Guidebook for Evaluating Airport Parking Strategies and Supporting Technologies (2009)

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Automatic vehicle identification (AVI)—An automatic vehicle identification (AVI) system is a long-range radio-frequency identification (RFID) or microwave identification system that auto- matically identifies vehicles with vehicle-mounted transponders (or tags) as they enter and pass through the range of the AVI system reader (the read zone) without any action by the driver. Compensatory agreement—One of two basic airline-airport rate-making methodologies, whereby the airlines pay agreed charges and rates based on recovery of costs allocated to the facil- ities and services that they occupy or use. The airport entity assumes the risk of operating the air- port so that it breaks even. Duration—Duration refers to the length of time a vehicle is parked or remains within a park- ing facility as measured from when a driver receives a ticket (or inserts a credit card) until the time the driver exits. Flight information display (FID)—Video monitors located in airport terminals and else- where that display the scheduled departure time and gate for every commercial aircraft. Focus group—A focus group is a form of qualitative marketing research, where a group of 6 to 10 people are interviewed at the same time (as opposed to a one-on-one interview) about their atti- tudes toward a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. A focus group mod- erator asks the group questions in an interactive group setting that allows participants to talk with other group members. Frequently, focus groups are conducted in a setting that allows others to observe the participants as they respond to questions. Highway advisory radio (HAR)—Licensed low-power AM radio stations established by individual airport operators to provide entering motorists with information about parking availability, traffic congestion, and other customer service notices. Instructions for bidder (IFB)—Instructions for bidders describe the documents and informa- tion that prospective bidders must submit and which also contain useful supporting information (e.g., contract term and conditions and background information). License plate inventory (LPI)—License plate inventories are regular (e.g., nightly) surveys that record the license plate number of every vehicle parked in a facility. Among other purposes, these inventories are used by cashiers to determine the parking duration (and thus fees due) of exiting customers who, for example, have lost their parking tickets. License plate recognition (LPR)—License plate recognition systems are technologies that auto- matically recognize and record a vehicle’s license plate number or combination of numbers and letters and, with some technologies, record an image of the entire rear view of a vehicle. 153 A P P E N D I X B Glossary

Minimum annual guarantee (MAG)—A minimum annual guarantee (MAG) amount is the minimum fee or amount that a business or concessionaire agrees to pay on an annual basis regard- less of the revenues collected or business volume conducted. Nested—As used in this guide, nested refers to a parking product that is located entirely within a second product. A parking customer first enters one parking facility, and then enters a second, more expensive nested product. To enter and exit the second product, a customer typically must pass through a second set of gate arms and/or ticket readers. O&D (origin and destination)—Airline passengers who began (or will end) their trip at this air- port as opposed to those passengers who are connecting from (or to) another flight. O&M—Operations and maintenance. Optical character recognition (OCR)—Optical character readers perform a form of license plate recognition. Pay-on-foot (POF)—Pay-on-foot is a revenue control system that requires or encourages cus- tomers to pay their parking fees using cash or credit cards at an automated pay station or kiosk upon returning to the parking facility (or in the terminal building) rather than at an exit plaza. Upon paying their fees, customers are issued exit passes that are verified by exit readers (or ver- ifiers) located in the exit lane. Proximity card—Proximity cards (also known as “prox cards”) are credit-card-sized cards or tags containing integrated circuits used for access systems. When placed within 3 inches of a reader, integrated circuits inside the cards activate parking gates or other devices. Radio-frequency identification (RFID)—See automatic vehicle identification. Request for proposal (RFP)—Requests for proposals (or tenders) are invitations to submit competitive proposals. These documents describe the requested services or products to be fur- nished, the information to be contained in the proposal, the required format, due date, and other information that may be needed to prepare a proposal for consideration. Residual agreement—One of two basic airline-airport rate-making methodologies, whereby the airlines pay the net costs of running the airport after taking account of commercial and other non- airline sources of revenue. The airlines (or signatory airlines) provide a guarantee that the level of charges and rents will be such that the airport entity can be operated in a break-even manner. Return on investment (ROI)—The ratio of revenues (or benefits) resulting from an improve- ment and the cost of the improvement. Strategy—As used in this guidebook, strategy refers to the entire spectrum of parking prod- ucts, value-added services, rates and rate structures, safety and security features, and the tech- niques used to control parking revenue, promote operational efficiency, manage capacity, and balance facility use. Technologies—As used in this guidebook, technologies refers to parking access and revenue control systems, ticket and ticketless payment systems, vehicle detection and guidance systems, parking reservation systems, and other parking-related hardware and software. Ticket dispensers—Machines, located at entry lanes, that issue time-stamped tickets to enter- ing customers when activated by a vehicle passing over a series of induction loops, a customer pushing a button, or other action. Transaction—As used in this guide, a transaction is the act of issuing a parking ticket to a cus- tomer (or accepting a credit card at the facility entry). The number of transactions (or tickets issued) is equivalent to the number of customers using a facility. Exception transactions refer to 154 Guidebook for Evaluating Airport Parking Strategies and Supporting Technologies

non-standard customer payments such as those from customers who have lost their tickets; have insufficient cash and “promise to pay”; who present invalid, mutilated, or unreadable tickets; or who otherwise can not be processed in a normal manner. Transponder—As used in this guide transponder refers to a vehicle-mounted automatic vehi- cle identification (AVI) system tag or device that emits a signal detected by readers. (See automatic vehicle identification.) Turnover—The number of times per day a parking space is used by a different vehicle. Park- ing spaces serving short-duration customers have higher turnover rates than those serving long- duration (e.g., daily or weekly) customers. Glossary 155