Tenant NewsletterTenant Spotlight: ABM Parking
We recently chatted with Trena Martin, the General Manger of ABM Parking, about the services they provide passengers. We discussed everything from helping patron's with their cars, to the mountain of snow named "The Matterhorn", and what lead to the opening of the Economy Lot.
Can you give us a highlight of services performed by ABM?
ABM currently administers and controls all public and employee parking services for the Boise Airport. Customer service is our main endeavor beyond security and control of parking areas. In order to boost our service levels, we provide both the public and airport personnel jump starts and air assists to get them on back on their way. In fact, these services are the most praised in comments by our public patrons. Additionally, helping public patrons find their vehicles after a long trip is another important service provided by our team. There are signs in the public garage lobbies to inform patrons of this service and provides ABM’s contact info to request these services.
How was this winter? I know your team plays a big part in snow removal.
Snow removal for all roadways, sidewalks, and drive lanes in all parking areas is another service that ABM provides on the landside. This year was extra challenging for our team. With the high amount of snowfall and accumulation this year, our greatest hurdle was finding places to store snow after removing. I am sure you saw the mountain of snow (or as our team referred to as “The Matterhorn”) in Lot R-1 near the gateway entrance into the airport.
Four Seasons crews worked continuously during storms, sometimes up to 20+ straight hours, to keep our property as safe as possible. During the storms, Four Seasons worked tirelessly to attempt to keep the over 9300 feet of walkway areas as clear and safe as possible, while between storms the parking team would try to keep up with checking this 9300 feet of sidewalks, walkways and crosswalks for thaw/freezing to keep them as ice free as possible. With this much area to cover and the continuous accumulation, I am sure you can understand that it was not always possible to keep all areas as clear as we would like. During our winter months, we encourage you to report to our operation at (208) 343-8761 any areas that have been missed or need extra attention. We thank you for your teamwork in this respect.
Can you talk to us about the opening of the Economy Lot?
Before the Economy Lot opened, it would be expected each mid-week that all long term areas would be full and overflow to the short term areas would commence. With the average monthly increase of 9.25% in vehicles that spend the night, growth in the airport public parking is definitely out pacing capacity at the terminal. With spring break approaching, it was decided that opening Economy Lot was a must and in order to perform any maintenance on the facilities this summer that this overflow facility would be instrumental.
Economy Lot opened on March 15, 2017 to accommodate the expected surge in travel for spring break and would remain open during the summer. The lot opens at 4:30 a.m. and remains open with shuttle running until approximately 30 minutes after the last flight. In order to control expenses, it was decided that the lot would be credit/debit card only eliminating the need for a cashier to be present with long periods of time of no activity. To be concurrent with the city’s “Green Initiative”, currently the shuttle holds at the lot near the first kiosk ready to deliver departing passengers from the lot to the terminal. The return shuttle is by demand to the green courtesy curb on the ground transportation lane. An A-frame is present on the curb to instruct passengers to call ABM for a return shuttle. This further allows the operation to control costs and pollution by having the shuttle only run as needed.
Anything else you’d like to add?
The ABM Parking Team takes great pride in our job here at the airport and wish to provide all of the patrons who park here the best service we can. We are open to any questions or suggestions that you may have and are happy to assist in any way. Please contact our office with any questions, suggestions or concerns. Our phones are manned 24-7 and the parking administration office in the central garage lobby, first floor is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Trena Martin, GM for ABM Parking