Look what’s coming to Space Genius!

Economic Trends: Recession or No Recession?

Not yet. After two straight quarters of year-over-year decline, the third quarter’s 2.6% annualized growth in gross domestic product was a solid improvement and much better than expected. The third quarter’s results clearly signaled that the U.S. economy is not in a recession. Even though consumers made fewer purchases, they continued to spend on both goods and services. A strong labor market, rising wages and access to excess savings built up during the pandemic have given households the confidence to continue spending despite inflation and higher interest rates. This is all good for parking.

Some more good news is the price of oil has stabilized and gas prices are where they were a year ago before the Russian war on Ukraine. That also is good for parking.

The Federal Reserve has signaled they will lighten interest rate hikes “soon”. This will continue to add confidence in the marketplace and might enable the US to get through 2023 with marginal growth, but no recession. We shall see.

Trends In Parking

The need for parking apps

In this day and age most people can’t imagine a life without a smartphone anymore.  The need for parking apps is connected to the need for improved customer service. Now it’s possible to pay for parking with the use of an (online) application. But there are more ways to implement mobile applications in the parking process. For example, the driver can get real-time parking information through his mobile phone. Think about guidance to the nearest parking facility and real time occupancy- and pricing information. There is also the possibility to get a message directly sent to your mobile phone when your time on the meter is about to expire, plus an additional option to extend your parking time.

Demand for cashless payments

The days when you used to carry a bunch of change in your pocket in case you needed to feed the meter are long gone. Nowadays the customer expects multiple payment options – also when it comes to parking. The parking industry is moving from cash payment to e-payment. More parking operators allow credit card payments and online payments through mobile phones. In a survey among US parking professionals (conducted by the IPI) is the trend “demand for electronic (cashless) payment” chosen as the second leading trend.

Demand for energy-efficient, sustainable and green solutions

People are more focussed on energy efficiency and sustainable solutions. It’s not only better for the environment; it also saves costs in long term use. There are many different ways to make a parking facility more energy efficient. For example, if there is no one inside the facility, should the lights be on? No need for that, so you can use sensors that detect motion and automatically turn on the lights when someone enters. Same goes for parking kiosks, entry stations, and so on.

These are some sustainable and energy efficient solutions:

• Power reduction with the use of motion detection sensors, timers, dimmers, photocell receptors, etc.
• Energy-efficient lighting, LED lighting
• Solar power
• Guidance systems to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the traffic flow
• Innovative waste management systems, recycling
• The use of recycled building materials

The Emerging Trend Survey (conducted by the IPI) shows that most respondents (US parking professionals) believe that “guidance systems that enable drivers to find parking faster” and “energy-efficient lighting” has the greatest potential to improve sustainability in parking.

The need for electric vehicle charging stations

Governments are encouraging the use of electric vehicles and more people are starting to use either electric or hybrid cars. The number of electric vehicle drivers is expected to grow in the future. Therefor the need for electric vehicle charging points is growing. Some people are concerned that people won’t buy electric vehicles because there are too less public charging point and because there aren’t enough electric vehicles driving around, facilities won’t install electric vehicle charging points.

Parking access control

Due to new technologies, the expectations around access control have changed. An example is the implementation of License Plate Recognition systems that uses special cameras and software to identify license plates, capture tag images and turns this information into a data stream. LPR is used by many municipalities, airports, hospitals and other sectors for the access control of authorized vehicles. A survey under US parking professionals (conducted by the IPI) revealed that 59% of the respondents cited “more towards innovative technologies to improve parking access control and payment automation” as the number one trend that is having the greatest effect on the parking industry.

Genius Tips

How to Find and Add Reservations in Your Account

Knowing this simple process can save you time and resources and provide important information at your fingertips as you enter the busy Christmas season! Finding and Adding Reservations in your Space Genius account can also be an asset in assisting your customers or when you need to do your own research. This is an extremely easy function to use. Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in to Space Genius account.
2. Use the left Navigation Menu to select the Reservation icon. This will take you to the Reservations page where you will select Find Reservation.

Find:

3. On the Find Reservation page you will see multiple ways to search for a reservation including entering the customer’s Confirmation Number. If you do not have the Confirmation Number, simply enter the customer’s First and Last Name or Email.
4. Click the Find Reservation button at the bottom of the screen.
5. In addition, there are ways to narrow your search for a particular reservation by including Check-in Date, Transaction Date, or Channel on which the reservation was made.

Add:

6. To create a new reservation on this page, simply click the ADD button in the upper right corner. This will load a new page for you to select the Location, Drop-off date and Time, Pick-up Date and Time, and even enter a Promo Code.

For assistance or more information, contact support@spacegenius.com.