32 PARKING November | December 2026 AirportImprovement.com STS Managing the Transition To help alleviate potential confusion among customers about the new process, STS launched a multiplatform public awareness campaign before the system went live on June 1, 2026. “We did a media blitz including social media, the airport newsletter, our website and the placement of signs,” Stout says. “The last thing we wanted to do was frustrate our long-term customers.” He reports that the transition was mostly smooth, but included a few hiccups. Passengers who parked before the June 1 rollout still had to pull a ticket when entering and use it when paying and leaving. A designated gate was set up at the central exit for all three parking lots to accommodate such customers. Metropolis also posted a parking attendant on site during airport hours (5 a.m. to midnight) to help customers who had issues registering and/or paying their fees. Most feedback came from customers using the short-term lot. “A few people who simply wanted to park for an hour or two in order to meet some passengers thought it was a hassle to register their vehicle just to do that,” Stout relates. “They did have the option of going to the manned booth and paying another way, such as using a credit card or cash.” In addition, some people expressed privacy concerns about providing their license plate number. “We do not share any data,” Stout emphasizes. “Law enforcement would have to get a warrant for us to do that.” Metropolis follows the same policy, adds Mitchell. The Ease of Outsourcing Per its contract with the airport, Metropolis collects all parking payments and remits the revenue monthly to STS, less transaction fees ranging from $.99 to $3.99, depending on length of stay and parking product selected. These fees cover the expenses associated with engineering, operating and maintaining the technology. The company also receives an annual management fee of $347,736 (with 3% increase per year) that is prorated and also paid on a monthly basis. The management fee is designed to cover the company’s operating costs for labor, insurance, signage, service vehicles, uniforms and other expenses. In turn, Metropolis paid for and installed the new system, including 10 cameras and five digital signs at exit lanes with 50- inch monitors that confirm each transaction and list the amount charged before the gate opens. A few weeks after the new platform was in operation, Metropolis removed the old entrance and exit equipment. The company also handles equipment maintenance and customer service—some of the issues that prompted the airport to consider a new parking system in the first place. At STS, the Metropolis Recognition Platform is also natively integrated with AeroParker, a reservation system from another Metropolis company that replaced the airport’s legacy third-party reservation system. “It gives the customer the ability to book reservations for parking and enjoy the certainty of a guaranteed space in the selected parking lot,” Mitchell explains. “For the airport, growing its share of pre-booked transactions allows the introduction of revenue management techniques, such as seasonal pricing, peak/off peak, length of stay pricing (e.g. 10% off for stays greater than five days), etc. These capabilities are useful in that they allow airports to drive incremental parking revenue and reward loyal customers.” As of early October, 14 U.S. airports were using the Metropolis Recognition Platform, and three others were scheduled to add The system texts receipts to customer cellphones.
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