CLIENTS ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE TO PARK
Parking SystemGives VIP Customers Preferred Treatment
BY RUDOR “DORI” TIECH
T
HE 3P PARKING GARAGE, LOCATED IN downtown Montreal, Canada, is a multi- use indoor three-story facility. It serves a diverse clientele –workers in nearby office
buildings, shoppers and patrons of a retail center just above the garage, and residents of a nearby condo- minium.
The 140 spaces available in this garage are usually full, thanks
to its premiumcentral
location.Motorists using the facility can opt for amonthly reserved spot assigned to their vehicle or amonthly space in any unreserved space in the lot; or they can pay for a space on a daily basis, if there is adequate room. The leasing cost for a reserved space is about one-third more than a traditional monthly space. 3P Parking’s clientswho pay for a reserved space on amonth-
ly basis were having a challenging time. “Reserved” signs,marking their spaces, did not seemto keep others fromparking in them. Yehuda Scohaczevski, whose family owns and operates 3P, said they had tried everything to ensure that reserved parking spaces remained open for thosewho leased them. “We tried bigger signs,more signs.We told our attendants to
be more vigilant. We even tried parking cones, but nothing seemed to work,” Scohaczevski said. 3P owed it to their reserved parking clients to find away to ensure that their spaceswere open and availablewhenever they needed to park at the garage. That’s when they learned about theMySpot 200 barrier The unit is a low-cost, self-contained, remote-controlled bar- rier that secures a parking space with the click of a button from
24 JANUARY 2009 • PARKING TODAY •
www.parkingtoday.com
inside a vehicle. The barrier is easily secured to the floor of the parking garage. Drivers simply push a button and the barrier in front of their spacemoves down so a vehicle can be parked. When leaving the space, the driver raises the barrier from
inside the car in a similar fashion, so that the space stays reserved. 3P tried one of the barriers for about amonth, to see how effec- tive it was. The reserved space was always available for the “trial” client. 3P was so happy with the results that they decided to fit each of the reservedspaceswith aMySpot
200barrier.Today, the facility has 12 reserved spaces with the specially designed barri- ers.
Scohaczevski said thatmore clients are seeking the reserved
monthly spaces in the garage because of the security of knowing that their space will always be available. “The clients are insisting on having theMySpot 200 barriers installed.We wouldn’t have a reserved space without it, and there are never any more client complaints,” he said. An interesting psychological aspect of the barriers seems to
be that even when clients forget to raise the barrier after leaving, other motorists respect the reserved space and will not park there. “They see the reserved sign, notice the type of barrier that is
there, and realize they do not belong in the reserved space,” Sco- haczevski said. “It’s awonderful system. It has given usmore credi- bilitywith our clients,who knowthey can depend on having their parking space ready andwaiting for themwhen they need it.”
Rudor “Dori” Teich is President of Designated Parking Corp. He can be reached at
dori.teich@dp-corp.com.
PT
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