b'PARKING CNY 41with tear-off permits. Customers wereairport installed the signage. Then, SP+ provided virtual training instructed to place cash or check in anfor airport staff, including lessons about enforcement and the envelope, display the associated permit oncitation process. The company supplied a smartphone that airport their dashboard and drop the envelope instaff use to scan license plates and capture vehicle makes and the collection box en route to the terminal.models. Later, CNY added an optional Bluetooth thermal printer Each day, staff members retrieved envelopesthat is connected to the handheld device to print citations, also from the box, recorded payments on aprovided by SP+. spreadsheet, counted the cash and checksTAMMY HOWLAND From an ongoing standpoint, SP+ provides the airport with and deposited the money. They also had tomonthly operating statements that account for all payments and manually audit the spreadsheet from the current day against thetransactionsdata that was previously cumbersome for the previous day to determine which vehicles were still there past theairport to collect. You can appreciate the challenges for these time they had paid to park. It wasnt unusual for customers toprimary non-hub airports, Finch remarks. Theyve got to be pay short if their return flights changed. And some attempted toJacks of all trades. park for free.SP+ also provides tech support as needed seven days a In 2019, CNY expanded its envelope system to include creditweek, essentially becoming an extension of CNYs staff. They card payments. However, that required travelers to track downdont push us to the back burner because were not a huge an airport employee to process credit card payments.airport, Howland reports.Moving to Mobile Pay How It WorksIn late 2021, Howland and other airport staff met with personnelBy deploying the SP+ Sphere Technology Platform, CNY is able from SP+ at the AAAE Northwest Chapter Conference in Saltto provide customers with a touchless parking option, which Lake City, UT. With 24,748 enplanements that year, CNY assumedis important for COVID-conscious customers and staff alike. it was too small for any of the companys products or services.Travelers park their vehicles and then scan a QR code on the But the SP+ team suggested its Spheresignage in the parking lot or terminal with a phone. Alternately, they Commerce On-Demand Pay with Phonecan send a text message to the phone number listed on the signs. system, which allows customers to pay forThis opens a parking.com page specific to CNY, and travelers parking using a smartphone and major creditenter their license plate number, contact information, credit card card. The process is very efficient, customer- information and length of stay; and then make their payment. friendly and creates a frictionless parkingTravelers who already have the parking.com app on their phone experience, which is really important in thisenter the CNY zone number and length of stay to make payment. post-pandemic world, says Jason Finch, presidentWest airports for SP+. JASON FINCH Customers receive email receipts to confirm payments and are given the option of creating a parking.com account with their The system is designed for parking facilities with or withoutvehicle and payment information saved for future use. At CNY, gates. At facilities with gates, Sphere supplements the parkingthe system sends travelers a text message two hours before their access revenue control system with an additional option for entrybooked parking time runs out, and asks if they want to extend and exit.their parking stay. This accommodates flight changes and helps Howland and her team were immediately interested becauseprevent violations. Its super quick and easy on their phones, the Pay with Phone system wouldnt require additionalHowland says. infrastructure like entry and exit lanes or payment kiosks. AllTo verify payment and enforce parking in the airport lot, CNY CNY would need was new signage. The price and operationalstaff use the smartphone provided by SP+ to capture license simplicity were also appealing, adds Howland. As soon as I gotplates and vehicle make and model information. They can also back, I got the ball rolling with our airport director at the time toenter this information into the SP+ app on the phone. The cloud-get the system approved by our county government to get it putbased Sphere system uses a customer account management in place, she recalls.program powered by SP+s MySpot inventory pricing engine to determine whether each vehicle is up to date on their payment. Getting Started You just scan all of [the vehicles] with the phone, Howland says. The airport established a service contract with SP+ for the newIt keeps track of it, and then you can go on to your next project system and opted to keep the existing $5/day parking fee thefor the day rather than having to come back and go through all same. It also had the choice of adding a penalty fee for violations.your spreadsheets.SP+ and its internal Technology Integration Group helpedIf a parker doesnt pay for the full duration of his or her stay, CNY create signage that displays a custom QR code and zonethe system indicates a violation, and an airport employee uses number unique to the airport. After SP+ performed testing andthe mobile printer to create a parking citation to place on the live scanning to ensure the process was working correctly, thevehicles windshield. The citation ticket provides instructions AirportImprovement.comJanuary | February 2023'