MIT uses Smarking's Business Intelligence platform to become a more sustainable campus
“It’s an excellent tool to manage inventory. As we issue permits, we keep an eye on occupancy. With Smarking I can see that, say, MIT is at 85-percent capacity, and then I can look at individual parking areas so I can figure out where that capacity is. It helps me better balance the inventory, and better move people around to lots that work best for everyone.”
- Larry Brutti, Manager of MIT’s Parking & Transportation Office
The challenge
With over 11,000 students and growing enrollment, MIT is in need of more student housing. To fulfill this need, the administration is planning to convert parking lots into new dormitories.
Dormitory construction is expected to reduce parking inventory by 20% over the next 2 years. Furthermore, traffic and greenhouse gas emission concerns prompted MIT to take action to reduce parking demand.
MIT's goals
To reduce parking inventory by 20% over the next 2 years to reduce traffic and greenhouse gas emissions on campus.
The solution
In order to reduce demand, MIT restructured the campus parking program, an incentive program known as AccessMIT.
The program’s major changes included:
Transitioning from annual permits to daily permits
Free universal bus & subway transit passes
Increased the commuter rail monthly pass subsidy
Introduced subsidized parking at transit stations outside of campus
Created an online commuter dashboard featuring incentives & gamification
Integrated with existing programs included carpool, bike benefit, and others
_______________
The Parking and Transportation Office worked with Smarking to better understand demand patterns in different locations on campus, with the goal of reducing parking demand in the least utilized areas - readying the area for development, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and congestion.
The Smarking platform also provided insight into the parking behavior at the user group level: admin staff, faculty, and students. The parking management team at MIT was able to use this information to understand how parking reduction initiatives are affecting the behavior at each of the user groups - helping to inform future policy decisions.
Measuring the impact
With the Smarking dashboard, MIT parking management assessed the effectiveness of the AccessMIT incentive program which was meant to reduce parking demand. The Smarking dashboard gave the MIT team instant insights into real time, revenue, occupancy, and duration statistics of all of their parking assets. The campus saw a reduction in transactions by 19% in January 2017 vs January 2016 after ACCESS MIT was enacted.
Permit parking transaction on MIT’s campus, before and after ACCESS MIT:
To uncover opportunities for your portfolio, chat with our team. We offer free one-on-one consultations, just grab time on our calendar if you're interested. By providing market-leading Business Intelligence and Yield Management solutions to the industry, Smarking has been enabling revenue increases at 2,000+ parking locations across North America.
About MIT
MIT is a private research university in Cambridge, MA, often cited as one of the world's most prestigious universities.