Tips for Parking Enforcement During Quarantine

Is parking more full than ever in your community? With so many businesses closing or going into quarantine, most residents will be staying home and driving less than they usually do. It may be stressful to manage the influx of cars parked daily, especially if you’re working remotely at this point in time. As promised in our last post, we’ve compiled a few tips for enforcing parking in your community during a time of crisis.

1. Review and temporarily adjust your violation threshold

Consider not towing people during this time, (with the exception of safety hazards like blocked fire lanes). An unannounced tow-hold is a verbal or written agreement between you and your enforcement team that instructs them not to tow a vehicle if it reaches the typical requirements to do so.

It's good to keep the tow-hold unannounced in order to maintain resident confidence in enforcement. Violations will still appear in Parking Boss, and once the tow-hold has been released the previous violations are legally enforceable.

When you inform your town company of the tow hold, give them an expected release date or simply make it until further notice. A tow hold keeps enforcement active in your community and acknowledges that towing a vehicle can cause hardship while guidelines otherwise mandate residents to “stay in place”.

2. Utilize technology to reinforce social distancing

Parking Boss lets you customize the wording on electronic violation notices. With social distancing orders in place, you may want to rely more heavily on these features. You can communicate both the status of a violation to residents and how to resolve violations without the need for in-person interaction.

For example, you can give instructions for any vehicle that received a violation or has been booted/towed that the person can only discuss the issue via your current mode of communication. The use of technology to reinforce social distancing will help limit the spread of COVID-19, keeping your team, vendors, and residents safe.

3.  Stay flexible

Getting a parking program up and running is challenging enough in ordinary times. Excellent communication between your community and its enforcement team is always important. With Parking Boss everyone can streamline communication and you can remain flexible when the dynamics of your program need to change.

4. Contact us for any advice, questions, and additional Smart Warning stickers.

We’re available and we’re happy to help!

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