Victoria Airport Authority
The Client
(YYJ) is the 11th busiest airport in Canada with almost 2 million visitors per year. YYJ was rated one of the top ten most-loved airports in the world by CNN Travel and is the 2012, 2014 and 2020 winner of ‘Best Regional Airport in North America’ by Airports Council International.
Victoria Airport Authority (VAA) is the not-for-profit authority that manages the safe and secure operations of the Victoria International Airport on behalf of the surrounding communities.
The Challenges
In January of 2020, the Victoria Airport Authority (VAA) published an RFP for a Parking Access and Revenue Control System. Their then-current system was quickly approaching end-of-life, with fewer functioning days versus non-functioning days. While their goal was to have the parking experience be part of their overarching vision of making every part of travel interaction as easy as possible, they also faced some very real concerns. At the top of their list—a system that was robust, reliable, and made for the high-volume, high-density, 24/7/365 environment that is unique to airports and hospitals. Other key attributes of the system must include an intuitive customer experience, revenue generation, modern IT architecture, revenue control, audit, and reporting, and system support.
Chief considerations included the fact that the airport is situated on an island, requiring a minimum 3.5-hour trip one-way from anyone in Vancouver, and the existence of an in-place management and service contract with the island’s primary parking operator.The airport’s proximity to downtown Toronto offers passengers convenient access to the centre of Canada’s entertainment, fashion, and financial districts, but its island location poses significant issues for managing parking on both sides of the ferry.
The VAA—in its review and evaluation of submitted proposals—was clear on what they would be rating and evaluating (with a call-to-action for proponents to offer new and/or innovative solutions):
Equipment and software meet VAA specifications
Format and quality of the Proposal
Technical features meet or exceed requirements
Robust reporting
Customer service aspects and user experience of equipment design
Durability and life cycle costs
Demonstrated reliability and capabilities of service representatives
Training provided, operational and maintenance
Service and Maintenance agreement and costs
Flexibility and scalability to meet future needs
API driven integrations with third party providers
Price of equipment
The Solutions
After a Covid-related pause, VAA awarded the contract to Precise ͵͵ for not only the supply, installation, commissioning, and advanced maintenance of our pay-on-foot gated technology and our LPR systems, but also for the related, in-scope civil and construction work, as well as the addition of our Parkedin platform with the Mobile Payment module (with the intention to add additional Parkedin modules of interest as they come online, such as our reservations platform).
VAA chose to engage the services of a third party project management team to coordinate project deliverables and take on the role of liaison between VAA and Precise ͵͵, to facilitate and expedite the delivery of the project. This addition to the larger project and implementation team was highly successful and regarded by all as a key component of the timely delivery and accomplishment of the undertaking.
In an unprecedented move, the airport decided to move with a pay station-free configuration; parkers can either pay with Parkedin, pay at exit, or at the one staffed exit lane. With 21 entry and exit lanes equipped with EMV-certified payment solutions and barcode scanners, parkers have adjusted easily to the new payment schema. They also deployed our IPASS solution for permit management and administration (including billing, rights, rules and access management), as well as our ParkSuite BI Tool.
The Results
Skidata pay-on-foot equipment
License Plate Recognition
Parkedin mobile payment
Equipment and maintenance
IPASS
ParkSuite
Final Words
“Precise ͵͵ has made our second largest revenue stream more reliable while simultaneously reducing the capital costs normally associated with capturing parking revenue…we continue to be impressed by their responsiveness in fine tuning the solution as our business needs rapidly evolve.”
SHERRI BROOKS
Commercial Development Officer
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About Precise ͵͵
CANADA’S PARKING INDUSTRY LEADER FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS.
When Precise ͵͵ was founded more than 30 years ago, the company was a two-person field operation with a simple aspiration: to make a difference in the world of parking automation.
Since then, Precise ͵͵ has grown into a nation-wide managed services and technology firm with more than 700 employees across Canada, a head office in Toronto, and 13 supporting offices across the country.
But what sets us apart from other parking operators isn’t where we are, it’s what we are: a full-service parking solutions provider. One source for all your parking-related needs.
Precise ͵͵ manages thousands of parking lots on behalf of hundreds of property owners. We supply cutting-edge technology and services to thousands of clients in the healthcare, municipal, commercial, institutional, and private sectors.
Being a vertically integrated company puts us in a unique position. We can provide a level of management and technical integration that is best-in-class. Just ask the hundreds of clients to whom we’ve delivered cost-effective and customer-focused solutions over the years.