— Submitted by David Cummins, vice president of parking, Transportation Solutions, ACS, A Xerox Company
One of the best movies of all time might just be Cool Hand Luke, the 1967 Paul Newman classic, perhaps best known for one of the ultimate movie lines: “What we have here, is a failure to communicate.” But what you might not remember about that movie is that it opens with Newman’s drunken character ripping the heads off of parking meters.
While people may like to complain about parking meters, they serve a vital purpose and can create economic development when used effectively. Innovative parking services improve traffic flow by making it easier to find a spot and optimize space turnover, benefitting local businesses. A modernized parking system also reduces pollution and traffic congestion by enabling people to find a spot faster.
A key piece of the puzzle is ensuring that there is an open spot. That can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including enforcing existing parking laws. With nearly 30 years experience in the parking business, ACS, A Xerox Company, has the ability to operate parking systems and integrate cutting edge technology to achieve all of these goals. And it just got easier for ACS, thanks to our recent acquisition of Spur Information Solutions.
Spur provides parking management and enforcement software. Spur’s core software solutions deliver a full range of applications from back office document processing, permit and document management, to on-site evidence collecting via handheld devices. Parking enforcement officers can wirelessly transmit key data including GPS coordinates and digital images of license plates as well as access to real-time data, ensuring accurate and consistent enforcement.
This newly acquired software will allow cities of all sizes around the world to have access to an economic development tool (a modernized parking system) that had been historically used by large cities and predominantly in the United States.
By ensuring adequate parking space turnover, business can count on a steady flow of customers shopping at their stores because they have a place to park, because companies like ACS are operating the system and using the latest technology from companies like Spur to help create open parking spaces.
— David Cummins, vice president of parking, Transportation Solutions, ACS, A Xerox Company
