The parking garage is usually the weakest door in the building. Residents and tenants drive through it several times a day, the overhead door stays open long enough for a second car to follow, and the clickers handed out years ago have been copied, lost and lent. Bringing garage door access control up to the standard of the lobby means choosing the right readers, protecting the door itself, and managing garage credentials from the same system as every other door.
Credentials at the ramp
The simplest arrangement is a proximity reader on a post at the ramp, used with the same fob or card that opens the lobby. It works, but it asks the driver to stop, lower a window and reach out in the rain, and it slows the evening queue. Long-range readers solve that: a reader mounted above or beside the ramp reads a windshield tag or a hang tag from several metres away as the vehicle approaches, so the door is already opening as the car arrives. Tags are issued and revoked exactly like fobs, so a departing tenant’s tag stops working the day they leave. Phone credentials can play the same role, and old radio clickers can be retired rather than duplicated. Our garage door control systems are designed around the reader that suits the ramp geometry and the traffic.
Licence plate recognition as an option
Plate recognition cameras read the licence plate as the vehicle approaches and open the door for plates on the approved list, with no tag or fob at all. It suits properties with a stable set of vehicles and produces a record of every plate that entered. It is less suited to visitors, temporary vehicles and plates obscured by snow, so most buildings that use it keep a reader or intercom beside it as a fallback.
Loops, sensors and safety
An overhead door or a barrier arm is a heavy moving object, and its safety devices matter more than the credential. Inductive loops cut into the pavement sense a vehicle sitting over them: a loop on the approach can be used to arm the reader, a loop under the door holds it open while a vehicle is beneath, and a loop on the far side confirms the vehicle has cleared before the door closes. Photo eyes and safety edges on the door itself stop and reverse it if something is in the way, and gate operators are built and installed to a recognised safety standard. Timing is a design decision as well: the door should close soon after the vehicle clears, not after a fixed delay that leaves it open for whoever is behind.
Tailgating and the second car
The classic garage failure is not a forged fob but a second car following the first through an open door. Shorter close timing helps, as does closing as soon as the exit loop clears. Where the problem is serious, buildings add an audible and visual warning that the door is closing, a camera and sign that make it obvious the ramp is recorded, and, in some designs, a barrier arm behind the door that admits one vehicle per credential. Pedestrian doors from the garage into the building should be on access control too, so a person who slips in behind a car still cannot reach the elevators without a credential.
One system for the garage and the lobby
The garage should not be an island with its own list of clickers. When the ramp reader, the barrier arm and the pedestrian doors from the garage sit on the same door access control system as the lobby and suite corridors, one credential opens everything a person is entitled to, and one action removes it all when they leave. Property management sees garage events beside lobby events, issues a temporary credential to a contractor for the day, and gives a visitor a code that works for one evening. In a high-rise this is one layer of the building’s whole access design, which we describe on our high-rise building solutions page.
Cameras at the ramp
The garage entrance deserves camera coverage that actually identifies. One camera should capture the licence plate where the vehicle pauses, positioned low and at a shallow angle so the plate is legible day and night, with exposure set for the reflective plate rather than the scene. A second camera should capture the driver, or a person on foot at the ramp, at a height where faces are visible. Coverage at the pedestrian doors and the elevator lobby completes the picture, and cameras make tailgating visible: when the second car is on record, the property has something to act on.
Common questions
Can we stop residents from copying garage remotes?
Yes, by retiring the old radio remotes and moving to encrypted fobs, windshield tags or phone credentials that are issued to a person and cannot be duplicated at a hardware store. Because each credential is individual, a lost or lent one is disabled without affecting anyone else. Old remotes can be phased out over a few weeks so residents can collect a replacement.
Do long-range readers work in winter?
Yes. Windshield tags are read through glass and are not affected by snow on the car, and the readers are weatherproof units designed for exterior mounting. Placement matters: the reader should face the approach lane at a height and angle where it sees the tag before the vehicle reaches the door. Plate recognition, by contrast, can struggle when plates are obscured by snow or salt, so it is usually paired with a reader.
How do we handle visitors and deliveries in the garage?
Visitor parking is usually left outside the controlled door or reached through an intercom at the ramp that calls the resident or front desk to open the door remotely. Temporary credentials for contractors and one-time codes for deliveries are issued from the same access control system as the lobby, with an expiry set at issue. Every such entry is logged, so management can see who was admitted and by whom.
What safety devices does a garage door need?
At minimum, a means of holding the door open while a vehicle is beneath it, such as a loop or photo eyes, and a device that stops and reverses the door if it meets an obstruction. Loops on the approach and exit let the system open the door only for a vehicle and close it promptly after clearance. Gate operators are installed to a recognised safety standard, and those devices should be tested at every service visit.
If the garage in your building still runs on shared remotes and a slow door, we can bring it onto the same access control system as the lobby with the readers, safety devices and cameras it needs. See our garage door control services, or get in touch and tell us about the ramp.
