It’s a complex job for municipalities to solve their traffic and mobility issues. And it’s especially challenging when you’re a city like Palo Alto and have seen an incredible rise in commuters over the last 15 years. The problem calls for continued innovation from the city and their partners.
Enter SP+, which developed a Silicon Valley-style solution.
SP+ started their partnership with Palo Alto in 2015 and have since introduced a number of advanced mobility solutions to help ease the congestion.
“Every city has a bit of a unique challenge when it comes to parking and mobility, so it requires expertise in a lot of different areas,” said Victor Alistar, SP Plus Vice President of Operations for Northern California, “Our ability to integrate our technology and services makes a much bigger impact on these types of complex challenges.”
The Palo Alto Parking Guide
One of the more interesting innovations to come out of the SP+ partnership comes from the city’s digital marketing strategy and the creation of the Palo Alto Parking Guide website.
SP+ built an online parking guide to the city of Palo Alto, which acts as a one-stop shop for all things parking. The guide caters to residents, employees and visitors and their specific parking needs by quickly getting them the information and tools they are looking for.
It also allows for easy access to buying parking permits, referencing parking-related activities like bike lanes, highlighting the best places to park, information on local shuttle routes, and efficiently directing visitors to the right locations—minimizing cars driving around the city trying to find parking.
It’s a mobile-first world
Since the city is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, SP+ knew it was critical to apply a mobile-first approach to serve its tech-savvy commuters. SP+ designed the website to work from any device so customers can access the parking information in the context of when and where they need it—which is usually when they’re on the go.
Website as a traffic regulator
One wouldn’t usually think of digital marketing or web development as tools to ease municipal traffic issues, but in the case of Palo Alto, it has. Virtually all of Palo Alto’s parking is done through the sale of permits and more than half of the transactions are done online.
Through site analytics, the City can track all the permit sales and control the volume and flow of traffic. This ensures areas of the community are protected from overcrowding and congestion.
Digital marketing and wayfinding is just another way SP+ is helping its clients when faced with the mobility challenges of today.
“The price of doing things the same way is too high for our clients,” said Alistar, “SP+ sees innovation is the only long-term strategy for continued success.”
