The City of Winchester Virginia recently sought to replace the outdated PARCS equipment in its city garages with new automated equipment and a centralized, cloud-based parking management system. It chose DESIGNA for its partner.

Corey MacKnight, Facilities and Parking Division Manager for the City of Winchester explained that the city met with several potential vendors for the new parking system. “Our goal is to develop a partnership with our vendors, and we got this same feeling from DESIGNA. I feel like we’re partners in this project.”

The city’s vision behind the system upgrade included making it easier and more convenient for parking customers. The goal was to include the latest technology in a cloud-based system that offered online payment, barcode validations, and pay-on-foot pay stations at each garage. “We wanted to get away from cash payments at the exit as much as possible,” states MacKnight. “The old system required staff to reconcile the cash throughout the week, which heightened security and safety issues.”

MacKnight stated it was also important to acquaint monthly parking customers with the new system. “Our monthly parking customers are now comfortable with the new process and happy for the added convenience.”

Another core element of the city’s vision was to streamline special event parking. “We launched the new system for the Blooming Wine Festival with the new special event pricing on the automated parking equipment,” states MacKnight. “We added credit card on entry for special events. This has made a huge difference in streamlining exiting after our events and it reduced the complaints we used to get from parkers.”

A recent weekend event brought in $70K in parking revenue. “The event ran very smoothly and was a success,” states MacKnight. “We’ve received many compliments from the public on the credit card on entry system. We’ve sailed through our big events, and now have the confidence needed to hopefully sail through all our big weekend events.”

“DESIGNA provides great service, and the local team is awesome,” states MacKnight. “Thanks for all the support in making sure we had the tools necessary to be successful.”