Downtown business districts put your company where your customers go. They offer convenience, community, and opportunities for brand recognition, but there is a downside – parking.
What used to be a humble curb space for retail business customers and the occasional delivery truck has quickly turned into a minute-by-minute jockeying for valuable curb space. Taxis, residents running errands, rideshare vendors, delivery service companies, small business customers, and new visitors to the area cause congestion. New parking could help, but where would it go? Most of these attractive downtown locations are landlocked by existing businesses and infrastructure, so new parking structures are rarely an option.
Solving the dilemma of city congestion is why cities like Las Vegas are turning to Cox Business for Dynamic Curbside Solutions that create a better overall experience for drivers and riders alike. Here are five key benefits of deploying these digital displays:
1. Gather Real-Time Data and Analytics on Curb Usage to Drive Better Decisions
Dynamic Curbside Kiosks are equipped with data-gathering instruments capable of capturing detailed information on vehicles to gain a better understanding of customer volume, types of customers, and popular times of the day.
It’s hard to know how to improve your curbside parking issues if you don’t have a clear picture of how the parking area is being used and where opportunities for enhancements may exist. Dynamic Curbside Kiosks allow you to optimize curb utilization by leveraging the data and analytics to create a game plan for specific areas of town where parking pressures may be the most intense. Armed with a clear picture of how the curb spaces are being used, you can make decisions that improve and expand accessibility for drivers and riders.
2. Improve Curb Accessibility by User Groups and Peak Usage Times
Dynamic Curbside Kiosks allow you to monitor and remotely change parking designations to improve capacity where and when you need it most. For example, you could designate a specific number of curbside parking spaces for taxis, rideshare, and delivery trucks when activity is highest, then shift your kiosk messaging to visitor or customer parking when commercial activity is lightest.
While the data and analytics drive the decision-making, drivers and riders benefit directly from this ability to shift signage depending on the availability needed most at that time. Dynamic digital displays let you maximize usage by driver type and by time allocations based on changing needs and competing demands. They give you total control over the curb space designations remotely from anywhere with an internet connection.
3. Enhance Curb Flow While Reducing Traffic Congestion
Being able to dynamically free up spaces through access optimization relieves traffic congestion by helping drivers find spaces quicker and letting riders know where to access rideshare or taxi services easily. For instance, digital kiosks can be equipped with the option to display the time remaining on curbside spaces so that drivers are clued into when it’s time to vacate the space. In a sense, the kiosks become the air-traffic controller for the street spaces creating a seamless user experience when optimized to its fullest potential.
When drivers spend extra time searching for available parking, traffic congestion increases on city streets. In turn, the disruption in the flow of traffic for local businesses can in some cases impact their ability to generate revenues as residents opt out of visiting those locations due to traffic issues alone. At the same time, lost revenues for the curb owner come in the form of lost parking fees while businesses struggle to make their locations work for their customers. No one wins. Dynamic Curbside Kiosks can resolve the problem.
4. Monetize the Curb and Drive New Revenue Streams
Dynamic Curbside Kiosks are very affordable to deploy, and they enhance opportunities to generate greater revenues than ever before. The curbside kiosks can be designated revenue-generating when and where appropriate for the location. It may be that spaces are allocated to commercial and rideshare services as part of public service. At the same time, separate spaces in other sections can be paid parking spaces with changing dollar values based on time of year, specific high-profile events, or other meaningful high-value instances.
The bottom line is, with Dynamic Curbside Kiosks, you have total control over curbside spaces and can make decisions in the best interests of everyone involved. Plus, by generating new revenues through the curbside kiosks, you can reinvest those dollars into expanding the deployment of additional smart technologies that offer opportunities to increase your return on investment over time.
5. Create a Safer Environment for Drivers and Passengers
Dynamic Curbside Kiosks provide an easy-to-implement curbside solution that protects both drivers and riders from the unnecessary risks of traffic accidents or pedestrian incidents. Organizing traffic flow with clear visual communications also improves overall driver satisfaction and alleviates many of the stresses of parking in high-volume areas.
Public safety is always a concern when it comes to busy downtown streets and a constant flow of cars. Rideshare drivers are constantly looking for spaces to pull over to pick up their passengers, and often riders are standing near the edge of the street with cell phones lit up, trying to flag down their Uber or Lyft drivers. Having dedicated spaces for commercial drivers at peak times cuts down on the confusion of different vehicles competing for the same spaces, which can lead to a reduction in situations where drivers may get a little hot under the hood.
Putting Dynamic Curbside Solutions to Work for You
Deploying Dynamic Curbside Solutions is an easy initiative for curb owners who want to overcome their parking challenges while keeping an eye on generating new revenues. Digital kiosks provide an affordable way to gather intel and make decisions that better utilize spaces based on needs and day-to-day usage, while real-time data and advanced analytics inform strategies to manage and monetize traffic flow.
| Take control of your curb and learn how Cox Business Dynamic Curbside Solutions can work for you. Learn More |
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