With cities growing larger every year and major cities becoming more impacted due to the mass influx of newcomers, parking management is not only an important issue but a necessity for us to focus on more intensely. If cities decide to be ignorant to the issue only seeing the shallow problems of it causing more traffic and even traffic collisions than the are denying themselves the opportunity to more commerce from tourism, the opportunity to make money from parking spots more than just meters, but also a cleaner city with less car emissions in the air. The automated parking system whether it be through app or website would help improve the life of a driver and pedestrians in the popular cities.

 Major cities in California like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Newport Beach and many more have already implemented parking meters and sensors on them to show if a car is past its time. To take it a step further by simply turning that information into an automated parking management system so that drivers can see if are spots available instead of driving around and hoping to find an open spot. Even when relying on paid parking garages those can sometimes be filled up very quickly because they advertise parking lot but not how much availability, leaving the driver causing traffic by trying to search for an open spot on the street close to the destination. When traveling to places like Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, San Francisco, and places that sometimes have small, old roads, and that the cites were not exactly built for the population they hold now, a driver now has to take into factor an extra thirty to forty-five minutes for parking. With a parking system implemented drivers can now feel better knowing that they will be better informed while on their drive over. With an automated parking system through an app or website drivers can input in their destination with a designated radius of parking and options will show a spot is open, not just that its just a parking lot. With this technology implemented drivers would not be stuck driving around trying to find a spot hitting their brakes every few feet causing traffic because they are scanning for a spot on the road. 

Bad parking management by a city can lead to a cause in more traffic congestion and when this happens in a city like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Long Beach, and so forth it can cause bigger problems. The parking in these cities is not always the easiest to come by due to small roads, overpopulated areas, and well because they are all tourist places. Traffic in any one of these cities is never fun to be stuck in and would be made easier with a better system out into place for parking. These cities already profit off parking meters and would only better that profit with a simple upgrade to those meters to be on a single automated parking system. This would help the cities main tourist attractions better manage their peak hours and also better calculate how much traffic that goes through the areas. With better management on the parking and traffic through the parking areas would also lead to a better, less anxious environment in the cities.  

With fewer cars driving around blocks looking for parking means less car emissions in the city air, which leads to cleaner air. A better environment has cleaner air, which means a more beautiful city, and a more beautiful city with less pollution can possibly lead to more tourism. The better the city air can even lead to tax breaks from the government for being so clean of a city and that too puts more money back into the city’s pockets. The improvement to parking management would reduce all air pollution or eliminate all traffic but it would greatly improve them. The automated parking system implemented into the existing parking meters and a few improvements with cameras or sensors would make the life of the pedestrians and drivers better. With an improvement to the parking system and patience with the system, the cities would start seeing a better city environment with healthier, happier people.

The solution may be based in something like an app or website so that consumers can have easy access to the automated parking system. It would take a team to make updates and be sure that the parking system is running smoothly but ultimately once up and running it should not have too much maintenance. A solution like this is always two sided and does indeed need both the provider of the service in quick, easy informed parking but also the consumers in the drivers using the service for the spot. If drivers decide to use this service and it catches on with most of the community than the system updates would work faster and more smoothly which helps drivers get to their actual destination more quickly with less hassle. The city could take it upon themselves to fund the city improvement project of parking management which would not be a bad option as the tax payers would benefit from the cleaner environment and less traffic congestions. The parking management system is a public good and should be seen as such for the improvements would only bring good to the city with time. The city could even go as far as charging for the spot through the app or website in the more desired areas and even changing the price per spot as some spots would be more desired than others in places like downtown areas. 

An automated parking system does helpful things like reduce traffic congestions and the greenhouse gasses in the air but also it makes the life of a driver be more enjoyable rather than rushing to get there before rush hour hits. The cities and its citizens would enjoy the service and the indirect improvements it would cause to what they call their home.

Annotated Bibliography

Al-Kharusi, H. and Al-Bahadly, I. (2014) Intelligent Parking Management System Based on         Image Processing. World Journal of Engineering and Technology, 2, 55-67.             http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/wjet.2014.22006

This article helps explain how using a camera sensor can better update computer parking management systems. Main pro for the camera is that it is cost efficient because it can update on a number of spots in one shot. It ultimately makes it easier for the driver to find a spot right away when driving into the parking structure rather than driving around till finding a spot.

Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Volume: 42 issue: 5, page(s): 870-887

Article first published online: January 1, 2015; Issue published: September 1, 2015 
Received: August 22, 2013; Revisions received: June 12, 2014; Accepted: April 21, 2015

Highlights the effects of smog due to high traffic areas and what the exposure can do to the residents that live there. The exposure the city receives is getting more than the said population produces, which is leading to heavy smog in the air.

Greene, et al. “Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.s. Transportation.” Welcome to ROSA P, 1 Jan. 2010, rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/23588.

This report shows that through a combination of policies and improved technologies, these trends can be changed. It is possible to cut GHG emissions from the transportation sector cost-effectively by up to 65 percent below 2010 levels by 2050 by improving vehicle efficiency, shifting to less carbon intensive fuels, changing travel behavior, and operating more efficiently. 

La Vigne, Nancy. “Traffic Congestion Around Schools.” Traffic Congestion Around Schools |ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, Aug. 2007, popcenter.asu.edu/content/traffic-congestion-around-schools-0.

Although this is specific to schools, it still points out that when there is a place with heavy traffic flow there needs to be a system and effort put into place to assure less traffic collisions and traffic altogether.

Lipton, Shana Ting. “Los Angeles Parking Tips, Tricks, and Advice.” TripSavvy, TripSavvy, 13 Jan. 2019, http://www.tripsavvy.com/los-angeles-parking-tips-tricks-and-advice-2230192.

This website although not an academic piece is an example how websites solely produce tips and tricks of how to get around Los Angeles specifically but it is a great example for most major cites.