How ParqEx is Addressing Co-Op Parking Management Challenges
We have stated this throughout our entire parking career and will continue to reiterate it: parking is becoming increasingly frustrating, especially in densely populated urban areas. Residents of multi-unit buildings and co-op housing communities experience extreme daily parking frustration, and these communities are now beginning to seek technological solutions. Co-op housing presents a unique set of challenges regarding parking management. Fortunately, ParqEx’s solution addresses the parking management challenges faced by co-op housing, making the parking process more efficient, fair, and secure for all community members. Read on and discover how ParqEx is addressing co-op parking management challenges.
What is Co-op Housing?
If you have never heard of co-op housing, you are not alone! But take a moment to learn about what it is and its parking challenges. Co-op (cooperative) housing is a community of shared ownership where members collectively own the building or property they inhabit. Unlike standard home or condo ownership, residents in a co-op community do not own their home or condo unit. Instead, community members are shareholders of the corporation that owns the property. Owning these shares entitles each resident to live in a specific unit or home.
Another interesting aspect of the co-op housing model is that it strongly fosters a sense of community and collective, community-driven decision-making. All decisions about the property, management, maintenance, and even parking policies and operations are made collectively by the residents. As can be imagined, the shared ownership and overall shared nature of co-op housing can sometimes make things complex, like managing communal resources such as parking.
That is where ParqEx comes in!
Co-op Housing’s Parking Challenges
In addressing parking management challenges for co-op housing, it became apparent that it is particularly challenging and complex due to several contributing factors. But nothing that ParqEx has not resolved before!
- Limited Parking Space: Many co-op facilities are in metropolitan areas, and parking availability for their communities is minimal. Similar to several other properties, such as businesses, schools, hospitals, and transit facilities, this scarcity of parking creates a situation where there are fewer parking spots than residents, leading to competition for available spaces.
- Diverse Sets of Needs: Parking requirements do not always fit within the definition of “needing a spot for a vehicle.” Co-op residents often have varied parking needs based on factors such as whether they own a car (especially in co-op communities located in city centers), the demand for guest parking options, disabilities that require accessible parking, or the necessity for EV parking and charging. These diverse parking needs can create tension when allocating existing parking spaces within co-op communities.
- Fairness and Equity: Perhaps above all else, fairness and equality are vital in a co-op community. And fairness does not fall short on parking! Co-op members also expect that parking availability and parking assignments will be fair. This is why it is essential to establish parking rules or even schedules to ensure everyone has equal access to parking.
These issues may seem daunting and sometimes impossible to address, but this is where ParqEx’s innovative solutions become essential.
How ParqEx Makes Parking Fairer for Co-op Housing Residents
ParqEx, with its cutting-edge property management technology and parking management software, is a platform explicitly designed to simplify and streamline all parking operations, including a residential setting like co-op housing communities. By integrating access control and enforcement technology with ParqEx’s smart parking systems, ParqEx helps communities manage parking spaces efficiently, fairly, and transparently– essential in a co-op housing community. Here’s how ParqEx is addressing co-op parking management challenges:
1. Real-Time Space Availability and Reservation System
A core part of ParqEx’s technology that distinguishes it from all other parking management software and property technology companies is ParqEx’s real-time parking availability system. This is a perfect solution for co-op housing, where parking is often limited. Instead of frustrations rising among tenants and residents as they feel they are constantly searching for available parking, ParqEx allows residents to check parking availability through a mobile app, saving them time searching for parking spots.
Taking it a step further, residents can use ParqEx’s parking app to reserve spots in advance. Reserving parking spots ahead of time on the parking app reduces the uncertainty of finding parking and avoids conflicts when individuals arrive only to find their desired spots already occupied. For guest parking, ParqEx’s reservation system is also handy for visitors needing a reserved space. ParqEx assists co-op communities in reducing “space-hogging” and ensuring that spaces are allocated fairly by allowing residents to secure parking and guest parking.
2. Customizable and Transparent Parking Policies
As we keep stressing, fairness is critical for co-op properties. Co-op communities strongly operate under the principle of shared decision-making and equality. With this core principle in mind, ParqEx’s parking management solutions let co-ops establish tailored, property-specific parking rules and regulations that perfectly fit the co-op housing community’s needs. With ParqEx’s Enforcer App, co-op communities can enforce parking policies with parking citations and ensure no rules are broken. With ParqEx’s system being used at co-op housing facilities, co-op communities can implement parking policies, and can also assign parking based on various factors such as:
- Seniority: Some co-ops have established rules prioritizing seniority, or the length of time residents have lived in the community. If this applies to your co-op facility, ParqEx allows co-op boards and management to assign parking spaces based on seniority, giving long-term residents priority parking.
- Special Needs: Like all housing communities, co-op housing facilities have residents with special needs, including accessibility requirements for handicapped parking. ParqEx’s parking management and parking zone management system helps co-op management identify which parking spots are accessible and explicitly assign these spaces to the specific residents needing them. This ensures that residents who genuinely require these spaces have access to them, and that the spaces are equally available to all residents with accessibility needs.
- Guest Parking: Many residential facilities struggle with managing guest parking, and co-op communities encounter similar challenges with visitor parking. ParqEx’s parking management system streamlines the process of designating spaces for guest use, establishing clear rules about how long guests may park and how many times a resident’s guest can park throughout the week. This reserved guest parking approach (with guest parking rules) helps prevent overcrowding in the parking lot while ensuring fair access for everyone.
These tailored parking policies ensure a fair distribution of parking and give every resident access based on their needs. ParqEx helps prevent frustrations among community members by making parking policies clear and straightforward, guaranteeing equality in who gets parking and when, and ensuring that parking spaces are not being abused and that all rules are being followed.
3. Secure Parking Access and Eliminating Unauthorized Parking
Fairness in parking involves fair use of parking among residents and even protecting the limited parking spaces from unauthorized vehicles. With ParqEx’s access control and license plate recognition (LPR) technology, co-op communities can rest assured that they will no longer have to worry about unauthorized users. Only pre-authorized users and their vehicles can park in co-op parking spaces.
How does it work? With ParqEx’s access control system, pre-authorized residents either receive personalized access codes or use their mobile devices with ParqEx’s app to open gates or garage doors. ParqEx’s LPR cameras scan every license plate, allowing only pre-approved plates to access the property. It is clear that ParqEx’s multiple lines of access control systems eliminate unauthorized access for co-op communities. Additionally, ParqEx’s system features 24/7 real-time monitoring and automatically issues alerts if unauthorized vehicles attempt to park on the property. Furthermore, ParqEx’s co-op housing enforcement technology can take any necessary enforcement actions, such as issuing a parking ticket, booting a vehicle, or arranging a tow if offending vehicles successfully make it onto the property.
4. Flexible Payment Solutions for All Co-Op Housing Residents
Parking fees and payment structures differ from property to property and are usually based on varying community rules. In co-op housing communities, some parking fees are included in the monthly fees, while other community members may incur additional charges for guest parking reservations or extra spaces. Thankfully, regardless of how complex and diverse the parking fees or payment structures are in a co-op housing community, ParqEx provides flexible in-app payment options that accommodate all needs.
Depending on individual and community requirements, residents can pay for monthly, daily, or even hourly parking through the app. For guest parking, the app provides various payment and guest parking reservation options, including resident-paid guest parking, guest-paid guest parking, or resident-reserved guest-paid parking. These different options enable residents to manage and pay for their individual and guest parking efficiently, all within the app.
5. Sustainability with Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Integration
As EVs (electric vehicles) become increasingly common, many co-op residents and guests require EV charging stations. EV parking and charging spots need rules and regulations to ensure fair EV use. Fortunately, ParqEx’s platform supports the integration of EV charging stations into its parking management system. Additionally, ParqEx’s platform offers in-app parking policies regarding EV stations and parking locations. More often than not, EV parking spaces are abused and monopolized by select individuals wishing to charge their EV, leave it there, and park it for extended periods, even overnight. EV parking and charging rules and regulations are crucial to prevent any resident or residents from hogging the high-demand charging stations. By managing all EV parking stations within the same ParqEx platform, co-op managers and board members can rest assured that fairness regarding EV parking and charging is effectively enforced.
Conclusion: How ParqEx is the Answer for Co-Op Parking Operations
As we have stressed throughout this article, co-op housing is not just about convenience; it is about equality and fairness for all members of the co-op community. With the need for equal access to all shared resources, including parking, ParqEx’s innovative parking solutions are the end-to-end solution for co-op parking operations across the nation. By providing real-time parking availability, customizable parking rules and policies, tailored payment structures, secure pre-approved parking access, and EV charging management systems within a single platform, ParqEx is the answer.
Thanks for reading “How ParqEx is Addressing Co-Op Parking Management Challenges.” If you want to streamline your co-op housing parking operations, add parking revenue to your property, increase community security, and ensure the fair use of resources, contact a ParqEx sales representative today!
FAQ: How ParqEx is Addressing Co-Op Parking Management Challenges
If that’s the case, ParqEx’s solution would be the ideal fit for your community! We don’t need many parking spaces to operate. With just a few spaces, our platform can help your community establish rules for their use and ensure fair sharing among all members. Additionally, our enforcement solution can help uphold these rules and prevent any abuse of parking rights.
It all depends on the co-op housing community and their needs! If co-op communities want to enforce parking with three warnings followed by a ticket, we can accommodate that! If your communities prefer a more aggressive enforcement approach, starting with ticketing, booting, and towing immediately, we can do that too! Remember, our Enforcer App allows you to create parking rules and regulations. So it’s all up to you!
Of course! Guest parking is a great way to earn additional parking revenue! ParqEx’s platform has also been built to monetize guest parking. If you are interested in this avenue, feel free to bring it up during your demo or call with a ParqEx sales representative.
If that’s the case, you are also in luck! Having more parking is always better than having less, and with ParqEx, we can help monetize those unused parking spaces. By listing your underutilized parking spaces on ParqEx’s private parking marketplace, your co-op housing community can rent them out to external transient renters seeking parking there. This is a fantastic way to bring in significant parking and generate revenue for your property.
You can also rent out your EV charging stations with ParqEx. People are always seeking a quick charge for their EVs. By listing your EV charging stations on ParqEx’s parking app, transient renters can pay your property for charging and parking while they use that space.
