Earlier this month at a parking management conference in Nashville, Tenn., Tim Flanagan had a lot of discussions about dynamic pricing – the ability to charge different rates depending on the availability of parking spots. From Flanagan’s viewpoint, it is no different from what a building owner does in adjusting lease rates for office space depending on demand. “It is a real estate play that is outside,” he said, “except the lease isn’t for a year or five years, it’s for an hour.” Flanagan, managing director of Sentry, a parking management systems firm in Van Nuys, attended the International Parking Institute trade show along with Shareena Sandbrook, managing director of Frogparking Ltd., a New Zealand developer of parking management software. Sentry exclusively distributes Frogparking products in the United States. Sentry has just made available a product that combines Frogparking software and sensors with pay kiosks and digital signs. The Nashville trade show gave Flanagan and Sandbrook the opportunity to tout the new system and find potential customers. Frogparking is making the only software Sandbrook is aware of that takes inputs from sensors in parking spaces and uses that information to automatically change parking rates on signs and on the pay machines. “That is the part of the system that is innovative,” she added. The use of dynamic pricing in large cities is one that has been growing across the country. Los Angeles started the practice at parking meters and in city-owned lots in the downtown area several years ago. San Francisco and Washington, D.C. are two other cities that have tried dynamic pricing, also known as surge pricing or demand-responsive pricing. San Francisco’s SFPark program is done in eight neighborhoods and reduced cruising around for parking spaces by 50 percent in its first two years, according to a 2014 study. Washington, D.C. embarked on a pilot program two years ago. The Los Angeles program, LA Express Park, takes in areas of downtown and later added Westwood. The most recent price increase went into effect on April 4. In downtown, for example, average hourly parking rates at meters can range from 50 cents to $6. The Sentry method differs from these other cities in that the price can change in real time, Flanagan said. For Sentry, the growth markets for dynamic pricing are in the Sunbelt and regions with high population growth. Las Vegas, too, has the potential to be a major market now that the large Strip casinos are starting to charge for parking, Flanagan said. For example, 12 hotels owned by MGM Resorts International will begin charging parking fees in June, the first in Vegas. The chain bought equipment from Sentry. None of the other large casinos have announced following MGM’s lead. “Let’s say that if they haven’t, they will,” Flanagan said. “We met with several of them at this trade show.” – Mark R. Madler