Car Chases, Super Spies, No Ticket Jams – Oh, the Magic of Hollywood

I was watching one of the Jason Bourne movies recently.  I really love those movies, and get “sucked in” every time one of them is on (much to my wife’s dismay). One thing dawned on me as I was watching it. Something I never would have thought about prior to working in the parking industry. What I noticed was, during every one of the Bourne movies’ obligatory car chase scenes, they inevitably end up driving either in or out of a parking garage. That is not the interesting part, though. The speed at which they can get in or out of the parking facility is astounding! What kind of PARCS system is being used? You never see Jason Bourne having to insert a ticket or credit card, getting frustrated from a ticket jam, and waiting for someone to come fix it so he can get out of the garage and evade the assassins that are chasing him.

So that got me thinking, what if parking control was as simple as in the movies?  Now, I’m not suggesting your guests use your facility as a high-speed getaway route, but what if you didn’t have to deal with those frustrating ticket and credit card jams?

What would you do with that extra time?  How different would your day look? How many points would your blood pressure go down?  Just imagine the possibilities.

Sound too far-fetched, that it can only exist through the magic of Hollywood? Let’s face it, maintenance issues like ticket and credit card jams, and the frustrations that come along with them, are regarded as simply the norm in the industry, and there really isn’t anything that can be done about it.

This, however, doesn’t have to be the norm anymore. There are simple reasons for these issues and even simpler solutions to minimize or completely avoid lost productivity and revenue due to jams. So, what really causes all these jams? That’s easy. It is the moving parts within your ticket spitters and exit verifiers. The more components in your machines that have parts that “move,” the more instances of those components jamming and breaking down.  Whether it is credit card insertion slot with a spinner, a ticket spitting component, or bill accepter, each part has a component that moves and can break.

You’re probably thinking, “yeah I know this, but not much I can do about it, since every solution has the same types of components.”

But what if the machine components didn’t have a credit card insertion slot, or ticket slot? What if the credit reader was a simple magnetic card reader, just like at gas stations? And how about replacing the ticket inserter with a simple bar code scanner? That’s right, less moving parts = less jamming and breakdowns.

Why is it that when you look inside a typical PARCS station, it looks like you’ve just jumped back into the role of super spy Jason Bourne and broken into NORAD? Are you planning on launching missiles or trying to control parking revenue and access? With all those components, it is no surprise that issues occur daily. With technology advancements, however, simple, more elegant solutions are possible. With less components inside, requiring less moving parts, the headaches start to melt away.

Now technology innovation may seem scary, but with the right technology powering your operations, simplicity and efficiency should rule. Technology doesn’t have to equate to complexity. It should be the opposite.

So, wouldn’t it be great if you could do away with those pesky ticket jams and start to focus on the more interesting aspect of your job that will help you on your career path, like maximizing revenue, and providing top notch service to your guests?

Find out more about your options to minimize breakdowns and maximize your value. Because, if you could redefine the norm and essentially create a “new normal” in parking operations, what a Hollywood ending it would be! www.flashparking.com

About FlashParking

FlashParking is a parking technology company with a suite of products that together are reinventing parking for both consumers and parking operators. All FlashParking parking solutions—FlashValet, FlashPARCS, FlashMobile—use a cloud-based platform enabling parking operators to tap into real-time data from a mobile phone, tablet or desktop. With FlashParking, parking operators now can control their revenue and parking operations (valet, gated, and mobile payments) from virtually anywhere, while also giving guests the ability to use their mobile device for a superior parking experience.