A new sensor technology system deployed across parking lots serving Los Angeles public transit will provide up-to-the-minute data related to occupancy and parking demand.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro) has partnered with ParkHelp, the latter announced recently, to install in-ground, cloud-connected sensors in 53 of Metro’s parking facilities — alerting riders to available spaces via digital signage located at the entrance to the parking lot or garage.
“As they drive through the lot, signs at the ends of each parking aisle tell them how many spaces are available in that aisle so they can make informed decisions about whether to turn down that aisle to park,” Colin Knell, president of U.S. operations at ParkHelp, said in an email.
The technology has already been installed at Metro’s 300-space Arcadia parking facility serving the A Line train. The project will ultimately expand across the Metro park-and-ride system, said Frank Ching, L.A. Metro’s deputy executive officer, TDM, parking management and mobility hub development.
The main goal for the project, Ching said, is to “help the transit user, when they arrive at the station, or even before they arrive at the station, to reduce their time to look for an available parking space.”
One of the biggest pain points for commuters using rail transit services is parking, Knell said, noting these lots or garages are often large, able to accommodate hundreds of cars, and can be time-consuming to navigate.
“This technology removes that pain point,” he said. “Typically, parking guidance technology helps drivers find a parking space up to 20 minutes faster, which is huge for a commuter who is in a rush.”
The ParkHelp technology also includes payment features, offering in-app payment and other options, cutting down on the time required to visit a payment kiosk.
In addition to offering conveniences to users of the L.A. Metro system, officials are welcoming the extra data the sensor-based parking management platform brings to the transit agency.
In the past, parking planning was based on Metro’s ridership projections. Now, said Ching: “We are living in a data-driven world.”
“But there’s no real scientific way to know how many cars we expect to park, versus how many people ride the system. But, with this technology we are able to capture the historical data,” he said. “Now we can predict; not to overbuild parking. So that’s another big goal we tried to accomplish here, to plan the future.”
The data also offers insights around utilization patterns, and whether pricing needs to be revisited, officials said. And, said Knell, the technology opens the door to options like geo-fencing, allowing Metro to categorize some of its parking sections as a more premium product.
“As occupancy waxes and wanes, administrators could adjust those geo-fenced areas to address demand,” said Knell, who was careful to add he is not familiar with any plans to introduce this particular feature, but offered it as a “hypothetical.”
“Parking technology evolves so fast,” Ching said. “It may look like a small little sensor, but it actually brings a lot of value to it.”
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