Thus Chicago Parking guru John Hammerschlag describes the parking marketplace in Chicago. He goes on “It’s a much more competitive business than it once was.”
The quote comes from an article in Chicago Business concerning the trials and tribulations of the “Millennium Garages,” three underground facilities beneath the city’s Millennium and Grant Parks totaling just over 9200 spaces. The facilities have had a troubled history, but under the guidance of Rick West, are looking better financially. However Rick is looking for alternatives to parking to fill much of the space. Read all about it on Parknews.biz.
When an attendee complained at a PIE seminar last year in Chicago that numbers were down, I told him to sell bananas. The idea is, I said, that you need to market your garage like a grocer sells bananas. You can buy them by the bunch, by the each, or you can buy them green or just before they rot. People need them and use them differently. One size doesn’t fit all.
Surveys tell us that people take alternative transportation (like Uber) because parking is such a pain. They don’t like to try to find it, don’t like to park in dark, uncomfortable confusing garages, and don’t like to deal with paying for it. With Uber, they have none of these issues. They even take the TNC if it costs more. Parking is a frustration.
How do we take the frustration out of parking and make it easy? There must be an app for that.
JVH
One Response
The future is here.