top of page
Search

ABM Provides First Flexible Parking Option in Austin to Capture Demand of Returning Office Workforce

Updated: Dec 16, 2022


Introduction


During the Stay-at-Home order in March of 2020, 67% of all U.S. monthly contract parkers ended their contracts as work shifted from the office to the home. Parking structure revenue across the country decreased 55%, and many garages closed temporarily across America. As offices began to reopen, many employees returned to the office only 2 - 3 days / week, and were unwilling to pay for a traditional, monthly, everyday parking space. As a result, transient (drive-up) parking demand has been growing, while fixed monthly contract demand remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels.

“With workers coming back to the office 2 or 3 times a week, there just wasn’t the kind of contract parking demand we were used to. Smarking’s SmartPass Product allowed us to sell flexible parking options for flexible workweeks.” Jim Lyons, Branch Manager at ABM


ABM, who operates Indeed Tower Garage in Austin, Texas, sought to provide new flexible parking options to address this changing driver behavior, and enlisted Smarking to help.


SmartPass QR Code For Phone

SmartPass Advantages


SmartPass is a flexible parking option which allows parkers to purchase flexible parking passes, ranging from a single session to a fixed # of days per week, to full monthly passes. ABM Austin had difficulty filling Indeed Tower Garage to full capacity in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic. ABM Austin wanted SmartPass because they wanted locked-down contracts with parkers to fill Indeed Tower Garage, and traditional contract parkers no longer existed in the same levels in the marketplace.


ABM Austin was attracted to SmartPass over traditional contract parking for three reasons:


  1. The garage does not need to put aside a space for each customer, but rather a group of spaces for a group of customers. This allows the garage to maximize revenue per space by overselling the parking space compared to standard monthly contracts.

  2. Flexible parkers buy monthly contracts. Flexible parkers do not come from a pool of contract parkers downgrading their monthly contracts. Rather, flexible parkers are coming from a pool of transient parkers who may be shopping around for different garages. By the end of July 2022, Indeed Tower Garage was at full occupancy.

  3. SmartPass helps smoothen operations. By the time the parker has arrived at the parking garage, the parker has paid for parking, and knows that they have an available parking space. The parker does not need to read parking rates, garage availability numbers, or garage opening hours. This increases the speed with which the parker can enter the garage and reduces the labor needed for the garage.

How ABM Increased Indeed Tower Occupancy with SmartPass

ABM tasked Smarking to help market their flexible parking option, SmartPass, to the Indeed Tower and surrounding office workforce in Austin. Smarking first sent out flyers to each business promoting flexible parking, then sent out emails. Smarking contacted a large Austin employer and was able to generate over 30 new flexible parking customers.

“The SmartPass campaign worked so well we are now at capacity!” Mark Garcia, Facility Manager at ABM for Indeed Tower

bottom of page