As the world is confronted by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, municipalities across the U.S. have been experiencing significant revenue losses, facing significant challenges retaining first responders while we need them the most and keeping the communities running for citizens.  

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While it's difficult to gather accurate data on funding losses from all aspects of the local governments, many municipalities have confirmed that a large proportion (lots of times up to 30%+) of the city's revenue is dependent on parking. With real time parking data from 2,000+ parking facilities (both on-st and off-st) across North America, 90%+ revenue losses are observed in the first months since COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. 

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Municipal mobility and parking leaders from the City of Miami, City of Houston, City of Santa Monica, City of New Haven, City of Aspen, City of Birmingham, MI, and many others have rallied and urged for Smarking's support to provide data and information, and help obtain federal financial support for municipal governments through existing or new legislations. Smarking initiated the Urban Mobility Coalition (UMC) together with the mobility and parking leaders in May 2020 and started diligently seeking support from congressional and legislative leaders. In July 2020, International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI) joined the industry effort and provided tremendous support and leadership, to take UMC onto the next level by rallying thousands of parking and mobility leaders from municipalities across the nation and directly reaching out to the congress for support.