The Miami Marlins Major League Baseball team attracts thousands of visitors to loanDepot park to attend each game. Managing parking lot security and wait times led to challenges for the stadium security team, including traffic congestion and frustrated fans.

The high-tech stadium is located in a residential neighborhood in downtown Miami with a challenging roadway infrastructure and few mass transit alternatives. The resulting traffic and congestion on game and event days caused long wait times to pay and park in the stadium’s more than 5,500 parking spaces.

By using Genetec AutoVu Free-Flow and the Mobile Post Payment plug-in, the Marlins reduced queues and facilitated post-payment for parking. Payment is collected before, during or after games and events using the AutoVu Pay-by-Plate Sync plugin, via mobile parking apps or onsite stations. The software pushes license plate information to fixed cameras at entrance and exit points to validate compliance. 

During games and events, cars equipped with automatic license plate readers drive around the parking facilities and scan license plates, which are cross-referenced with guest lists to identify people who have not already paid. They then issue a promissory note informing those guests that a parking citation will be issued in 24 hours if they do not pay for parking. Because they have the flexibility to pay after the event, fewer fans are actually fined under the new system. Parking payment compliance is approximately 97%, and the parking lot payment strategy saves an estimated $300,000 per year in operational costs. 

The parking management system has also improved the flow of traffic by helping lot managers track occupancy, identify vehicles who have not paid, and direct drivers to open spaces. The system can even cross-reference license plates with those belonging to staff, match users on VIP lists or season ticket members, and use this information to offer exclusive parking options to these guests. 

Read the full case study here.