Can You Trust Parking Ratios?
Many developers decide how much parking to build for a new project based on parking ratios. But in today’s world, many people choose alternate forms of transportation like biking, ride hailing services, public transportation, and even sometimes their own two feet. Parking ratios haven’t been updated to reflect our changing world. So designing your parking structure using them seems a bit antiquated. Is there a better way?
Building to Meet Demand, Not Parking Ratios
What if there was a way to build enough parking to meet parking demand instead of to satisfy parking ratios? At Parking Logix, we know that it’s counter-intuitive to build parking lots that have too many spaces or not enough of them. That’s why OpenSpace intuitive parking counting can give you accurate counts of parking usage. You can view detailed usage reports right from your desk to analyze how much parking is used at similar parking structures. Use that data to design parking lots that are responsive to need, not parking ratios.
What if Our Stats Reflect Pandemic Reality instead of Actual Usage?
Pandemic parking lots are empty shadows of their normal selves. Universities are shuttered, malls have been closed for months and are only beginning to reopen in some states, and working from home has become the norm for many across the corporate world. Hospital parking usage is higher than ever with a huge influx of patients flocking to medical centers for care. So your usage statistics won’t be very accurate in assessing need for new projects. And you don’t want to rely on parking ratio formulas. What can you do?
A Wealth of Stats
For current users of OpenSpace, your historic data is always there at your fingertips. Curious what a normal September looks like on your college campus parking lots? Sort by date and find out. Wonder what holiday season looks like at your mall’s parking garage? View your reports and find out. If you aren’t already using OpenSpace, it’s true that current data isn’t reflective of future usage. Our world will return to normal. But if you’re building a new parking lot and need accurate stats, you may just have to wait. In the meantime, try OpenSpace to guide parkers into open spots, and start gathering the stats you need for smarter parking lots in future structures.