What’s driving growth in the parking management system and solutions industry?

Driving often goes together with the battle to find open parking spots.

Think of a sports game at a big stadium. Among the various highs of the day, does struggling to find parking, exit the parking facility quickly and avoid post-event traffic come to mind? Do visitors show up way earlier than necessary (with the exception of tailgating, of course) because they were nervous about finding a spot? Do they even leave early because they’re anxious about the congestion while exiting the parking facility?

These fans are certainly not alone, and neither are employees and visitors to hospitals, airports, government facilities, bustling downtowns and many other venues and industries. With sectors as diverse as healthcare and government relying so heavily on parking facilities, it’s no wonder the parking industry is projected to grow 9.3 percent through 2025.

What’s driving parking management technology growth?

Even though a sports game may be totally different from visiting a loved one in the hospital, as parking goes, there are a few overarching common goals:

  • Minimizing the time spent finding a spot, which consequentially alleviates traffic at the entry/exit point and on the city streets;
  • Maximize the available number of spots by encouraging drivers to find spots further from the entrance; and
  • Creating a positive customer experience – after all, parking is often the first impression a visitor has of a business.

While each industry faces its own unique challenges and goals with parking, the above goals reflect universal values for facility managers. As a result, this growing industry has focused on developing parking management systems and other technologies which are flexible enough to be deployed in nearly every possible application and configuration.

Parking management systems are a perfect example of a versatile, all-encompassing solution. The different components of these systems address each problem: level guidance systems show drivers which floor has spots available, while the space guidance systems marks each open spot with an easy-to-read LED green light. This puts drivers into spots faster, keeping traffic from the street flowing at a good pace. It’s no wonder this industry is poised to grow to a $600 billion industry by 2025!

Why parking management systems are a go-to solution for parking woes

For facility managers, affordability is the name of the parking game.

To some, the current issues they’re experiencing with overcrowding, traffic and “bunching” at the entrance may lead them to believe that building additional parking structures is the solution. However, simply building more spots simply isn’t an obtainable solution, financially or otherwise. Not only does it cost thousands of dollars to build each spot, but property isn’t plentiful, either. Therefore, the thinking over time has shifted to optimize what’s available first before considering building more, and parking management systems enable that type of proper management. Parking management technologies step in here since they are much cheaper to manufacture, install and roll out.

Parking management systems have paved the way for the parking industry to provide solutions that cater to an impressive breadth of demands and needs. This versatility makes it a go-to solution for virtually any industry. In the hospitality industry, for instance, parking management systems innately meet the key goal of providing the highest quality of service possible; since this industry views parking as a vital amenity rather than a revenue source, the efficiency that parking management systems provide is a perfect fit. Taking this a step further, hospitals—where people are stressed enough as is—tend to prioritize convenience rather than profit, making parking management systems an apt solution.

Parking management systems alleviate the woes of industries that might not seem to share similar challenges. With so many different industries looking to streamline their existent parking infrastructure, it’s no wonder the parking industry is growing so rapidly. The solutions of today suggest that the answers to tomorrow’s problems are just around the corner too.