Challenge:

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Texas, a premium event venue, shares its parking structure with a hotel. On non-event days parking was free, while event days required complex traffic management. Staff had to manually manage prepaid and transient parking on the road before vehicles reached the structure, leading to congestion, high staffing costs, and inefficiencies.

Additionally, the owners sought data to justify charging for parking on non-event days but lacked evidence to support this with local legislators.

The Solution:

Frogparking deployed a License Plate Recognition (LPR)-based PARCS solution to automate and simplify parking operations:

• LPR PARCS system: Validated prepaid sessions at the barrier.

• Onsite charging: Transient event-goers were charged directly at the gate.

• TicketMaster integration (in progress): Enabling seamless authentication for pre-booked event-goers at the barrier.

• Flexible configuration: Event parking schedules could be set up to one year in advance.

The Result:

The smart event parking system delivered measurable improvements:

• Reduced congestion by eliminating roadside ticket checks.

• Lower staffing requirements and reduced operating costs.

• Flexible operations that adapt to both event days and hotel-sharing use cases.

• Increased reliability with durable, easy-to-maintain equipment.

The Takeaway:

Frogparking’s installation at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion demonstrates the power of a flexible, future-ready event parking solution. By combining LPR, PARCS, and integrations with ticketing systems, operators gain efficiency, better visitor experiences, and data-driven insights to advocate for policy changes.