Airport Parking News

RTD moved a step closer on Wednesday to charging some transit users for parking at select park-n-Rides when a Senate committee overwhelmingly approved the agency's long-sought pay-for-parking measure.

Senate Bill 88 would allow the Regional Transportation District to charge those who park at high-demand bus and light-rail lots - yet who live outside the RTD district - from the first day they leave a vehicle.

Most importantly, the bill allows RTD to acquire license plate registration and driver's license information from state revenue and motor vehicle department data bases.

RTD will use license plate data to determine whether those parking at key park-n-Rides are residents of the eight-county RTD district or not, said RTD General Manager Cal Marsella, in testimony to the Senate's business, labor and technology committee.

The pay-for-parking plan would most likely be installed at RTD's busiest lots, including Table Mesa, Wagon Road, Mineral, Nine Mile and Stapleton.

RTD's aim is to make parking free for the first 24 hours for residents of the transit district and charge them $2 a day for each day after the first 24 hours.

Users of RTD lots who live outside the transit district would be charged $4 a day from day one, Marsella said.

Many of those who leave vehicles for multiple days are users of RTD's skyRide bus service to Denver International Airport. The parking charge - whether $2 or $4 a day - would still be less than other airport parking, backers of the plan say.

In Wednesday's hearing, Sen. Tom Wiens, a Castle Rock Republican, offered an amendment that would eliminate the parking price differential between in-district and out-of-district residents. The amendment was soundly defeated.

Castle Rock residents elected to stay outside the RTD tax district.

Marsella said establishing the price differential for in-district and out-of-district residents is an issue of "equity."

Transit users who live outside the RTD district and who don't pay the 1 percent RTD sales and use tax should pay for parking from day one, he said.

Similarly it is fair for residents of the transit district, who pay the sales and use tax, to get the first 24 hours of parking free, and then pay a nominal daily charge for each day after that, Marsella said.

A parking plan that charges all users something if they leave vehicles for more than a day will discourage some motorists from leaving cars in RTD lots for days, weeks and even months at a time, and that will open up more spaces for daily users, he added.

The RTD parking bill was passed 6-1 by business and labor committee members and lawmakers sent the measure on to the Appropriations committee.

Source: Denver Post

Denver Airport plans to use the internet to post up-to-the-minute information for its airport car park.

Faced with high demand for limited space, U.S. airports are turning to technology to get travelers parked faster.

Baltimore/Washington International, for example, has installed a parking-information system aimed at taking "the guesswork out of parking," spokesman Jonathan Dean said. "It's like something you see in the Jetsons."

The BWI system relies on a system of car sensors, electronic signs and indicator lights to speed travelers to open parking spaces. The airport also uses roadway signs and a low-power radio station to tell drivers which garages are closed.

Other airports, such as Reagan Washington National, use the Internet to give up-to-the-minute information, and Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul are moving that way. Some, including the Chicago airports, issue e-mail alerts.

The push to deliver current parking information to travelers comes as airports are increasingly looking to differentiate themselves from competitors: other airports and off-airport parking lots.

"Parking is the first and last impression of an airport, and you want that experience to be a positive one," said Joseph Wenzl, business development executive at Federal APD, one of the largest installers of electronic parking systems.

What airports are doing:

# Electronic signs. Airports have been early adopters of the electronic "space-finding" signs that provide motorists with current information about the number of spaces available in a garage or lot. More than a dozen airports feature the system, including BWI, Boise and Dallas/Fort Worth. Fort Lauderdale and Seattle will introduce it later this year.

One system used by Federal APD relies on wires installed below the concrete that detect when cars enter or leave the garage or a specific level of the garage and maintains a count. The company installed such a system for parking at Detroit's McNamara Terminal.

BWI uses a system of sensors and lights suspended over each parking space in its daily and hourly garages. So even at a distance, a motorist can spot a green or red light indicating whether a space is open or occupied. Illuminated signs at the ends of each row display the number of spaces available in that row. Blue lights point out handicapped parking areas.

"It works well," said traveler Glenn Baer, a procurement executive based in Annapolis, Md., who uses BWI.

# Internet. Customers of Reagan Washington National, where parking is almost always tight, can check out the airport Web site for real-time information on the number of spaces in the garages and lots before they leave home.

Denver plans to introduce this month a similar Internet service. The Boston Logan Web site tells if a garage or lot is open or full, but offers no count.

# Radio and telephone. Many airports stick to the old technology - low-power radio broadcasts on airport property, or a call-in number. Milwaukee and Fort Lauderdale are among the airports that broadcast by radio.

Phoenix, San Francisco and Burbank, Calif., have a phone number for parking information that is answered by a real person. Minneapolis also plans to introduce an automated parking hotline this month.

Source: The Coloradan