PARKING RATE NEWS: City Council Delays Parking Rate Increases, Stresses the need for Data Driven Approach.
-3/11/2013

Ferndale, Michigan – During this evening’s City Council meeting, Council opted to delay the restructuring of the City’s parking rates to allow for time to gather data that can be used to validate a future rate structure that will support the expansion of a concentric parking plan.  This delay means that rates for on street and off street parking have been restored to $.50 per hour, and employee parking pass rates to $20 per month through December 31, 2013.  Once a permanent lighting solution is approved, parking will be enforced between 10am-10pm, Monday-Saturday.  Mayor Dave Coulter commented, “One of the greatest benefits for upgrading our parking system with the LUKE pay stations is their ability to collect real time data.  Using a data driven approach will help us determine a rate structure that is fair to our businesses and patrons, while also helping us understand what expanded capacity looks like in Ferndale.”. 

During the February 25th Council meeting, Council requested that staff delay implementation of the preferred concentric parking system.  City staff, the DDA and members of their Board, and industry professionals used this time to determine a balanced approach to rate adjustment.  City Manager April Lynch stated, “delaying implementation of the new rates considers the rate concerns shared by the public during the preliminary rollout, and allows us to leverage the new pay stations ability to record useful data that will contribute toward realizing a flexible long term parking solution”.

 PARKING RATES FACT SHEET:

Parking Rates will remain $.50 per hour for on street and off street parking until December 31, 2013.

Each Pay Station acts as a ‘Point of Sale’ (POS) machine that can generate several types of reports. For example: hourly sales reports, revenue mix (cash, coin, credit), maintenance reports, deposit reports, etc. The city will use the remainder of the year to evaluate these activity reports to develop an understanding of revenue needs to build long term parking capacity. 

Concentric Parking System:  Parking turnover is important to businesses that rely on short term parking and convenient accessibility to their customers.  A concentric parking system seeks to influence consumer behavior by putting a premium on the pricing of parking spaces located in or near the downtown.  This approach to parking is similar to how hotel room rates increase or decrease based on availability and proximity to downtown. The Concentric parking rates are intended to prevent employees and long term parkers from occupying valuable spaces for long periods of time on the street or in prime downtown locations. 

Luke Meters are wireless “smart” meters that make demand-based pricing a feasible option.  The computing power of the LUKE allows universal pricing changes or lot/location specific pricing changes to be made instantaneously.  “Smart” applications may also dramatically increase motorist convenience by allowing for multiple payment options (including pay by phone), providing an abundance of pay station locations distributed throughout the downtown, and optional payment receipts