spaces. This will also reduce carbon emissions and increase user convenience. Energy efficient lighting systems and an increase in electronic payment systems such as PayPal and license plate recognition technology that will increase user convenience and become a standard in parking expectations.”