Business Fleet, November/December 2020

CITIES ARE TURNING TO CURB MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS THAT ALLOW FLEETS TO DYNAMICALLY GUARANTEE PARKING FOR A FEE REVVING UP WWW BUSINESSFLEET COM 25 BUSINESS FLEET November December 2020 BY CHRIS BROWN Its bad enough that parking rates have almost doubled in some cities in the last few years And now you expect me to pay to park in a loading zone that was traditionally free Please Add parking to the list of rising fleet operational costs as cities such as Seattle and San Francisco charge commercial vehicles to park in loading zones More will follow suit Its easy for fleets to throw up their hands but what if these fees came with a system to make commercial parking smart and promise to ease the congestion double parking and chaotic loading experiences that are the norm in most cities Smart Zone programs being developed by Coord a curb management company are intended to do just that We provide technology to cities and fleets to both manage and use that space more effectively on a real time dynamic basis says Stephen Smyth Coord CEO and cofounder The need for smarter parking has been growing for a decade Smyth says which has been recently exacerbated during the pandemic What started with parcel delivery vans personal cars and carsharing vehicles grew into ride hail services and then fleets of scooters e bikes and cargo tricycles all jockeying for a limited number of curb space Smyth cites the statistic that a quarter of all retail sales in the third quarter of 2020 came via e commerce This trend appears to be a societal shift with no sign of slowing down The explosion of demand for street space is causing city planners businesses transit authorities and commercial fleets to rethink curb management and policies Spun out of Alphabets Sidewalk Labs Coord is developing curb management pilot programs in Omaha Aspen Nashville and West Palm Beach The goal is to create tailored Smart Zones in which loading space is dedicated for use by participating drivers using a mobile app to view Smart Zone locations availability and rules for each loading space Drivers use the app to place a hold on the space pay for and extend their time By having a guaranteed spot waiting for them fleets can reduce the wasted time spent circling for parking which accounts for 25 to 30 of a typical last mile delivery The system is also designed to ease the impetus to park illegally which comes with the associated burden of fines SHOULD DELIVERY FLEETS PAY TO PARK IN LOADING ZONES As making deliveries is dynamic and sometimes haphazard drivers are only enabled to hold the space when theyre reached the last half mile If they pull up and the space is taken enforcement officers are notified to take appropriate action As the system is entirely digital rules and prices can be adjusted in response to policy changes special events or emergencies without having to modify signage on the street For cities the Coord platform provides information about when where and for how long drivers are loading Cities can calibrate the system to create more loading space where and when its most needed and manage demand for loading spaces through pricing and time limits The fleet is billed on a per minute basis Charging per minute allows better demand management for loading and promotes better availability for drivers who need to use a loading zone Peak and off peak pricing can spread demand over a larger window of the day and across different zones Smyth says In September the city of Omaha Neb launched its Smart Zone pilot with Coord The five Smart Zones are located in Omahas downtown and Old Market districts Ken Smith Omahas parking mobility manager witnessed the growing parking problem firsthand We saw it coming on the horizon with deliveries and ride hailing and other services that all needed access to the curb and we started to figure out how we were going to manage it all he says The curb has become much more valuable to the city Smith says Its having a big impact on city infrastructure And I think its wise for cities to start thinking about how to manage that dynamic movement of goods and services from the curb space to the property BF With a smart zone management system fleet drivers use a QR code on a placard to access rules and information for that space They can pay for the space beforehand PHOTO COURTESY OF COORD