Why is Planning Event Parking Important?
June 9, 2021
by Beverly Lowe, Parking Operations & Special Event Coordinator, City of Huntsville, AL
I’m not sure about you but when I was a child being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I never answered “I want to park cars.” But here I am in a third career parking cars.
Planning for event parking isn’t simple. Even the weather plays a role. Parking should be a non-event, and if planned correctly it can be.
Logistics are important when developing a plan. Knowing how much parking you’ll need is first on the list. The type of event will also help with knowing how many parking spaces you’ll need. If you’re planning for the symphony, you’ll most likely have two people in each car; but if it’s Disney on Ice families will attend. I was told years ago to take the number of people expected to attend and divide by 2.7. Now I can’t tell you where that number came from, but my parking mentor gave it to me, and it has always worked well.
When planning, I look at the closest parking first and work out from there. In Huntsville, people do not like to walk, so parking two blocks away is a stretch. As the city grows, that task has become more difficult.
Parking rarely gets a seat at the table. Huntsville has sold or developed most of our surface parking lots, leaving a parking shortage. While there are two garages planned, with a new one about to open, we will come up short for years to come. We juggle monthly parkers with event parkers during every large event. At times, everything works as we planned. But at others, it’s organized chaos. In the end things work out and we get people parked and on their way.
My job now is more closely related to events than any other parking needs. It is important for the City Event Coordinator to work with the organizers as early as possible to start planning. The best statement I’ve used when meeting with them is “Parking is the first thing you need and the last thing you consider.” People do not think about parking even when leaving the house and head to their destination. We expect there will be parking when we arrive. We also expect it’ll be close to our destination with minimal time required to get to the event.
Our job is to make sure we do not ruin attendees’ evenings when they are parking. Customer service is so important for our organization. We all want a good review and happy customers. The stress of busy events with stressed customers can weight heavy on our staff as well.
It is important to plan for employees as well. Make sure they have what they need to do their jobs, and maybe something to let them know they are valued. Valued people work harder than people who feel they are just numbers. We have all heard “Take care of your employees and they will take care of our customers” from Richard Branson.
Planning for parking doesn’t just mean parking the cars but also taking time to consider your employees in the plans.
