Client Snapshot
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- Municipality: Lancaster Parking Authority (LPA), established in 1966
- Location: Lancaster, Pennsylvania
- Population Served: ~60,000 residents, plus thousands of annual visitors
- Parking Spaces Supported: On-Street: ~1,200, Off-Street: 7 garages with ~4500 spaces, 4 parking lots with ~190 spaces, 1,000 metered spaces
- Industry: Municipal Parking
- Key Solution: UPsafety®, PARCS, Flex
Background
The City of Lancaster is a historic city in central Pennsylvania, surrounded by scenic Amish country and home to nearly 60,000 residents. Known for its Old New England charm, vibrant arts scene, and bustling downtown, Lancaster is a popular destination for both tourists and locals.
The Lancaster Parking Authority (LPA), established in 1966 as an independent municipal unit, manages the city’s parking garages, off-street lots, and approximately 1,200 on-street parking spaces. With over 1,000 metered spaces downtown and a steady flow of visitors, LPA plays a crucial role in keeping the city accessible and welcoming for everyone.
The Challenge
LPA needed to streamline on-street enforcement, officer and revenue reporting, and court processes. Managing on-street parking with strict time limits, added to the operational complexity.
LPA relied on four different vendors to manage its parking garages, making support and daily operations complex. The fragmented ecosystem provided parkers a different experience at each garage and for the customer service team made it difficult to manage contracts and troubleshoot minor issues with each vendor.
“We understood we would basically have to face an open-heart transplant – ripping the guts out of our back-office operation, installing new PARCS, software, and retraining staff. For this once-in-every-15-to-20-year event, pre-planning for the future would have to be done right.”
Larry J. Cohen, PTMP
Executive Director
The Solution
To address these challenges, LPA consolidated on-street, off-street, enforcement, and access with one trusted provider—T2 Systems—so the team can manage the entire ecosystem end-to-end without juggling vendors and multiple account managers.
On-Street Parking
LPA’s journey with T2 began with on-street enforcement, where UPsafety®, T2 Systems’ parking management software for small to mid-size cities, provided court-integrated citation management, streamlined reporting, and transparent enforcement through license plate recognition (LPR). This solved immediate challenges around officer efficiency, court integration, and community trust.
- Court-integrated citations: End-to-end tie-in with the court to speed adjudication and collections, while reducing appeals.
- LPR-driven transparency: LPR with photo/video evidence streamlines the process to check for scofflaw, permits, and ticket issuance.
- Reporting & dashboards: Streamlined broad and operational reporting for clearer oversight using feedback from LPA over the years.
- Officer efficiency: Guided workflows reduce admin time and improve field productivity.
“The T2 team went above and beyond my expectations with UPsafety’s reporting and dashboards.” – M. Ibrahim Aman, Deputy Executive Director of LP
“UPsafety made it easy for everyone…our police, court system, and back office.” – M. Ibrahim Aman, Deputy Executive Director of LP
Off-Street Parking 
As the partnership deepened, LPA expanded its use of T2 solutions into off-street enforcement and PARCS operations, seamlessly integrating with T2’s Flex to manage monthly parkers and off-street violations that aren’t tied to the court system.
- Unified Platform for Off-Street Parking: Four legacy PARCS vendors across seven garages consolidated to T2 Logan PARCS with T2’s Flex for monthly parkers and off-street violations.
- Modern, Secure Payments: ID TECH VP6825 with PCI PTS 6.x, offline-capable processing, and Apple Pay/Google Pay, tap, and chip.
- Touchless access: Fixed LPR enables hands-free entry/exit for monthly and transient parkers.
“With ID TECH and T2 Logan PARCS systems, our customers appreciate the ease of paying via multiple payment options, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and credit card via Tap or Chip Insert.” – M. Ibrahim Aman, Deputy Executive Director of LP
The Results
- One Solution Provider: LPA now manages all parking, including garages, lots, and on-street spaces, through a single provider—T2 Systems.
- Faster, More Secure Payments in Parking Garages: With ID TECH, payment processing is quick, secure, and reliable (even offline), supporting 30,000+ transactions monthly.
- Streamlined Enforcement: Officers use advanced tools for efficient, transparent enforcement across all parking spaces.
- Simplified Operations: Reporting and court processes are now much easier and less time-consuming with one solution provider.
- Scalable for Growth: The new system supports Lancaster’s ongoing growth as a vibrant, historic city and tourist destination.
👉 Read More About T2 Systems and ID TECH Addressing Parking Needs
T2 Systems: A True Partner in Parking Excellence for Municipalities
Larry J. Cohen, PTMP, Executive Director, shared:
“We pride ourselves as an organization for being proactive in looking ahead and sharing best practices within the industry. That’s in everything we do, day-to-day. T2 has shown us they’re a best-in-practice partner that has the experience and depth to pull off something very complicated to assist in our mission to bring a variety of complex systems together.”
LPA’s frontline feedback directly informs our roadmap. We continuously leverage their input into enhancements across our solutions to keep pace with Lancaster’s evolving needs—and deliver more value to every city, university, or other industry we serve.
Lancaster Parking Authority doesn’t just use T2’s technology—they rely on a team that knows their operation inside and out. With one dedicated account manager and support across multiple solutions, they have a partner who’s always there to help their community succeed.
👉 Experience this level of partnership for your city. Schedule a Demo Today
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