The Birmingham Parking Authority this week released its new strategic plan to remake how it operates, hoping to transform the parking experience for residents and visitors of the downtown area.

BPA Executive Director and CEO Andre Davis called the plan a “living document,” one that is designed to change as needed during the next seven to nine years.

“As our economy changes, as the needs of community change, how we address this plan will possibly change,” Davis said.

“But one thing that everyone will see throughout the years as we work on this new strategy for our organization is they will see an improved customer experience,” he said. “They’re going to see improvements in technology. They’re going to see improvements in security, improvements in wayfinding signage, things of this nature.”

Consultants from Kimley-Horn and Wood Solutions Group guided the development of the plan. Both are national planning, design and engineering firms.

Experts took an in-depth look at the Parking Authority’s current operations and compared BPA with parking systems in five peer cities outside Alabama. The plan calls for six key moves:

• Improve the customer’s experience.
• Optimize off-street operations.
• Align rates with the Birmingham market.
• Partner with outside owners to expand the BPA footprint.
• Develop surface lots and manage future parking.
• Consider integration of the on-street parking system.

Davis said BPA patrons will first see cleaner, more visible, easy to locate signage.

“Those things, those aesthetic things, that’s what they will see first,” he said. “There are a number of things going on behind the scenes that they may not necessarily see, but rest assured, the things that we’re doing behind the scenes (are) improving their experience.”

Birmingham Parking Authority has a new logo and a newly revamped website. The former site, Davis said, wasn’t as user friendly as BPA leaders desired.

“Information, while it was on our website, was sometimes hard to find,” the CEO said. “Now that we’ve updated our website, we feel that customers can now more easily get information on our website and not have to search as much.

“We also are able to share more information with our customers on our new website,” he continued. “You can find information about lot closings, meetups, board meetings (and) special events. All of that information is now on our new website.”

Currently, the city of Birmingham manages on-street parking at city meters. Someday, that could change.

“This plan makes a recommendation that on-street parking and off-street parking be managed by the same entity, i.e., ideally, the Parking Authority,” Davis said. “Our city leaders and I are looking at that. While we are not 100% sure that it will definitely happen, we all agree that it is the right thing to do.

“If we can make it work, we are in agreement that it should be probably under the Parking Authority.”

The strategic plan could someday yield partnerships among BPA and some private parking lots.

“We want the parking experience to be seamless,” Davis said. “We want everyone on the same page. We hope to work with some of these private lot owners to understand how they’re doing business so that we can be aligned in how we provide service, whether you’re a private owner or a public entity like ourselves.”

Driving economic development downtown also was a priority. The BPA drew on the suggestions and experiences of city leaders, residents and businesses, partnering with downtown advocates such as the city’s Office of Innovation and Economic Opportunity and REV Birmingham.

“Of course, our greatest partnership is with the city of Birmingham,” Davis said. “Mayor Randall Woodfin, the City Council, the city’s Transportation Department — everyone at City Hall — have been supportive of what we are doing and recognize the importance of safe, reliable and readily available parking to the continued growth of downtown.”