Several years ago, the Birmingham Parking Authority (BPA), Birmingham, AL, decided to overhaul the City's parking facilities. Equipment was no longer performing to standards. It was outdated, and parts were growing scarce.

The BPA is responsible for eight multi-tiered deck garages and two surface lots of nearly 10,000 spaces and about 50 lanes. The first objective was to make the entire operation more user-friendly contract and transient users had voiced frustrations.

Additionally, the city saw labor rates rising and parking revenues dropping because no accurate, reliable means of auditing was in place to account for monies and minimize or eliminate theft.

The BPA resurfaced lots and decks where appropriate, and enhanced and renewed elevator equipment. With help from local consultants, Gorrie-Regan & Associates, Inc. and the parking solutions alliance of Amano McGann, the technology of new equipment would provide the information they needed to track customers, revenues, labor costs, garage peak use periods, space inventories, and more.

To replace old plain paper ticket dispensers, Gorrie-Regan & Associates suggested an upgrade to Amano ETP-12 Series ticket dispensers and AGP-1700 gates used in conjuction with AGP-5210 Series fee computers with slip printers, and McGann Software proximity readers, card access, revenue tracking software.

The AGP-1700 Series Amano Parking gate works with the ETP-12 Series ticket dispenser. The ETP prints tickets with the machine number, parking rate, sequence number, entry time/year/month/day (including real time clock synchronization with the host computer, built-in crystal controlled perpetual calendar and automatic daylight saving time adjustment.) The password protected field-programmable ETP-12 unit provides multiple input/output capability for lot full, gate control, low-ticket LCD indicator and count outputs. Normal issuing modes for this unit include valet parking applications (multiple ticket) and a custom greeting on the display for special events. Exit booth attendants enter ticket data into the PC-based AGP-5210 Series fee computers. Parking fees may be calculated for up to one year. The units accept cash, credit card, check, decrement cards and store discount tickets; and may handle two separate currency types and cash drawers. BPA tracks overnight revenue reports at one central location instead of at individual sites as in the past.

Now the City has approximately 75 percent of its available space undercontract for monthly parking. Since the upgrade, generated revenue has made the BPA self-sustaining, paying for all authority overhead, operating costs, maintenance costs with a $2.5 million dollar profit.