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Reengineering Parking Violation Notices: A Step Towards Clarity and Fairness   

Parking violations are an unfortunate but necessary part of urban life, ensuring that curbside regulations are followed to improve traffic, safety, and access.  While cities have worked to optimize enforcement routes, fine amounts, and collections practices, few have worked to redesign violation notices themselves. From complicated legal jargon to dense formatting, parking violations often cause…

Enable curbside chaos or encourage streamlined efficiency?

Enable curbside chaos or encourage streamlined efficiency?

It’s a conscious choice between outdated, largely manual curb management or smarter, informed decision-making.   While the curb has traditionally been an overlooked resource in urban planning, its value continues to increase exponentially. Faced with a myriad of competitive stakeholder demands and pressure, cities must shift and embrace data science to transform how we use, monitor,…

Case Study: Boosting City Parking Revenues in Oakland through Targeted Citation Notification Programs

Case Study: Boosting City Parking Revenues in Oakland through Targeted Citation Notification Programs

Our innovative, data-driven strategy boosts city parking citation revenue by targeting violators with the highest propensity to pay, using customized notices and informed timing. This limited-run program enhances collection efficiency while minimizing additional costs, delivering a strong return on investment. Parking citation collection is a critical source of revenue for municipalities, yet many cities struggle…

We Move this City: Chicago’s Smarter—and Safer—Streets  

We Move this City: Chicago’s Smarter—and Safer—Streets  

Obstructed bus and bike lanes create numerous challenges for commuters and cyclists, from slower, less reliable bus service to increased traffic, pollution, and dangerous conditions. Illegal parking undermines vital infrastructure investments, discourages alternative transportation options, and exacerbates reliance on private cars. Unfortunately, limited enforcement resources make it difficult to catch violators in the act.  A…

Curbing Chaos: Navigating Data Science Procurements to Improve Curb Use

Curbing Chaos: Navigating Data Science Procurements to Improve Curb Use

As cities strive to enhance safety, increase parking turnover, and promote curbside equity, the role of data science becomes increasingly vital. Beyond mere data visualizations, actionable insights derived from data can transform curb management by effectively managing peak parking demand, allocating loading zones, reducing congestion, realigning fines, and making enforcement, booting, and citation adjudication fairer….

Aligning Fines with Social Harm: A Path to Equity in Parking Enforcement

Aligning Fines with Social Harm: A Path to Equity in Parking Enforcement

Effective parking enforcement is essential for managing curb usage and ensuring equitable access to public spaces. It fosters turnover, promotes public safety, and mitigates congestion. While the likelihood of receiving a citation is a crucial deterrent to illegal parking, the severity of fines also significantly impacts compliance. Fines that do not take into consideration the…

Navigating Curbside Chaos: Parking Strategies for Mega Events

Navigating Curbside Chaos: Parking Strategies for Mega Events

With the world’s eyes affixed on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, one of the critical yet often overlooked aspects of managing such a colossal event is curbside management. With millions of athletes, officials, and spectators converging on the French capital, the stakes are high. Events like the Olympic Games present significant curbside challenges. From…

Leveraging Data for More Equitable Scofflaw Enforcement and Booting

Leveraging Data for More Equitable Scofflaw Enforcement and Booting

Challenge The threat of parking violations and collections helps deter illegal uses of the curb lane that cause congestion and endanger the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists. Sometimes, however, citations go unpaid despite the myriad of notices mailed. Vehicle immobilization—or the application of a wheel clamp (often called the “Denver boot” or, simply, “boot”) preventing…

Improving social equity while optimizing parking enforcement operations

Improving social equity while optimizing parking enforcement operations

Challenge The City of Chicago Department of Finance is charged with the enforcement and collection of revenues, including parking fines. The department issues approximately 1.3 million parking citations annually and administers several programs to benefit disadvantaged motorists. Still, administering the curb is not easy. City parking managers lacked data and made assumptions about when and…

Reimagining the Curb (Part 1): 3 Steps to Optimizing Curbside Demand

Reimagining the Curb (Part 1): 3 Steps to Optimizing Curbside Demand

This is the first of a two-blog series about curbside management. Part 1 (below) focuses on initial steps transportation authorities can use to optimize curbside demand. Part 2 digs deeper into key factors required to implement demand-based pricing. Municipal transportation authorities are preparing for a resurgence of congestion on city streets, especially as curbside parking demand…