After decades of developing more and more complex “automated” gated parking operations the current industry trend is to scrap the expensive and frustrating systems and go “gateless.” Gateless parking operations have been around for a long time. Nearly every on-street parking space and most small parking lots are run gateless. Now gateless is taking over large lots and garages. Retailers and developers are lured by the reduction of backups and friction, lower operational and startup costs and an improved consumer experience. Gateless means that there are no barriers like gate arms or physical parking tags. Parkers register; usually with their license plate number, right after parking their vehicle. This contrasts with the current situation where a vehicle pays for parking when leaving the facility. There are important operational differences between the two strategies, and you should walk through them with your parking management company.

HERE IS A DIVE INTO THE TOP 7 REASONS THIS TREND IS GAINING STEAM:

1. TRAFFIC FLOW

Ever been stuck in line entering or exiting a garage? Well, then you get it. A garage with no gates has no queues.

2. MOBILE PAYMENTS

People are using their phone to pay for more and more things. Parking is a leader in the mobile payment space, but it only makes sense without the gates.

3. FLEXIBILITY

With no need for extensive equipment or queueing areas setting up a facility is simple and flexible. Even if it needs to change over time.

4. COST

It’s just cheaper. Setting up a gated operation can cost $100,000 - $1,000,000 while gateless operations only cost $5,000 - $50,000. Ongoing costs are less as well.

5. DYNAMIC PRICING

Communicating and managing dynamic pricing is simpler. It’s the difference between finding out the cost of something before you use it vs. after.

6. INTEGRATIONS

The mobility world is moving faster. Gateless operations are cloud based and can be easily integrated in other software platforms.

7. PLATE RECOGNITION

Enforcement is getting more and more efficient with the ability to leverage Optical Character Recognition to read license plates.

As a leading management company in the space, Premium integrates disparate hardware and software systems under a single cloud-based revenue control and enforcement platform. The technology of our GLIDEparcs system delivers seamless gateless operations to wide audience of operators, developers and cities.