Government Parking Garage

Why reducing employee demand for government parking makes good financial sense

Many government facilities include sizable, government-owned parking lots that are available to employees free of charge, and to other members of the public for hourly or daily fees. Given that public agencies are accountable to taxpayers and are thus always in need of ways to reduce costs and maximize revenues, these types of parking facilities can be a major asset when leveraged correctly.

The underlying strategy for maximizing government parking is simple: by reducing employee demand for free parking, government agencies can monetize a greater number of parking spaces. The newly vacant spots that would otherwise have been used by employees will be available for hourly or daily rental to other members of the public.

In addition to generally increasing revenue flow, this strategy can also be used to generate the income needed to cover parking-related costs, such as the construction of new facilities and the maintenance of existing ones. It also has the added benefit of helping relieve traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, since fewer employees will be commuting in single-occupancy vehicles.

Specific strategies for optimizing the monetization of government parking facilities

There are several effective ways to reduce employee demand for government parking:

  • Parking cash-out programs: Offer employees the option to receive monthly or quarterly cash pay-outs in exchange for voluntarily reducing or rescinding their parking privileges.
  • Parking benefits programs for carpoolers: Vehicles used in carpools can be tagged for privileges, such as exclusive access to the best parking spots. The high visibility of this approach encourages more people to adopt ridesharing.
  • Subsidized transit passes: Provide partially or fully subsidized passes to local transit networks to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home more often.
  • Earn-a-bike programs: These programs incentivize bike commuting by allowing employees to earn credit toward a new bike. A recently implemented earn-a-bike program at Sonos makes for an excellent case study.

The more of these strategies you use, the better your results are likely to be. One of the often-overlooked keys to encouraging behavior change is to support as broad a range of commuter programs as possible. This lets employees to choose the modes of transportation that are right for them, allowing some to carpool, some to bike to work, some to use public transportation more often, and so on.

The RideAmigos platform provides a user-friendly, centralized management hub where commuters can access all their transportation options, earn and claim incentives, and participate in challenge programs. Administrators can also use the platform to generate and analyze commuter behavior reports and data, gleaning useful insights and tracking progress.

Get started with RideAmigos today to learn more.