YAKIMA, Wash.- The Yakima Air Terminal is switching systems to track parked cars within the parking lot. The new system is set to be launched in mid-September along with an increased parking rate.
The previous price of $10 per day will jump to $15 per day, as YKM plans to use the revenue to look into projects across the airport.
“It’s been at that rate for actually almost 11 years and costs of things have gone up, so the cost of running the airport has gone up,” said YKM Airport Director Robert Hodgeman. “It’s time to raise the rate and that’s not a very big jump.”
Hodgeman says there’s a laundry list of projects that he wants to start on for the airport, namely modernizing the 73-year-old terminal and looking into the return of an in-terminal restaurant.
The airport will implement the Park Smarter app on both Apple and Android devices to allow flyers to check in from their phones. A physical kiosk will also be installed in the terminal entryway for those who choose not to use the app.
YKM sees the app as “more user-friendly” for airport patrons, while also allowing flyers to extend their parking time if they run into delays or choose to add a day to their trip.
The app-system is the latest to take over YKM’s parking lot. A ticket booth, marked spots and in-person payments have all been used before, but the Park Smarter system will be the most technologically advanced system yet for the airport.
“Now we’re taking it to the next step,” said Hodgeman.
Hodgeman and YKM see the switch as mutually beneficial in easing the load for flyers as well as raising needed money for the airport.
“It’s gonna help the airport as far as more revenue, which we need in order to do some of the projects that we’re trying to accomplish.” said Hodgeman. “There’s just a lot of projects here and they all cost money. Even though the FAA provides some funds for some projects, not everything is eligible.”
The Park Smarter system is set to be fully launched in September and he tells me they have already found most of the potential issues in the app and have addressed them.
