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The Impact of Technology on Colorado Springs Parking
The city’s attractions bring in people who want to take advantage of the vast employment opportunities provided by numerous industries located in Colorado Springs, including aerospace, healthcare, cybersecurity, military, and manufacturing. And it’s also home to the Air Force Academy and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. With so much going for it, it’s no wonder that over 20 million people visit the region every year.
As any parking manager can tell you, such popularity can also create parking challenges. While parking is often taken for granted, it has an outsized impact on the quality of life in a community, the health of local businesses, and local institutions.
Colorado Springs has a robust municipal parking program. The city owns and operates three parking garages with, 2,660 parking spaces, and just under 3,000 on-street parking metered spaces. Parker Technology’s relationship with the city began in 2020 when the City’s parking manager John Crawford, CAPP, contacted us about installing our technology in their garages.
“When I first took over the city’s parking program, we were in the process of upgrading our PARCS equipment and transitioning to a 24/7 parking operation,” said Crawford. “I wanted a way to be able to efficiently provide customer service. I reached out to Parker to set up their solution for our three garages.”
By implementing our customer service solution, the city was able to ensure that on-call help would be available around the clock.
“Prior to partnering with Parker Technology, there was no way for a customer to call someone after business hours if there was an issue,” said Crawford. “We were looking for a way to improve customer service 24/7 in our facilities.
John Crawford, CAPP, Parking Manager at City of Colorado Springs
“The installation of new PARCS equipment provided the perfect opportunity to add Parker Technology,” continued Crawford. “We had the intercoms put in and needed the right partner to provide service to our customers. Parker Technology was the perfect choice to implement our customer service initiatives, and be able to help people right at the point of contact with our PARCS equipment.”
An On-Street Solution Too
As important as the addition of Parker Technology has been in Colorado Springs’ three garages, Crawford says that the impact has been even greater when it comes to the city’s approximately 3,000 parking meters.
“The single biggest improvement I’ve seen has been with our meters,” said Crawford. “The addition of a 24/7 helpline for on-street parkers has made an incredible difference in our level of service to the public. The solution is easy to implement, cost-effective, and improves the overall effectiveness of our on-street program. More cities could use that.”
Crawford says that incorporating Parker Technology’s solution into the city’s meter system prioritizes the touchpoint with the customer.
“If you don’t understand how to use a meter by reading the signage, it helps to be able to instantly reach somebody to ask questions or report a problem,” said Crawford. “This is a level of customer service that every city should be providing.”
“Since Parker Technology has taken over our on-street meter calls, parkers have immediate help with a stuck credit card, a question about payment, or a broken meter. Calls we received about those problems used to just go to an office voicemail that were checked daily.
Now Parker Technology is taking those calls 24/7. It has helped a lot because their call center knows exactly how to direct people with those types of issues and can notify us immediately if we need to dispatch someone to help the parker.”
John Crawford, CAPP, Parking Manager
Crawford added that Parker Technology assists in the day-to-day operations of meter maintenance by alerting his office when a meter isn’t functioning properly.
“When Parker reports a meter is out, we add it to our meter call list,” he said. “We have people who go out 7 days a week and work on meters. So now, not only does the meter’s electronic system update us, but Parker’s calls and emails about meter problems get added to the morning repair list.”
Added Value
While the partnership between Colorado Springs and Parker Technology is built around improving the parking experience throughout the city, it does offer added benefits to the City. For instance, our customer service platform collects valuable data about exceptions. Each call is categorized, providing an overview of exceptions and how they were resolved. That data informs Crawford and his team about any mechanical or operational issues that may be impacting the parker experience. When exceptions are primarily the result of user error, that information is valuable too because it allows us to evaluate what remedies, such as new instructional signage could be implemented.
“Parker Technology lets us know when their service is experiencing problems, and that is good,” said Crawford. “When they are having a system issue, shut down for maintenance, or making changes, they are telling us in advance. That is important.”
Another benefit revolves around staffing. Because Parker Technology’s trained customer service representatives are always on the job, Crawford can redirect staff to handle other roles.
“Do you want an office staff person who is trained to do finances handling the help calls?” asked Crawford. “By using Parker Technology, I can have that staff member focused on the primary tasks they are trained for. It is much more efficient to enlist Parker Technology’s help than to hire our own staff members to take calls 24/7.”
John Crawford, CAPP
Parking Manager at the City of Colorado Springs
A Customized Solution
Crawford appreciates how Parker Technology has customized its services to meet their specific needs.
“The customer service representatives do an excellent job,” said Crawford. “90% of the time, they act exactly as I would. They have learned how I operate, do what I expected them to. I had high expectations initially, and Parker Technology proved them correct.”
Furthermore, he can closely monitor customer service activity through Parker Technology’s software platform. Crawford uses it to monitor interactions with customers.
“If I have a question about what’s going on with a call, it is nice that I can go back and verify that Parker is offering the best corrective measure to the patron,” he said.
The flexibility of the solution, along with the efficiency and accuracy of Parker Technology’s software, assure Crawford and the City of Colorado Springs that their parkers will always be able to receive the help they need.
“Everything runs very smoothly,” Crawford said. “Parker Technology does a great job living up to the expectations I had from the beginning.”
John Crawford, CAPP
Parking Manager at the City of Colorado Springs