MAPTA Member Profile: Federal Parking
MAPTA is excited to launch our new Member Profile Series! This series will offer a closer look at the people and organizations shaping parking, transportation, and mobility across the Mid-Atlantic.
Each profile features a set of questions exploring industry trends, current challenges, and what’s ahead. It will give members the opportunity to share their perspectives and experiences.
We’re proud to kick off the series with Federal Parking, whose insights set the tone for the conversations to come.
Tell us about your role and your organization’s connection to parking, transportation, or mobility in the Mid-Atlantic region.
I’m William Boyle, owner and operator of Federal Parking now in our 30th year. We manage and consult on parking operations in the Mid Atlantic, with a focus on facilities that support Federal agencies, downtown office users, and mixed-use corridors.
Like everyone in our industry, we act as the connective tissue between drivers, businesses, and public space. Because so much of the area's travel is regional from commuters, tourism, universities and events our decisions about pricing, access, and wayfinding directly affect how people move into and through the region.
What are the biggest priorities or challenges your organization is focused on right now?
Two priorities dominate my calendar:
First, adapting existing parking facilities to a world of lower peak office demand but higher variability even in the Federal core, Monday morning no longer looks like Wednesday afternoon. That forces us to rethink everything from staffing and maintenance windows to how we price daily versus monthly parking.
Second, applying a highly agnostic take to the accelerating technological changes in the parking industry with an eye towards the best possible technology for each use case.
What lessons or insights have you gained from that experience that others in the industry might find helpful?
The built space always beats technology. You can add the most cutting-edge technology, but if your lanes, gates, or no gates, pull ins, pull outs, ticket policy, rate etc fight human behavior you will lose. It is a business truism that culture always wins and that applies equally well to parking. We live in a highly technical, low trust culture and our parking operations need to reflect that.
Are there any trends or challenges you see emerging specifically in the Mid-Atlantic region?
In the Mid‑Atlantic, a couple of things stand out. First, federal policies are reshaping demand patterns more than any single factor. In DC especially, one Office of Personnel Management memo can change business volume for a day or a week or permanently . Second, there’s a growing tension between climate/vision‑zero goals and the continued political reality of driving and parking in constrained city spaces. That tension shows up as aggressive curb reallocation, new bike and bus lanes, congestion pricing and changing zoning rules, all of which affect how and where structured parking still makes sense.
What’s one misconception about parking, transportation, or mobility you wish more people understood?
I wish more people understood that parking is not just a sink of cars; it is infrastructure that can be managed as a mobility tool. We’re often treated as a passive backdrop to whatever the “real” transportation system is doing. In reality, how we design and run parking at any given location, at any given pricing, with access for carpools and EV charging, support for bikes and scooters, integration with transit can either support or undermine a city’s transportation goals. “More” or “less” parking is the wrong frame; the right frame is whether the parking you have is doing the job you actually need done.
