Like many industries before us, parking is benefiting from the emergence of innovative technology designed to reduce OPEX and CAPEX costs.
This cost reduction allows anyone (homeowner, hotelier, property manager, or priest) to become a car park operator. Resulting in more parking space in cities and cars getting off city streets quicker.
But what has changed?
No expensive equipment
Everything is on your mobile! Customers now carry with them an access card and payment machine, eliminating the need for RFID cards, paper tickets, ink, and expensive payment machines.
Camera technology has also improved alongside mobile technology allowing for car parks to remove barriers altogether without compromising on revenue.
Better compliance
With expensive equipment eliminated as a barrier to intelligent parking, compliance is actually much improved. Mobile phones make it easier for drivers to manage their parking resulting in fewer compliance issues related to long lines or malfunctioning machines.
Parking-as-a-Service (PaaS)
PaaS is a rental-based service, which means parking can be utilised more efficiently and allocated by demand, not an entitlement. Decoupling parking from property purchases will start this mindset shift. This will result in parking being developed to suit demand and the existing infrastructure being used more efficiently.
New Revenue Streams
As mobility in cities evolves, car parks will have more than one use. Owners can already increase revenue by creating:
Logistics and e-commerce hubs
Drop-off and pick-up zones
Storage centres
Recycling centres
Vehicle service centres
Drone depot and deployment towers
Improved Customer Experience
Mobile technology allows owners and operators to know who is in their car park and when, and potentially even target those customers with real-time, geographic-based marketing to improve their car park experience and on-wards journey. Experiences like this result in more opportunities to make a customer a recurring visitor.
Technology is changing the parking industry, making it easier and more efficient for everyone involved. With new revenue streams and improved customer experiences, there is no reason not to take advantage of these innovations. So what are you waiting for? Get on board with the future of parking today!
Harriet Lowrie
Chief Operations Officer & Executive Director at KERB
