LAZ Parking New York, New Jersey, LLC has been awarded a seven-year contract to manage 34 rail facility parking locations by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Metro-North Railroad. The agreement provides a seven-year contract, with two 3-year renewal options, to LAZ Parking NY/NJ, LLC (LAZ) to manage 34 parking facilities with 13,625 parking spaces owned by Metro-North in New York State.

"With this new contract, we are proud to announce that LAZ Parking now operates the parking for three of the largest transit parking authorities in the country, including Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). This is a true testament to the tremendous operating team that LAZ Parking has established throughout the country," said Alan Lazowski, chair and CEO of LAZ Parking.
In anticipation of the March 31, 2009 expiration of the contract for system-wide parking operations, a "Request for Proposals" was issued in July 2008. Key selection criteria included maximizing parking availability and supporting station access initiatives, providing consistent performance of maintenance and operations, and improving customer service.
LAZ's proposal was considered the most thorough proposal submitted with:
* Highest compensation and financial benefits to Metro-North
* Significant capital and system improvements benefitting Metro North and its customers
* Improved customer service through enhanced services, uniformed field personnel and innovative options to maximize parking availability
* Excellent client references from several large U.S. parking systems and metropolitan area operations, including the Port Authority of NY/N.
MTA Metro-North president Howard Permut said, "Station parking is just as important to our customers as the safe, comfortable, reliable Metro-North trains on which they travel. We understand that quality service for our customers begins at the entrances to our stations Metro North strives to make station access and parking availability easier."
"We are very excited to have been selected by the MTA and expect to handle the transition and subsequent operations in a manner that will be seamless to the parking customers," said Jeff Karp, founder and president of LAZ Parking.
Primary to this award was enhanced service, which includes greater operator field presence to assist parking customers and customer convenience in expediting parking meter and permit transactions. The LAZ contract provides an important financial benefit to Metro-North as well. In addition to the gross parking revenue of $28.1 million in the base 7-year term, additional costs and capital expenses will be borne by LAZ for such items as landscaping, snow hauling, and meter maintenance, as well as major capital commitments for new meter and system improvements, which will result in a total benefit of $33.1 million for Metro-North over the base seven-year contract, beginning April 1.
LAZ plans to replace all existing parking meters with new state-of-the-arts digital electronic meters that will accept credit and debit cards. The new meters will be linked to a new Pay-by-Phone Program for added customer convenience , especially for customers running late who can bypass meters. LAZ will also create a new website linked to the MTA/Metro-North site that will allow customers for the first time to conduct online sales transactions and receive email alerts. In addition, capital investments will be made to improve Metro-North's parking lots at the Harlem Valley-Wingdale, Cortland and Middletown stations.
Under new operating requirements, service response will be so finely tuned that six key train stations will be equipped with high-tech snow alert systems to ascertain wintertime inclement weather conditions, such as snow depth, and communicate that information to the operator, so that snow removal services can commence quickly and effectively.
A new customer amenity program will provide "welcome information kits" for new customers and LAZ will facilitate vehicle assistance services including jump starting dead batteries, towing, and placement of windshield washing stations...A special "Parking Ambassador Service" will be offered at select parking locations, including in front of the Poughkeepsie Station, providing uniformed agents who will help customers locate spaces, assist with taxis and provide directions.
In addition, the option of providing commuter valet services, satellite parking and park-and-ride lots with connecting shuttles to and from stations can be provided through this new contract to Metro North as needed.
Metro-North facilitated a seamless transition to ensure that parking operations continue unimpeded as LAZ takes over from the current operator.
Over the past 15 years, Metro-North has aggressively advanced its station parking inventory to 39,000 spaces in New York, including 10,000 new and 7,600 rehabilitated spaces. The railroad now owns and operates approximately 41% of these spaces, most through its system-wide private parking operator program.
Formed in 1981 with a single valet location in Hartford, Connecticut, LAZ Parking has developed into one of the largest national parking companies in the United States, operating over 1,000 parking facilities nationwide and managing in excess of $325 million in parking receipts. At the end of last year, LAZ Parking was selected as the parking operator for the City of Chicago's Metered Parking System as part of a 75-year concession agreement between Morgan Stanley and the city. Tags: