Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport receives award for innovation

MINNEAPOLIS -- The International Parking Institute has announced Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will receive the 2005 Award of Excellence for innovation in a parking operation or program.

MSP's selection is based on its automated parking payment program, epark. With epark, customers insert the same credit or debit card to enter and exit airport parking. The system automatically calculates charges and bills the credit card. A receipt is available at the push of a button, and there is no need to wait in line for a cashier.

The IPI conducts the competitive awards program annually. City governments, universities, airports, theme parks and hospitals are among the entities that generally compete for parking awards, which are open to both public and private organizations.

"The epark system is an added convenience for travelers and saves about $1.5 million annually in costs to operate the airport's parking enterprise," said Vicki Tigwell, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates MSP. "Automated, self-service payment options are becoming increasingly prevalent in other industries, from grocers, to retail outlets, to gas stations. With epark, we are proving that easy-to-use technologies can add service and efficiency to parking operations as well."

Use of epark has grown from 28 percent of parking transactions at MSP in February 2004 to 67 percent in February 2005. Those who use epark receive a $1-per-day discount on the price of airport parking.