In a hurry and need to find a parking space quickly in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport garages? Or perhaps you can’t remember where your car is after a week on vacation.
Help is on the way. Airport officials are planning to roll out nearly $5 million in upgrades this summer aimed at making the whole parking experience much easier. The system will rely on a new app, an expansive network of electronic signs and a camera-based parking guidance system that will do almost everything but drive your car into the space.
“Passengers are constantly looking for reassurance. It’s a fairly anxious time,” said Doug Wolfe, the airport’s chief financial officer. “Our task is to calm them down, relax them, reassure them that this is the path you take.”
Here’s what you can expect later this year:
*LED lights in each parking aisle on every floor of the garages – red will indicate no spaces are available, green means there’s space. No more circling the floors looking for a spot.
Pay for parking using your smartphone. You’ll also be able to reserve a space that way.
*Discount prices for frequent parkers or for people parking in areas farthest from the terminals. Premium prices for spaces closest to the terminals.
*License plate cameras to help officers track stolen cars, vehicles involved in crimes or vehicles matching security watch lists.
Curbside valet service will replace the existing valet in the garages. Currently, drivers must enter the garages to valet their cars, then find their way to the terminals. In the new system, they’ll be able to pull up at the curb between the terminals to drop off their cars. Prices haven’t been set.
*On-demand service at the economy lot off Ravenswood Road west of Interstate 95. Drivers will be directed to park in a specific space and a shuttle will be radioed to pick them up. Now, drivers park wherever they want but the shuttles only circulate every 15 minutes.
The parking upgrades will begin this summer, preceeded by a huge marketing campaign to educate visitors what’s in store and how it will work.
Surveys have shown up to 95 percent of travelers want the airport to push information to them via their smart phones or tablets. And about a third would take advantage of valet service if it were offered curbside.
“The worst part about parking is just the congestion you have to deal with driving there,” said Justin Lehring, who was flying to Dallas in the past week and said he would use the valet if it were reasonably priced.
Officials say they want to make sure the airport holds onto it’s old easy-in, easy-out reputation, a challenge in an era of explosive passenger growth. Last year, the airport handled a record 24.6 million passengers.
But parking revenue has steadily declined from $47.7 million in 2008 to $41.8 million in 2014. At the same time, off-site competitors such as the Park N Fly lot just east of the airport have increased market share from 5 percent to 12 percent, airport officials say.
“The competition has increased and gotten better at what they do. We have been in the same position and haven’t changed much,” said airport spokesman Greg Meyer.
The airport has about 15,400 parking spaces, including 7,800 in the garages for the public, 900 valet spaces, 3,000 spaces for airline and concessions employees and 3,750 spaces in an economy lot west of I-95.
By letting people reserve parking, Meyer said passengers will have greater assurance a space will be available in the garage closest to their terminal.
“Instead of being a guessing game, this gives the reassurance they can get a spot,” he said.
Cameras throughout the garages will capture license plate images so the system will know exactly where you’ve parked. You can punch your ticket number or license plate in your smart phone or at a kiosk and you’ll be shown the way.
“We intend to make this as seamless and a stress-free experience as we can make it,” said the airport’s CFO Doug Wolfe.
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