The City of Atlanta has a New Parking Management Agency - PARK Atlanta

October 29,2009

The City of Atlanta has taken an innovative approach to improve services related to public parking. Legislation has been adopted that will allow for a new parking management program to be implemented. This new program will improve traffic flow in the city and maximize the utilization of parking spaces for the public, residents, business
owners, tourists and employees.

Effective November 1, 2009, the management and operation of the City’s on-street parking program will be outsourced to Professional Account Management, LLC, a Duncan Solutions company, doing business as ParkAtlanta. The new program will include and the enforcement of parking-related regulations on behalf of the City.

The contract covers a seven year term. It includes provision for maintenance of parking meters and regulatory signage; parking meter collections; on-street parking and right-ofway regulation enforcement; parking citation processing and delinquent collection services; and vehicle booting and towing services. All services will be performed in accordance with City regulations and guidelines.

“As we were exploring different alternatives to control costs and improve services to Atlanta’s residents and visitors, we quickly identified on-street parking as an area where outside investment and industry expertise could be extremely beneficial,” stated Atlanta Department of Public Works Commissioner Joseph Basista.” Through extensive analysis
and planning, we believe we have identified a partner and a contracting model that will greatly enhance Atlanta’s ability to provide quality, cost-effective parking services and enhanced technology for motorists and taxpayers.”

The contract, which was based on an open, transparent and competitive process, calls for the City to receive an annual guarantee of $5.5 million with no net cost to the City, a huge increase over the $2.1 million Atlanta collected from parking tickets in each of the last two years. The extra income will result in part from nearly tripling the current number
of single and multi-space metered parking spaces, from 900 to 2,500. ParkAtlanta will focus on reducing a backlog of more than 150,000 outstanding parking tickets responsible for about $7 million in uncollected fines.

Under the contract, ParkAtlanta will install more than 200 multi-space parking meter pay stations that will accept various forms of payment, including coins, bills, and credit cards. Other improvements to be introduced by ParkAtlanta will include enhanced customer service options for motorists who receive parking tickets to pay fines securely and easily online or by calling a toll-free phone number.

“This contract will introduce a wide range of technologies and services to Atlanta that will make it the most modern, service-oriented parking program in the country,” said Duncan Solutions’ President and CEO Michael Nickolaus. “We are truly honored to partner with such a visionary client as the City of Atlanta and with such a strong team of local partners and subcontractors. As cities increasingly seek to unlock the value of their onstreet parking programs, Atlanta is leading the way with this innovative partnership.”

The ParkAtlanta team includes several local subcontracting partners which will provide specialized services in the areas of regulation enforcement, towing, booting, and customer service. These partners include the Parking Company of America (PCA), A Tow, Dover Staffing, and Red Bridge Consulting.