CPTA

The Campus Parking and Transportation Association's (CPTA) annual conference was hosted at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio in early October. Campus parking and transportation leaders throughout North America convened to share best practices, new insights and more. The mission of CPTA is to promote and represent the parking industry on the campuses of colleges and universities. The organization is committed to enhancing the professional image of parking and also serves as a unifying force in promoting state and local legislation by fostering partnerships with individuals.

As a sponsor and exhibitor at CPTA, TripShot team members met with our customers, collaborated with industry leaders and learned more about parking demand management operations. We actively participated in several interactive sessions and tours, while meeting attendees and demonstrating how our technology can manage both parking and transit operations.

4 Key Takeaways

1. The Three C’s: Communication, Coordination and Collaboration 
   Campus parking leaders must focus on the three C's to effectively communicate with the larger community. The three C’s are Communication, Coordination and Collaboration. These three goals can help elevate parking programs to achieve success and connect with the campus community, especially commuters who drive to campus. TripShotters learned about unique methods of partnering like OSU working with student-athletes to promote positive parking experiences and the correct use of parking facilities on campus. 
2. EVs will be a Gamechanger
   Everyone has heard the buzz about electric vehicles (EVs) over the last few years. EVs are a part of the transportation solution to reducing greenhouse gasses and addressing climate change. The Parking industry has a lot to learn as adoption accelerates and demand for charging and other EV-related transportation rises. 
3. Leadership for the Industry
   As the parking industry undergoes many changes, leadership has never been more important. CPTA provides an excellent space for people to grow and share their leadership skills. Shared values of doing what’s right, not what’s easy, explaining why it matters, and offering practical ideas to help ensure success were a lasting theme of the event. 
4. Parking Needs to be Painless
   The parking facilities on campus should be strategically placed to enable commuters to walk to any part of campus within a ten-minute walk. Technology solutions need to make it easy to locate the best parking facility options for each commuter before arriving.

Parked in the Future

CPTA’s annual conference is a valuable opportunity for people solving parking problems to share ideas. Many higher education campuses approach transportation demand management (TDM) by offering not only parking but also shared transportation. TripShot’s tech makes it easy to manage the day-to-day of multimodal operations. Let’s move campuses forward as parking management continues to meet the changing demands of hybrid work schedules and the evolving needs of commuters. We’re already looking forward to CPTA 2024 at another Big Ten School!