Technology has disrupted most industries over the past couple of decades, streamlining and improving service offerings in successive waves. The parking industry is no different, with the current wave of change including customer identification technologies such as Licence Plate Recognition (LPR), mobile phone apps, replacing tickets and RFID cards. We now commonly rely on apps and the web to find, reserve, and pay for parking in an age of on-demand, real time, and touch-free expectation.

As updated access control systems and parking guidance sensors and solutions have been deployed and consumer confidence in using online tools has grown, the amount of data being generated has grown exponentially; allowing insights into usage and behaviours that inform business decisions around availability, pricing, and occupancy expectations.

In short, technology has been helping to make parking more efficient, more customer-friendly, and at the same time, more valuable to the asset owner and associated business(es).

The management and reporting software that accompanies parking technology systems is a huge benefit to operators in terms of their management decision making. Parking guidance has reduced the uncertainty and time taken to find a parking space and improved customer experience and loyalty to the business in the process. When parkers are advised of availability via real-time signage before they even enter a parking facility, they are unlikely to drive elsewhere.  Even a gradual improvement to occupancy as a result of a Parking Guidance Solution (PGS) investment can lead to significant additional revenue each year.

The use of parking guidance technology extends beyond just car parks as this case study shows. Any area where space is at a premium and congestion results - such as the loading dock in this example – will benefit from the occupancy information that a PGS can provide, in order to prevent inefficiencies and bottlenecks.

With the uptake of smart cities thinking and planning, utilising the data that parking technology generates can help councils and governments plan future infrastructure based on traffic patterns, behavioural insights, and predictive revenues.  

Parking technologies are insightful, adaptable, and agile with an application that will be wide-ranging beyond carparks as we head into the future.

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