FLASH: Smart Parking Takes Flight at Quad Cities Airport

The Challenge

Quad Cities International Airport is located in Moline, Illinois, and services the population of western Illinois and eastern Iowa. For the hundreds of thousands of travelers and staff that pass through its doors each year, QC Airport manages a premium, economy, and employee parking lot.

After their last parking technology investment in 2016, QC Airport found themselves just four short years later with hardware that was falling apart, replacement parts that were no longer available, and software that was no longer supported.

Going as far as attempting to source parts on eBay, the airport eventually had to revert to lifting gates and forgoing revenue collection from some 60% of parkers. Without the ability to properly manage, profit from, or even track the traffic coming through their lots, QC Airport decided it was time for a change.

They began the search for a new PARCS technology that could withstand harsh weather conditions, maintain high uptime, report accurate numbers, and create a user-friendly experience for staff and travelers.

According to Airport Operations Manager Joseph Goetz, “the biggest priority was really just to find something that worked.” In the process, however, QC Airport found a lot more than that.

The Solution

Among myriad solutions available in the market today, FLASH stood out for three key reasons: durability, reliability, and simple repair philosophy. As a member of the National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (NCPA), QC Airport was also keen on FLASH’s pre-approved status that streamlines planning, approval and installation.

QC Airport installed 13 custom-wrapped kiosks with updated branding across their lots and is today running FLASH’s cloud-based mobility hub operating system to manage monthly and transient parkers with ease. The system has automated processes that used to require cashiers and attendants and is instead utilizing more modern, user-friendly features like:

• Scan-to-pay
• Touchless Access
• Validation tablets in exit lanes
• Remote customer care through LAZ
• Bluetooth entry to simplify staff entry, especially during inclement weather and for snow plow access

The Result

Since installing FLASH, QC Airport has been able to start collecting cash again at both exit booths and pay-on-foot stations.

“We’ve been very pleased,” says Goetz. “It’s very easy to maintain, very reliable, and we don’t spend a lot of time dealing with individual cases of tickets not scanning and things like that.”

The FLASH system has proven to be highly reliable, with 99.9% uptime; flexible in functionality, with a single kiosk design that can be installed to work in transient, monthly, and pay-on-foot settings; and accurate, with easy reporting, validations, and auditing functions.

About FLASH 

FLASH is an innovator in the urban mobility space, helping businesses rethink one of their most valuable assets: the parking garage. Our award-winning cloud-born platform is custom configurable, secure, reliable, and grows alongside you as business or consumer demands evolve. Visit www.flashparking.com to learn more.