Tuesday, February 9, 2016

New and Improved Parking

Over the past several years The University of Michigan started keeping track of how students, teachers and visitors paid when parking on campus. According to their study around 80 percent of the payments are from credit cards which got them thinking about a new way to have people pay as well as save the university some money. This idea brought them to the company passport, the leading provider in mobile payments for parking and transit. The app allows people parking the opportunity to pay faster as well as extend their time from anywhere on campus. This new innovation is not just convenient but a great money saver.
This app clearly does a lot for the university but the three things I want to point out are it increases convenience and efficiency, saves them money and targets a huge audience. In terms of creating a more efficient campus this does a lot. With little to no machines for parking there is going to a lot less lines and impatient customers. Parking will not only go faster but so will exiting the parking lot. There is going to be less traffic because many people won’t be paying on the way out creating a better flow. This also goes with the convenience aspect of it. The best part of it in terms of customers might be being able to extend your parking time from anywhere. You no longer have to go back to the lot to put more money into the machine. There’s no need to worry about getting a ticket if you forget. You have everything you need right in your hand.
If you can do something to save money but also increase your customers experience then you do it every time. Because everything is on the phone there is going to be a decrease in operating and maintenance coasts. You don’t need to keep machines up to date or make sure they’re all working. This in a way can also mean less people are hired so the payroll expenses are going to go down.
In terms of their study we saw that 80 percent of people use credit cards to pay for parking to begin with. The app targets a large majority of people who come to the university and when you are going to initiate something new it’s good to know your audience. It’s clear the university tech team did their homework

The article covered a lot but I think some important things to consider are the future implications and where else the app can go as well as the costs to be a part of the app. They don’t discuss whether the membership to the company is worth it or not. They say they’ll save money in operating and maintenance but will they lose money elsewhere? Lastly, what about cash paying customers? How will they be handled or will they go to all technology? I believe if this is done correctly then it will be very successful.  

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