North American supporters of parking policy reforms, such as those envisioned by UCLA’s Dr. Don Shoup, have a rare opportunity to hear one of his intellectual heirs in Chicago (Illinois, US) in early March.

Singapore-based, transport policy researcher, advisor, writer and trainer Dr. Paul Barter will keynote the Parking Industry Exhibition (PIE), being held in the Windy City from March 5-8, 2017. In a coup for the PIE show, Barter will deliver two presentations and participate in a forum during the event, offering attendees multiple chances to experience the benefit of his global perspective.

Barter was lauded by Parking Magazine in its July 2016 issue as one of its candidates to be the “Next Don Shoup”. (We can’t provide you a direct link to that article, but please contact us for a PDF copy.)

While Dr. Shoup is still very active following his retirement from UCLA, Barter is considered one of today’s thought leaders in the practical application of Shoup’s progressive ideas. As Shoup provided the core ideas and baseline data that drives market-based reforms in parking policy, Barter has leveraged that foundation into the real-world administration of parking operations.

While Barter has expertise in various urban transport topics, in the last decade, he has increasingly focused on rethinking and implementing municipal parking policy.

He was principal researcher of, and author of, the Asian Development Bank’s 2011 report, Parking Policy in Asian Cities. Likewise, he was the primary author of the 2016 report, On Street Parking Management: An International ToolKit. This latter publication was produced for the Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP). SUTP is an outreach of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusamennarbeit) , an arm of the Federal Republic of Germany. GIZ supports sustainable development worldwide.

Barter has also provided parking policy insight to metropolitan governments in India, Indonesia and China as a consultant to several international organizations, including the World Bank and GIZ. He has also provided training on parking management and reform in various cities across Asia.

He has been a much sought-after lecturer and forum participant in Asia and Latin America. Barter shared a stage in recent years at the “Parqueaderos: Para Que” (En: “Parking Facilities: For What?”) conference with a principal from the H2H2H Foundation, where we here at H2 learned firsthand about Dr. Barter’s wide world of parking.

Barter’s latest efforts lie where the interests of both the academics of urban planning and the practice of parking intersect. From his website, ReinventingParking.org and his Facebook group, Parking Reform International, Barter has been exploring how the theory of what he calls, “urban success without parking excess” can be molded into an operating paradigm.

In one recent example, Barter synthesized eleven different ways to price onstreet parking gathered from his research and on-site consulting. In another, he provided a primer on what he terms, “Adaptive Parking”. This latter concept seeks to blend parking supply, pricing, demand and enforcement into an asset that is politically and practically sustainable.

On-street managers dizzied by the plethora of available payment processes (e.g., pay-by-plate, in-car meters, pay-by-phone, etc.) will also appreciate how Barter advocates flexibility in approach tailored to the existing payment infrastructure and desired program goals.

Barter is an Adjunct Professor in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore (NUS). As Barter is rarely in the Western Hemisphere, don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear him, meet him and learn from his world travels. It’s also important for mobility management professionals to express their support for forward-thinkers such as Dr. Barter, as the industry did for Dr. Shoup.

See you in Chicago!

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