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Airport commission backs new parking access, revenue-control and reservation system
Summary
The Palm Springs Airport Commission voted to forward staff’s recommendation to procure a parking access, revenue-control and reservation system from Scadata/Ski Data, authorizing the airport to seek City Council approval; commissioners pressed staff on costs, job impacts and data privacy during robust Q&A.
The Palm Springs Airport Commission on Tuesday approved a recommendation to pursue procurement of a parking access and revenue control system and an online reservation system from Scadata/Ski Data and to forward the contract to City Council for final approval.
The vendor presentation said the package includes license-plate-recognition (LPR) cameras for each lane, upgraded entrance and exit terminals with touchscreen payment, cloud-hosted parking software, QR “scan-to-pay” receipts, a reservation platform for prepaid stays and redundancy via lane UPS units that will keep terminals running 30–45 minutes during an outage. Vendor Maloy Poor of Ski Data said the system supports multilingual interfaces and loyalty/contract-parker management, and estimated typical hardware life at seven to 10 years.
Why it matters: airport staff said the current parking equipment is aging and prone to failures; the proposed system aims to speed exit lanes, reduce consumable costs (thermal ticket rolls) and enable new services (reservations, LPR-linked employee access and loyalty programs).
Commissioners pressed staff and the vendor on several operational and public-policy points. They asked whether new automation would reduce jobs; staff said cashiers are currently employees of the private parking operator (ABM) and that future management contracts could allow a cashierless model but would not immediately cut positions. Commissioners also requested a clearer cost-benefit analysis; staff said the $651,000 figure presented covers the parking equipment and a five-year maintenance term, with an additional ~ $43,000 for the reservation platform noted in the discussion. Staff said the airport will be responsible for equipment installation and maintenance contracts going forward, rather than the parking management firm.
Privacy concerns surfaced during public comment and commissioner discussion. A member of the public urged strict controls on LPR data, noting the city’s prior use of the Flock system and urging staff to tightly limit access and conditions for release to law enforcement. Staff acknowledged those concerns and said they would incorporate privacy controls and coordinate with law enforcement and city policies.
The motion passed on a roll-call vote. One commissioner voted no and one recorded an abstention during the tally; the commission chair said the recommendation will next go to City Council for final authorization.
What’s next: staff will prepare the contract language for City Council consideration and return with supplemental financial detail and operational steps (including reservation and overflow procedures) if Council approves the procurement.
