In January, wags are supposed to enter a list of predictions as to what is going to happen in the upcoming year. I thought I might preview my thoughts here on the first Day of December. Its usually a pretty safe thing to do, since no one really goes back and holds you to what you said.
I looked back in the PT archives and found that I haven’t given any predictions for the past couple of years. Probably lazy, or perhaps I’m off the taste of crow. I think I can come up with a few, since I’m supposed to know all and tell all. Here goes:
Venture capital will continue to flow into the parking industry, but will focus on companies that involve Apps, the IoT, connected vehicles, and alternate methods of payment. Look to Apple, Google, and other giants to be sniffing around these companies.
I attended a seminar put on by a major legacy company this past month, and the speculation was on “who are we going to buy?” We are going to see more consolidation as companies grow and want to become more pervasive. Think Amano Mcgann, Tiba and Skidata and how they are buying up their dealer networks. Look for more of that in the future.
Innovation will be in the forefront. As you attend PIE and the other trade events, you will see ticketless parking, an expanded use of License Plate Recognition, Shopping Centers providing apps for parkers, the use of many different types of payment methods including Apple Pay, credit and debit cards, and pay by cell.
Speaking of Pay by Cell, at least one and maybe two of the companies you see swimming in this part of our market will either close up shop or be purchased by a competitor. You read it here first.
Parking will expand into transportation and ‘smart cities.’ If you don’t have your toe in this pool you neglect it at your peril. The really successful companies will coordinate and consolidate technologies cities and transportation divisions can deal with one vendor, and not a dozen or more to solve their “smart city” issues.
Innovation to watch:
- Controlling off street parking using ticketless entry and exit
- Automated Parking Systems will be featured in more and more developments, but will remain relatively small
- Lighting will be changing to LED in a big way. It’s a no brainer, and provides huge cost savings
- On Street enforcement will continue to automate. In street sensors will be popular but will give way to video in tracking whether a space is empty or full. This technology may take a few years to grab the interest of major cities.
OK, that’s enough – I think this is general enough so that no matter what happens this coming yes, I will be right
JVH
