In many ways, parking facilities are unsung heroes for businesses of all shapes and sizes. They offer customers a secure place to store their vehicles while they shop, lunch, and socialize. Plus, they help business owners, developers, and property managers create new streams of income while enhancing patron experiences.
But that doesn’t mean that creating fantastic parking options comes without challenges. In fact, there are a few issues all businesses understand concerning efficient parking. Take some time to read about these problems and their solutions in this comprehensive guide.
#1. General Lack of Parking Space
When discussing parking challenges, the general lack of space to facilitate customer needs is at the top of the list. Space has been an issue since the need for parking lots first arose with the mass production of automobiles. But in recent years, lack of available parking has become an increasingly prominent problem.
Some might deduce that metropolitan areas are sprawling so quickly that businesses don’t have the resources to keep up. How people interact with companies has also changed significantly in the last few years. To an extent, both factors play a role in this common packing challenge.
However, much of this issue has to do with property taxes forcing business owners to rent restrictive parking facilities that can’t accommodate their volume of customers. Luckily, there are a few solutions for a general lack of space.
Solution
Resolving a parking space dilemma means understanding which areas require more space. There are always areas of your lot that will require expansion. Areas of note include those that:
Make accessing your building more convenient
Are safer, well-lit, and closer to your business
Are closer to elevators, entrances, or other essential areas
Once you identify which areas of your parking facility check these boxes, you can start figuring out how to create more parking spaces within them.
This doesn’t necessarily mean further developing your property, either. Investing in cutting-edge equipment like parking lifts can double, triple, or even quadruple available parking space in preferred areas of your facility. You can even continue to add more lifts as demand increases.
#2. Inefficient Parking Space Usage
Lack of parking space is only one issue on our list of parking challenges businesses face. Inefficient parking space usage is another problem. This ties into what we mentioned about customers having preferred parking areas, but the other side of that coin is all about perception.
We’ve all been in a situation where we thought there was no parking space in a garage or lot—when in reality—there was plenty of room. The open parking spaces may have been out of sight, whether due to larger vehicles, columns, or signage. Whatever the reason might be, businesses and customers face this type of scenario often.
This is problematic for businesses for several reasons.
It reduces customer engagement with your business
It costs money to have unused parking spaces
It means your parking facility is operating inefficiently
Like any other element of your business, your parking facilities are only beneficial if you get the best usage out of them. But what exactly can you do to mitigate inefficient facility usage?
Solution
The solution to this problem is simple—find effective strategies to enhance operational efficiency in your parking garage or lot. There are various methods for doing this. For instance, you might consider investing in digital solutions to keep track of available parking at your facility.
You can make this information accessible to your staff and patrons by sharing it through a communal source like a mobile app or website. You might even consider setting up a system wherein customers can make digital reservations for specific parking spaces. That way, they know exactly where to park once they arrive at your facility.
#3. Poor Management of Parking Facilities
Your facility might have state-of-the-art parking lifts, digital reservations, and the best mobile app, but none of those things will matter if you poorly manage your parking facility. And believe it or not, poorly managed parking facilities are a common challenge for businesses.
Poor management often looks like the following:
Confused or disgruntled visitors
Undefined parking and permit parking areas
General facility congestion
Increase in safety and traffic hazards
These things can severely impact your business’s reputation. Essentially, when the rules and procedures of your facility aren’t clear and easily enforceable, it leads to a grocery list of issues. Luckily, some methods can help resolve these problems.
Solution
If you want your parking facility to run smoothly, give those in charge of its efficiency and safety access to the proper tools and resources. If you have a staff working at your facility, invest in regular training and continued education.
You must also have clear signage for all parking sections that require a permit or valet ticket for use. Having traffic signs, corner mirrors, and even help stations for more extensive facilities can improve traffic flow and make managing your parking facilities much more straightforward.
#4. Restrictions Due to Lot Location
Restrictions due to the location of a lot are also challenging for many business owners with parking facilities. This is understandable. After all, not every parking facility will be on prime real estate. Even if it was, there might be limitations to what you can do with your lot or garage due to land permits or legal, political, or bureaucratic red tape.
This may not seem like much of an issue at first. But suppose your business starts to expand and you need more parking space. When this happens, you may begin to feel differently about those restrictions. But, like everything else we’ve discussed, some solutions can help you (legally and ethically) get around these limitations.
Solution
First and foremost, you must always do your due diligence before you alter your parking facility in any way—especially if you’re aware that you’re under certain restrictions. Once you’ve cleared all possible issues, you can start to look at solutions to help you circumvent your limitations.
For instance, say you did find yourself in a situation where you need to expand your parking space, but you cannot develop your land any further. If so, investing in automatic parking systems and parking lifts might be the way to get the parking space you need without breaking the rules.
In short, there are various challenges that businesses face regarding their parking facilities. But with the correct information and solutions, they can resolve many of these issues. Hopefully, this guide sheds some light on strategies to help business owners like you overcome the challenges of managing a parking facility. Remember, if you’re in the market for automated parking solutions, Harding Steel is here to help! Give us a call to learn more about parking solutions that can benefit both you and your customers.
