The Evolution of Parking  

You’re in a big city, and it’s time to park your car. Feel the tension rising? But imagine this: You drive into a dense metropolitan area. Unlike in years past, you feel no growing tension about finding a parking spot, dodging other cars in a parking garage, breathing exhaust fumes, or dealing with a valet. Instead, you see a sign that indicates “parking,” and you steer your car into a luxurious transfer area. Just outside the transfer area you see a touchscreen, which asks you a few questions: “Have you taken your keys with you? Have you removed belongings you need?” Upon the affirmative, you indicate that you want your vehicle stored for a few hours. The door to the enclosure slides down, and you walk away. Your role is complete.

But inside the automated garage is where the action begins. A sophisticated melding of machinery and software shifts devices beneath your car, lifts it slightly, and backs it out of the transfer area. The machinery turns your car 180 degrees and transports it to a tight storage slot in a finely orchestrated sequence of movements. The parking garage is quiet and dark with the whirring of machinery and movement of gears. Exhaust fumes do not permeate the space because none of the engines are running. Upon your return, with a series of indications to the touchscreen, the machinery deposits your car back into the transfer area, facing outward, and the sliding door lifts. Average time for retrieval is about 2½ minutes. You ease into your vehicle and drive away.

Does this sound like science fiction, a futuristic vision of a utopian city? In fact, “smart” parking methods like this exist today and have been operating in large cities such as New York City, Philadelphia, Copenhagen, and many large cities around the world for more than a decade. They are known as automated parking systems, or APS. In fact, such a system is automatically parking cars via this method at this very moment in Philadelphia. Systems like this could be specified today into many urban projects now being designed where land and parking spots are at a premium, from office buildings to hospitals, airports, multifamily units, and other uses.

“Developers and architects are increasingly looking at automated parking systems,” says Ian Todd, director of automated parking systems at Westfalia Technologies, a leading vendor of automated parking systems. “That’s because they are becoming more aware of the inherent advantages of these systems over conventional parking, namely: space savings, making the whole parking experience more convenient, safe, and luxurious for the user; a more sustainable solution due to the reduced emissions, landfill, and energy consumption; and cost savings due to lower construction, operational, and finishing costs and accelerated depreciation of the automated parking system equipment.”

More Cars and Denser Cities: A Difficult Mix

Why is this important now? For the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population is living in urban areas. With more people living in cities, residents and visitors often spend more and more time looking for available parking.

According to an article in USA Today, “Searching for parking is more painful than ever for U.S. drivers.”¹ The typical driver spends, on average, 17 hours a year searching for open parking spots. This adds up to an estimated $345 per driver in time, fuel, and emissions. This is according to a study by INRIX, a leading specialist in connected car services and transportation analytics.

In New York City, according to the study, the average driver spends 107 hours a year looking for empty parking spaces, adding up to $2,243 in wasted time, fuel, and emissions per driver. In total, this issue costs residents, commuters, and tourists in New York City $4.3 billion per year.

A United Nations report highlighting the need for more sustainable urban planning and public services estimates that by 2050, two out of every three people in the world will be living in cities or other urban areas. In order to support this rapid growth, cities will be challenged with expanding resources and infrastructure, including housing and parking.

Land Use Challenges and the Problem of Conventional Parking

According to a study by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), 16.8 million new cars and trucks are expected to be sold in the United States by the end of 2019. These rising numbers are driven by several factors, including rising populations, lower unemployment rates, and a wider array of car options that suit every budget and need.

While this is great news for the automotive industry, it continues to create a dilemma for architects and building developers in the residential, office, and commercial real estate markets as well as the airport and hospitality sectors.

With more cars on the road each year, developers are now tasked with creating ample parking to accommodate them on top of tight budget constraints and already limited building footprints, particularly in congested cities.

According to an article in Fortune magazine, the average car is parked 95 percent of the time when a single person drives it, meaning these new cars will need new spaces to park.²

Strict Parking Regulations

In crowded cities, developers are typically required to build at least one parking space per housing unit. In Los Angeles, for example, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, the city requires each single-family and two-bedroom home to have two designated parking spaces, while studio apartments require one parking spot.

According to an urban planning professor at University of California, Los Angeles, LA imposes the most big-city parking requirements by forcing projects to include more than one space per unit.1 This causes constraints for housing developers, as they need to find ways to maximize square footage in condensed areas.

Even without the imposed regulations, parking is a crucial piece of any development project. Convenient parking makes developed areas more appealing to people like customers, storeowners, and homebuyers, which plays a major factor in the success of the overall project.

Limited Land Available

Of America’s urban land, 48 percent is packed into five major cities: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the combined value of urban land across the entire country is worth nearly $23 trillion. New York has the highest urban land value at $2.5 trillion, followed by Los Angeles at $2.3 trillion.²

With the high land values, it is extremely difficult to sacrifice land for parking spaces in densely populated cities. Across the United States, there are four parking spots for every car in existence, which adds up to a billion spaces. Many downtowns and cities devote between 50 and 60 percent of their real estate to parking, which could be put toward building more houses, stores, or parks. In order to fully leverage their space, cities like San Francisco are already beginning to redesign the use of their land. San Francisco has created a futuristic plan to take advantage of new and upcoming transportation options and minimize the amount of space that has been devoted to cars. By designing smaller streets and fewer parking options, San Francisco would be able to do more with their land, like build more houses to increase their population.

Emerging Innovations in Automated Parking Systems

With more people moving to big cities, developers need to provide sufficient parking to accommodate a growing number of vehicles despite tight budget constraints and already limited building footprint. Developers who are looking to make the maximum use of their space might consider a smarter, more innovative solution: automation.

Automated parking garages present developers with several benefits over traditional garages, including improved space utilization, reduced costs, lessened environmental impact, and a more luxurious user experience.

An automated parking system provides a stress- and worry-free environment with simple processes and short waiting times. Users of automated garages always park and retrieve their cars in well-lit, comfortable transfer areas. As these are the only areas that users interact with an automated garage, it is relatively inexpensive for developers to create a luxurious experience for users. Slick touchscreens and user-friendly mobile apps for retrieving their cars can make the whole user experience a comfortable, memorable one—an experience for which users are willing to pay.

One of the most attractive features of automated parking for developers is improved space utilization. A traditional parking garage is designed to allow cars enough room to safely move and park throughout the garage and for people to walk to and from their vehicles. However, an automated garage only needs enough room to accommodate the equipment operating within the garage.

Thus, automated garages require 60 percent less building volume and 40 percent less land than traditional garages.

How It Works: Types of Automated Parking Systems

Because the automated parking industry is growing and evolving quickly, there is not yet a standard type of system. Two main types of automated parking systems are often specified: pallet-based systems and the newer, more sophisticated palletless systems.

Pallet-Based Systems

Some pallet-based automated parking garages actually involve two systems working together. One system manages the movement of empty pallets, and the other manages the actual storage and retrieval of cars.

Palletless Systems

Additional space savings are possible through a palletless automated parking system. A palletless automated garage only requires the machinery that moves the cars but not a system to move and store pallets. This saves construction costs. It also is a faster and more efficient system.

One vendor of palletless automated parking systems uses a proprietary satellite technology that can adjust to the length of the car’s wheelbase, allowing the system to handle multiple car sizes. Once the vehicle is positioned in the transfer area, the driver and passengers have cleared the transfer area, and the vehicle is lowered to the storage level, the satellite drives under the car where the wheels are clamped, transporting the car onto a transfer car. Unlike pallet-supported systems, the vehicle is transported into the parking garage and positioned on a concrete deck. Building construction can be based on concrete or steel depending on location and construction costs.

Environmental and Other Benefits of Automated Parking Systems

Environmental Benefits

Noise and air pollution are on the rise due to congestion. Automated parking systems help mitigate these problems. Since vehicles are not turned on within an automated garage, both air and noise pollution are significantly reduced when compared to a conventional parking garage.

Automated parking systems can decrease emissions 20 to 30 percent compared to a conventional parking garage. These automated parking systems reduce carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and fuel use, making them a sustainable, environmentally friendly car parking option.³

With less space needed for the garage structure itself, there is increased potential for green areas. This is especially important in densely populated urban areas.

Space Savings

Conventional parking garages are constructed to allow cars enough room to safely move in both directions and back out of parking spaces and people to walk to and from their vehicles. To accommodate for safety and easy passage conventional garages require walkways, stairwells, ramps, and often passenger elevators. These features that make it easy for the public to enter and exit the building take up valuable space.

By contrast, an automated garage only has to accommodate the equipment necessary to store vehicles. This means that the overall footprint of the building can be smaller to accommodate the same number of vehicles, or capacity, of a traditional garage. This is especially beneficial for projects with a limited construction area. In fact, according to studies, automated parking garages generally require 50 percent less building volume than traditional garages. Thus, companies can use the extra real estate for more profitable spaces like retail stores or additional apartments, increasing the project’s ROI.

Additional space savings are possible by using a palletless automated parking system. Since palletless garages do not require pallets or storage racks, developers can capitalize on those height savings per storage level. More available space can be leveraged to either increase vehicle storage capacity, or introduce other revenue generating opportunities like retail space.

The User Experience

User Safety

Conventional parking lots hold many dangers for users. According to the National Safety Council (NFC), parking lot accidents are not minor events and are often more serious than people realize.2 More than 50,000 parking lot accidents occur each year, which results in more than 60,000 injuries and as many as 500 deaths. Fifty-one parking lot and parking garage deaths each year occur when drivers are backing up.

Also, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than one in 10 property crimes occurred in parking lots or garages. This could include fender benders, door dings, vandalism, theft of vehicle, and theft of vehicle contents. In an automated system, criminals and careless drivers do not have access to the garage.

Parking lots and conventional parking garages are large and difficult to monitor. With an automated system, the only space used and occupied by people is the transfer area and small common areas, which are smaller and easier to secure and monitor.

Considerations for Designers, Developers, and Owners

For designers, developers, and owners, automated parking systems require more thought, planning, and expertise than an asphalt parking lot or even a conventional multilevel parking structure. Here are some benefits:

Reduced Construction and Finishing Costs

Since automated parking facilities require less building space, developers can save on construction costs through reduced excavation, construction time, and land costs, which adds up to major savings that can go back into the project’s budget.

According to a study by Walker Parking Consultants in 2012, developers can save up to 25 percent in overall costs with an underground, automated garage directly below the building in comparison with a traditional underground garage.⁴

By comparison, the construction costs for a stand-alone, aboveground, automated garage could be up to 40 percent higher per space than a conventional garage. However, aboveground automated garages have actually been built, which goes to show that even they have advantages over traditional garages in certain situations, such as luxury experience, minimal environmental impact, and increased parking capacity.⁴

Additionally, as users do not enter the garage, developers can achieve lower upfront ventilation equipment costs due to the reduced requirement of only two air changes per hour, as opposed to the four to six changes per hour required in a typical parking garage.

And because the users won’t be able to enter or see what’s going on within the system, developers don’t need to put as much emphasis on the parking areas through passenger lifts and stairwells or the overall finish of the garage. These add up to cost savings that go directly back to the project’s budget.

Automated parking garages typically run in a lights-out environment, so electricity usage is drastically reduced, and lighting costs are minimal. This savings helps offset the cost of the electricity needed to operate the parking system’s equipment.

While cost savings over traditional parking garages is important when evaluating an automated garage for a project, possibly the most important factor is the potential added value an automated parking garage can provide to a development.

Operating Cost Savings

The whole- life or life-cycle cost (LCC) savings is something that is often overlooked when developers are considering an automated parking garage for their developments. There can be substantial LCC savings when compared to conventional parking—although there will also be differences in the potential LCC savings between different automated systems. One study in the National Parking Association’s Parking Magazine showed potential savings in operating costs of an automated parking garage compared with a conventional garage of over 50 percent.⁴

A large potential saving is in valets or operator salaries, insurance, HR, hiring, and benefits costs, as they are typically not required in an automated garage.

Although preventative maintenance plans are recommended for the equipment, ongoing maintenance costs are reduced because there is no parking area to maintain for users. And there are no consumer lifts to maintain.

Finally, developers can also see savings through the accelerated depreciation of the automated parking system equipment capital cost; the asset can be depreciated much quicker than a conventional garage.

Finding the Right APS Vendor

There’s no doubt that an automated parking system is very complex. Specifiers would be wise to choose a turnkey vendor that can guide the process from conception to ongoing operation. A partner who controls the entire process ensures a better outcome than outsourcing various elements to the lowest bidder.

Initial discussions with an APS vendor should conducted as early as possible in the design process to maximize the operational and space efficiency of an APS. Early in the process an architect should send a vendor the project plans and specify the number of parking spaces required, the development type of the project, the expected vehicle throughput of the project, expected retrieval times of the vehicles from the system and any other pertinent information that may be useful for a vendor to design the optimal system with the architect.

A vendor may manufacture several different types of APSs and can use its experience and expertise to determine which system type works best for each project, or even provide differing design solutions for each project that can be discussed with the architect.

As important as the machinery is the software to run it. Again, engaging a vendor with a track record of installing glitch-free software is recommended. Ask for references and visit past installations if possible, for a hands-on experience of such a system.

Maintenance on equipment and the software should ideally be performed by the same vendor that designed the system, sold the equipment and software, and did the installation. In this way, deep inside knowledge of the system and ongoing support will be in place, including technicians available around the clock. The cost of any support services agreement (SSA), or maintenance agreement, should be discussed before selecting a vendor as this is an import element of the overall costs and could have an impact on the system’s performance too. Details of the services that will be provided under the agreement should also be discussed so there’s a clear understanding of what will be delivered and a comparison with another vendor’s SSA can be conducted.

Things to consider when selecting a vendor:

• Track record. Check if the vendor has a track record in delivering fully automated systems that have been operational for several years to determine their reliability?
• Office and manufacturing location. Is the vendor’s office close enough to allow for smooth coordination during the design and procurement phases between the design team? Is the manufacturing done in a location that provides the necessary quality.
• System quality and reliability. Can the vendor provide sufficient reliability and quality data from previous installations/manufacturing processes to back up any claims it’s given?
• Service and maintenance. Does the vendor have the resources and skills to ensure the system’s hardware and software will operate reliably for the next 20 or so years?

Finally, go and visit the vendor. It’s important to meet the team that will be delivering your project, see their manufacturing facilities and judge the quality of their manufacturing and project delivery processes; and visit at least one of their installations to see how it performs and uncover what the users really think about using the system. Find out if there’s substance behind the information vendors have provided or behind that glossy website or sales brochure. In the long run, it could save a lot of time and money.

Know the parts of the whole

There are many other basic considerations architects need to understand and evaluate during the process of specifying an automated parking system and selecting the most appropriate vendor. Most of these considerations should easily be answered by the vendor, but a basic understanding of the concepts will help ensure the project goes smoothly.

• Electrical requirements. Automated parking systems may have additional or special electrical requirements depending on the type of equipment installed. Be sure to discuss the electrical power needs with your vendor and communicate this information to the building team.
• Space requirements for different systems. While it is estimated that automated parking systems can save up to 50% of the available space when compared to conventional parking structures, it is important to discover if equipment will need any additional area to operate. Additional space could be needed or moving parts, safety requirements, maintenance needs, and inspection.
• Fire code specifications for APS. Each area and municipality likely will have specific fire code specifications in place that address parking garages. It is important to know that these requirements may not be the same for automated parking systems, and an architect should research and document local codes to determine the requirements in their area.
• Maintenance and service. When specifying a vendor it is inspect and evaluate the service contract the vendor will provide. This should include regular maintenance, emergency service agreements, and a parts replacement schedule. It is also a good idea to evaluate the service and response times, which may include where the vendor is located, size of operation, onsite inventory of parts, turnover rate of staff, and general ratings and reviews by current and former clients.

Conclusion

With the United States anticipating at least 293.6 million motor vehicles on the road by 2021, providing adequate parking will continue to be a challenge, even with the advent of car sharing schemes and autonomous vehicles. But through automation, developers across all industries can confidently handle any volume of cars within a given space, keeping in mind construction costs and the environmental impact of the garage. And drivers can enjoy the fact that they don’t need to spend time looking for parking and rest assured their cars are safely stored within a reliable system. It could be considered a win for everyone.

End Notes

¹Shoup, Donald. “The High Cost of Minimum Parking Requirements.” Parking: Issues and Policies. Transport and Sustainability. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2018.

²Larson, William. “New Estimates of Value of Land of the United States.” U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 3 April 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2018.

³Schwartz, Samuel I. “The Garage of the Future Must Be Green.” Parking Magazine. March 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2018.

⁴System Cost. FATA Automation. 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2018.a

Kathy Price-Robinson is an award-winning housing and construction writer. Her series on home remodeling ran 12 years in the Los Angeles Times. She has profiled more than 500 projects and developed more than 100 continuing education courses. www.linkedin.com/in/kathypricerobinson