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News

How to Find Parking in Brisbane

Whether you’re hitting the shops, doing a spot of sightseeing or going to work, there are plenty of reasons why you might be getting behind the wheel in Brisbane. And you’re not alone – a January 2022 study revealed that daily car use in Brisbane is expected to be 24% higher than before the pandemic. With all that extra traffic, finding parking in Brisbane is trickier than ever. But never fear – we’ve got the lowdown on the easiest way to find cheap parking in Brisbane.

Parking in Brisbane made simple

Next time you need a park in Brisbane, don’t waste your time (and fuel) driving around searching for a parking space. Save time and money by pre-booking your parking space on the DIVVY app or website before you leave home. That way, you know your parking space is reserved and waiting just for you.

It’s as simple as entering your location and the time and duration you’ll be parking. Once you’ve booked your parking space, you’ll receive a unique QR code on your phone. Scan it at the DIVVY QR code reader at the car park entry and watch the boom gate rise. It couldn’t be easier!

Where Can I Park in Brisbane?

Looking for parking in Brisbane city? Check out our Brisbane CBD car park at 123 Albert Street. Centrally located in the heart of the city, it’s perfectly positioned for a midweek visit to iconic shopping destination Queen Street Mall, the beautiful City Botanic Gardens, Queensland Parliament House, Brisbane City Hall, or QUT’s Gardens Point campus. Of course, with a great daily rate of $22, it’s also the ideal place to park if you work in the city. DIVVY parking at 123 Albert Street opens at 6am and closes at 7pm, so whether you’re an early bird or staying back late at the office, we’ve got you covered.

DIVVY also offers easy and convenient parking in Eight Mile Plains. Our Brisbane Technology Park parking at 45 McKechnie Drive, Eight Mile Plains, is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s the ideal car park for employees and visitors to Brisbane Technology Park, Queensland’s largest business and technology precinct. It’s also ideally located for patients and staff of the Eight Mile Plains Community Health Centre, which is right next door. Get cheap parking in Brisbane Technology Park for your next meeting, appointment or commute to work with hourly parking starting at $3 or park all day for just $7.

Download the DIVVY app for iPhone or Android, or book your Brisbane parking on our website today.  

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Bookable Assets News

Why End of Trip Facilities Are Essential in Commercial Buildings in 2022

End of trip facilities are becoming increasingly common in Australian commercial buildings, with some states and territories going as far as legally mandating them. We find out what they are, who needs them and the best way to manage them.

What are end of trip facilities?

End of trip facilities (or EOTs) include changing rooms, showers, lockers and secure bicycle storage areas in a commercial building’s common area. They are designed to support people who cycle, walk or run to work or exercise during their lunch break. They’re also increasingly used by employees to freshen up after returning from a business trip or get ready for an evening function.

The benefits of end of trip facilities

Providing quality EOTs benefits individuals, businesses, building owners and the environment.

Because EOTs make it easier for people to exercise and engage in physical activity, they promote higher levels of health and wellbeing among workforces. This can, in turn, result in greater productivity and increased staff morale and retention.

Well-equipped, clean EOTs encourage people to use non-motorised transport to get to work, which is great for the environment, as well as fostering a positive corporate image. They can also increase a building’s Green Star rating and make it more attractive to prospective tenants.

What building owners need to know about end of trip facilities

Well-appointed EOTs are no longer an optional ‘nice to have’ feature in a commercial building. In competitive capital city property markets, they’re a must-have, and in some Australian states and territories, they’re now a legal requirement.

High-end buildings in the Sydney CBD have been focusing on luxe EOTs for several years now as building owners recognise the demand from corporate and government tenants. A 2015 report from Colliers International revealed the desire for EOTs was one of the major drivers of demand in Australian CBD property markets, and that appetite has only increased in recent years thanks, in part, to a COVID-inspired cycling boom.

Data from 2021 shows that cycling more than doubled across inner-city Sydney in the two years prior, and in April this year, the City of Sydney announced plans for a 250km network of strategic cycle paths across eastern Sydney. As more and more Sydney commuters choose to get to work by bike, the demand from commercial tenants for EOTs will only grow.

Meanwhile, in the ACT, recently passed legislation requires new buildings and those undergoing significant refurbishments to include EOTs by law. The new code, set to be introduced later this year, will see new commercial buildings, including takeaway food shops, funeral parlours, cinemas, and offices, required to provide EOTs. Existing buildings undergoing work affecting more than half their floor area will also be subject to the new code.

It’s a similar situation in Queensland, where the sustainable buildings development code requires all new major developments, as well as large-scale additions to existing significant buildings, to include EOTs. New developments with a floor area greater than 2,000 square metres, such as shopping centres, tertiary education facilities, commercial office buildings and hospitals, are affected. Refurbishments of existing major buildings that add 1,000 square metres or more of new floor space to the building must also provide EOTs.

How to make end of trip facility management easy with DIVVY technology

Of course, with the provision of EOTs comes the responsibility of managing them. A first-in, best-dressed approach is destined to fail – people need to know there will be a bike parking space and locker awaiting them when they arrive at the office, and they need to know their possessions are secure while they’re working.

The easiest and simplest way to manage EOTs is via a flexible booking system designed specially to manage shared assets, like DIVVY’s bookable assets system. DIVVY has taken its years of experience designing, installing and managing efficient and effective parking technology and access control systems and applied it to all bookable assets, including EOTs, meeting rooms, hot desks and shared workspaces.

Employees simply log onto the DIVVY portal and book their EOTs within the parameters set by the business. They then receive a QR code on their phone, which gives them access to the facilities they have booked. It’s that simple.

The DIVVY bookable assets system gives employees peace of mind, knowing their EOTs are booked and waiting for them when they get to work. They also know their belongings are secure because the only way the DIVVY booking system will release them is with their unique QR code.

And, of course, DIVVY’s booking system takes the burden of manual EOT management away from building management, admin and security teams. No more spreadsheets, granting and revoking access permissions from security cards, or dealing with frustrated staff who can’t access the facilities they need.

The same DIVVY booking system can be applied to office access, streamlining the process of access control, and reserving meeting rooms, turning an arduous process into an easy one and ensuring meeting rooms are used as efficiently as possible.

When applied across EOTs, office access, meeting rooms, and car parking, DIVVY technology creates a seamless, easy-to-use network across a business’s entire bookable assets portfolio.

To find out how DIVVY can make your business’s bookable assets work harder for you, get in touch with our sales team today.

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News

Introducing DIVVY’s new pre-book parking option – Multi-day bookings

What good is a parking management system if it’s not easy to use? A simple and straightforward user experience has always been our top priority at DIVVY. That’s why we’ve just introduced a new feature that makes our booking system easier to use than ever – the multi-day bookings option. Now DIVVY customers can pre-book a parking space for multiple consecutive days in one simple transaction.

How does DIVVY’s new multi-day parking feature work?

DIVVY users have always been able to book their parking by the hour, the day or the month, but now, thanks to the new multi-day parking option, they can pre-book their parking for two or more consecutive days at once.

The addition of the new multi-day parking option gives DIVVY users the ultimate flexibility when booking a parking space. Whether they need a parking space for an hour, a day, a couple of days, a week, a month or even longer, it’s easy to book with DIVVY. Users making multi-day parking bookings may enjoy a discounted rate for their longer stay, too.

The multi-day parking option is perfect for commuters who want to book their parking a week at a time. It’s tailor-made for businesses catering for guests who need parking for several days, such as hotels and airport parking operators.

The multi-day booking feature is available to all DIVVY Marketplace customers (public parking) as well as DIVVY Enterprise users (staff parking). DIVVY users across Australia can pre-book their multi-day parking on the DIVVY app or website.

How multi-day parking bookings make staff parking management a breeze

DIVVY’s new multi-day parking pre-book feature is set to make managing staff parking smoother than ever.

The days of allocating a parking space to a single staff member (and having the space sit empty when that person is out of the office) are long gone. Today, hybrid working is king, with a recent CBRE survey revealing that more than 90 per cent of Australian employers expect their staff to mix working in the office with working from home. This has prompted businesses to look at their staff parking in a whole new light and ask – how do we best manage our staff parking assets now?

With Australian unemployment sitting at a low 3.4%, according to the July figures from the ABS, the importance of the employee experience has also come to the fore. Savvy businesses are dedicating time and resources to attracting and retaining staff; for some, that means offering staff parking on the days employees work in the office.

In this new world, staff parking spaces need to work a lot harder and managing them is more complex than ever. That means businesses need parking technology that allows them to be flexible, agile and adaptive in an ever-changing workplace environment.

DIVVY’s parking management system makes organising staff parking simple. And coupled with existing DIVVY features like Free Up My Space, the new multi-day booking option is set to streamline staff parking management even further by making it easy for employees to select and reserve several days’ worth of parking at once.

Flexible parking solutions with DIVVY technology

Looking for a one-stop parking solution? DIVVY’s full suite of parking management software and hardware saves you time and money by making managing your parking simple. Whether you’re after a staff parking management system, a public parking booking system or an access control solution, we can help. Get in touch with our friendly sales team today.

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News

4 Common Workplace Parking Problems and How to Solve Them

Providing staff parking is more trouble than it’s worth, right? It’s true that trying to manage workplace parking using traditional systems can be expensive, time consuming and inefficient. But the benefits of providing workplace parking, including improved staff retention and morale, are incredibly valuable, and for companies with tool of trade vehicles, it’s simply non-negotiable. For a multitude of reasons, workplace parking plays a significant and essential role in many Australian businesses.

But can managing workplace parking ever be easy? In a word, yes. Let’s look at the most common staff parking issues and how a smart parking management system like DIVVY can make workplace parking management a breeze.

Unused parking spaces

Workplace parking spaces are often allocated to particular employees, which means they end up sitting empty when people are on holidays, out at meetings or on sick leave. The rise of flexible working, with people working from home a day or two a week, has made this problem more pronounced than ever. It’s frustrating having lots of unused parking bays in your car park, especially when you have employees who would love to park onsite missing out.

That’s where a smart parking management system like DIVVY comes in. When an employee with an allocated car park knows they won’t be coming into the office, they can use the Free Up My Space feature on the DIVVY app to make their parking space available for other employees to book.

It’s a simple but powerful way to make parking available to more employees, which is great for morale while making sure your parking spaces are working as hard as they can. Find out how Downer Group used DIVVY’s Free Up My Space to get the most out of the parking spaces at their Sydney head office here.

The expense of leasing workplace parking spaces

Leasing car spaces for your employees isn’t cheap. A parking space in Sydney’s CBD can cost more than $800 per month, so you want to be sure that your business can justify every parking space on its lease.

You can establish your business’s actual parking bay usage with DIVVY’s staff parking management solution, just like Suncorp did at their Brisbane and Sydney offices. Accurate, real-time parking bay utilisation data, provided by DIVVY’s smart parking system using IoT, shows the patterns of usage in your car park. That insight can then be used to inform business decisions about how many car parking spaces you really need.

Thanks to DIVVY, Suncorp discovered they didn’t need as many car spaces as they had, and they were able to return significant savings to the business by reducing the number of parking bays they were leasing while still meeting their workplace parking needs.

Time consuming manual parking administration

Trying to manage staff parking the old-fashioned way, with physical parking passes and spreadsheets, can be a full-time job. It’s time consuming, inefficient and the room for error is enormous.

A smart parking system using IoT, like DIVVY, cuts out the heavy lifting of staff parking admin. Employees use a QR code on their phone to access the car park – no more physical access passes and unauthorised entry problems. Parking bookings are handled by the DIVVY app, not managed in an Excel spreadsheet. And there’s no need for separate visitor parking management software. Visitor parking is easily and simply managed with DIVVY’s Book on Behalf feature.

Sometimes staff parking management can become complex, with different groups of staff allowed varying parking access. With DIVVY, staff parking can be managed in highly flexible and nuanced ways by grouping staff members, creating different access levels for particular parking bays, and more, as Boral discovered at their North Ryde, Sydney office.

And for those businesses who wish to charge their staff (or some of their staff) for parking, DIVVY’s contactless parking payments systems can handle that too. No need for payroll staff to spend time manually deducting the cost of parking from employees’ pay packets. Staff pay for their parking via the DIVVY app and the payment is remitted back to the business every month.

Tax time reporting headaches

When the end of the fringe benefits tax (FBT) year rolls around on 31 March, calculating your business’s car parking fringe benefit obligations can be incredibly tricky. The ATO’s definition of a car parking fringe benefit, and when a business is exempt from paying FBT on car parking, are complex and depend, in part, on intricate rules around how long a parking space has been used on any given business day. The rules have also recently changed, meaning more Australian businesses than ever are now liable for FBT on car parking.

A staff parking management solution like DIVVY saves you from trying to make a guesstimate on your FBT car parking liability and may also save you money. Because the amount of FBT payable is based on how much and when a car parking space is used, accurate data about parking utilisation, like that recorded by DIVVY’s smart parking management system, may help reduce your FBT car parking bill. Even Deloitte Private agree that using DIVVY’s reports can, in the relevant circumstances, result in a reduction to the car parking FBT payable.

Looking for a way to make managing your workplace parking easier? We can help. Get in touch with our sales team to discuss your staff parking management needs today.


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News

Casual parking made easy with DIVVY’s Drive Up

DIVVY users know and love our pre-book public parking solution, which is perfect for those times when you know where you’re headed. For spontaneous trips (or when you’re a bit less organised!), we’ve introduced Drive Up Casual Parking Solution.

What is Drive Up?

Everything drivers love about DIVVY – easy, contactless parking – is now available for casual parking. No need to pre-book your parking with Drive Up – just tap your VISA, Mastercard, AMEX, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay at the car park entry to gain access. When you’re ready to leave, tap out at the car park exit with the same payment method, and you’re on your way. It couldn’t be simpler!

DIVVY’s Drive Up Public Parking Solution

Why do drivers love it?

Have you ever lost your parking station ticket and had to pay for a full day’s parking or a lost ticket fee? It’s an expensive mistake to make. Drive Up doesn’t use parking pull-tickets, so you can say goodbye to lost ticket problems. It also means the resources used to manufacture thousands of pull-tickets are conserved, and there’s no pull-ticket waste ending up in our precious environment either.

Not only is Drive Up ticketless, but it’s cashless too. Cash use here in Australia was in decline even before COVID, but since the advent of the pandemic, it has nose-dived. No one wants to catch the virus from handling cash, and many of us just don’t carry it anymore. All Drive Up payments are electronic, so all you need is your card or your phone. Easy.  

Where can you park with DIVVY Drive Up?

  • Norwest Business Centre, 18 Norbrik Drive, Bella Vista – this open-air car park, conveniently situated across the road from Norwest Private Hospital (including its emergency department) and Norwest Children’s Specialist Centre, is open 24/7. Drive up and gain entry to the car park by tapping with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or your VISA, Mastercard, or AMEX PayWave Card. Another tap at the exit when you’re ready to leave, and you’re on your way.
  • Adina Apartment Hotel, 359 Crown Street, Surry Hills – nestled in the heart of Surry Hills on the corner of Crown and Albion Streets, the Adina is now offering easy casual parking with Drive Up. Enjoy breakfast at bills or dinner at Bartolo without worrying about pre-booking your parking. Just tap your credit card to enter and exit the car park (accessed via Fitzroy Street), and enjoy. Parking in Surry Hills Crown Street has never been easier.
  • Hotel Kurrajong, 8 National Circuit, Barton, Canberra – need a cheap parking space near Parliament House? Try Hotel Kurrajong. Centrally located adjacent to Capital Hill and the Parliamentary Triangle, casual parking at Hotel Kurrajong is a breeze 24/7 with Drive Up. Simply drive up to the car park entry and tap your card or phone to enter, and when it’s time to go, tap again at the exit. 

Looking for pre-booked parking? We’ve got thousands of cheap parking spaces across Sydney and Melbourne. Download the DIVVY app from Google Play or the App Store, and you’ll never have to Google ‘parking near me’ in a panic again.

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News

FBT car parking rules have changed: is your business now liable?

The ATO has made changes to fringe benefit tax (FBT) and car parking, and as of 1 April 2022, many more employers will find themselves liable for car parking FBT.

The ATO has widened the scope of FBT car parking benefits

In June 2021, the ATO released Taxation Ruling TR 2021/2, which outlines changes to the Commissioner’s view about when the provision of employee parking is considered a car parking fringe benefit for FBT purposes. These changes have been in the works for several years, but now the final ruling has been issued, they will come into effect on 1 April 2022.

What does it mean for employers?

It means that the ATO is taking a more rigorous approach to FBT interpretation, and many more employers will find themselves subject to FBT on the provision of car parking to their employees.

This is because the ruling tightens up the definition of ‘commercial car parking facilities’. Certain car parks, including some shopping centre, airport, university, hospital, hotel, and long-term car parks that were previously not defined as commercial parking stations under the old ruling, may now be considered commercial car parking facilities.

The new ruling includes almost all car parks that charge a fee for all-day parking above the car parking threshold (which, for the FBT year ending 31 March 2022, is $9.25 per day), even if the car park’s primary purpose is not to provide all-day parking. For example, the main intention of a hospital car park may be to provide hourly parking, and even if its fees are so high as to discourage all-day parking, it could still be included as a commercial car parking facility under the new ruling.

Which employers will be affected?

The new ruling means that many more employers, including those outside CBDs, will now be subject to FBT on car parking, and employers will need to examine the new ruling carefully to work out if it applies to them.

The first step is to establish if you are providing a car parking fringe benefit for your employees. If your employee’s car is parked at one or more work car parks for a combined period of more than four hours between 7am and 7pm at or near their primary place of employment, and there is a commercial car park where the lowest all-day parking fee exceeds the car parking threshold ($9.25 per day in the FBT year ending 31 March) located inside a 1km radius of the work car park, then you are providing your employee with a car parking fringe benefit.

The major change comes with the new FBT definition of ‘commercial parking station’. A commercial car parking facility is now considered one that is permanent (excluding on-street parking) and, in the ordinary course of business, has at least one car space available to the public for paid all-day parking.

The ruling includes a two-stage test to help employers determine whether a car park can reasonably be considered a commercial car parking facility. Step one – if the car park is run by a car parking operator, it is considered a commercial car parking facility. This includes shopping centre or hospital car parks managed by (but not owned or leased by) a car park operator. If the car park is not run by a car park operator, the second stage of the test can be applied. If any two of these three characteristics apply to the car park, it is considered a commercial car parking facility.

  • It has clear signage, visible from the street, advertising that paid parking is available.
  • It has mechanisms, like boom gates, ‘pay and display’ ticket machines, or licence plate recognition functionality, to control who can enter, exit or park at the facility.
  • It charges more than a nominal fee for paid parking. This includes charging a user for parking which is not all-day parking, for example, hourly parking.

It’s easy to see how under these parameters, many more car parks will be included in the commercial car parking facility definition, and thus, many more employers, especially those outside of major city centres, will find themselves liable for car parking FBT from 1 April 2022.

What should affected employers do?

The best thing impacted employers can do is start planning now. If you determine that your business will be affected by these changes, it’s important to get ahead of the game and start assessing and budgeting. This is the perfect time to invest in the kind of smart parking management system that can save you money at tax time.

The amount of FBT payable on a car parking space is based on how much it is used. If you can demonstrate, with accurate, thorough, real-time reporting, that parking utilisation is low, for example, while employees are working from home, you can reduce your FBT car parking burden. But in order to demonstrate this when FBT is due on 31 March 2023, that smart parking management system needs to be installed now so that you have a full year’s data to call upon.

DIVVY’s staff parking management solution features FBT reporting capabilities that have been given the tick of approval from Deloitte Private, who agree that using DIVVY’s reports can, in the relevant circumstances, result in a reduction to the car parking FBT payable. If your business is newly subject to FBT on car parking fringe benefits, we can help you manage the burden.

Get in touch with our sales team to discuss your staff parking reporting needs today.

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News

Meeting driver’s needs in a COVID-normal world

Two years into the COVID pandemic and in many Australian cities, people are returning to their lives while doing their best to avoid contracting the virus. We take a look at how COVID has changed the way in which we get around our cities and how parking operators can meet the needs of drivers in a COVID-normal world.

How has COVID changed our travel habits?

Car travel, and therefore parking, is experiencing a COVID-induced surge in popularity. Data from cities across the world shows that, as COVID restrictions ease, people are opting to travel by car because they are wary about catching the virus on public transport, and that’s what we’re seeing in Australian cities, too.

An online survey conducted by toll road operator Transurban in July last year found that, on average, 22 per cent fewer people in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane intended to use public transport every day after COVID, compared to their pre-pandemic use. And, now that COVID-normal life is well underway in those cities, the numbers show that’s exactly what’s happening.

Mobility data from Apple shows that as soon as COVID restrictions began to lift in Sydney in October 2021, car journeys spiked, while walking and public transport trips remained below the January 2020 baseline figures. By January 2022, public transport usage in Sydney was still almost 64 per cent lower than it was pre-COVID.

In Melbourne, road traffic was at 81 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by mid-January 2022, in contrast with public transport usage, which was only at 36 per cent of its pre-COVID baseline numbers. Road toll data, meanwhile, shows that car use has risen even in cities that haven’t experienced extended lockdowns, like Brisbane.

This increase in car use has naturally led to a spike in demand for parking. Parking operators were reporting increases in demand of more than 200 per cent in January 2022, while, in a sign of just how highly valued parking has become, a parking space in central Sydney has been listed for sale for more than $500,000.

So, how can parking operators best meet the needs of this surge of COVID-savvy drivers?

Contactless parking payments systems – more relevant now than ever

The reason why people are eschewing public transport in favour of car travel is to minimise their exposure to COVID, so their choice of parking needs to be as COVID-safe as possible too. Research has shown that public health measures, such as social distancing and minimising shared touchpoints, can help reduce the spread of COVID. That’s where contactless parking payments systems come into their own. They eliminate the need for paper pull-tickets, cash payments, the presence of staff in the car park, and in some cases, any friction points at all, making them the most hygienic parking management systems on offer.

DIVVY offers three contactless parking solutions to suit all types of car parks and parking operators. Our public parking management systems, the pre-book system DIVVY Marketplace and the casual parking product Drive Up, are completely cashless.

DIVVY Marketplace collects payment via the DIVVY app, while Drive Up’s payment device technology accepts VISA, Mastercard, AMEX, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay at the car park entry or exit. Our staff and visitor parking management software, which has paid parking capabilities for those businesses who want to charge their staff for parking, is also cashless and only accepts electronic payments. Cash use, which has been steadily declining here in Australia for some time now, has dropped significantly since the start of the pandemic due to hygiene concerns, with the CBA predicting the nation could be completely cashless as soon as 2026.

Not only are our parking systems cashless, doing away with the need for cash payment machines, but none of our smart parking management systems uses paper pull-tickets either, thus further reducing the number of physical touchpoints in the driver’s journey.

Our parking solutions become completely frictionless with the integration of the DIVVY LPR solution, which uses licence plate recognition technology to calculate the duration of stay. The DIVVY LPR solution eliminates every physical touchpoint in the parking journey, making it the most hygienic, COVID-safe way to park.

Whether you’re looking for contactless parking payment systems for your public car park or your staff and visitor parking, we can help. Get in touch with our friendly sales team to discuss your parking needs today.

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News

How to choose the right parking equipment

If you manage staff parking or operate a car park, you’ll know how important it is to get the most out of your parking assets, and good parking equipment can help you to do just that. But when you’re shopping around for parking equipment, what should you be looking for? Here’s how to choose the best parking equipment. 

What does it actually do?

The first place to start is the product’s features and functionality. What do you need your parking equipment to do?

DIVVY offers three cashless, ticketless and paperless parking products to suit the needs of all car park operators.

  • DIVVY Marketplace – turn your vacant car parks into easy revenue when you list them on DIVVY Marketplace, our public parking platform with 90,000 registered users searching for and booking hourly, daily, and monthly parking.
  • Staff Parking – manage staff parking effortlessly and efficiently (and visitor parking too) with our B2B parking solution’s market-leading features such as Free Up My Space, Book on Behalf, and cost savings reports. It has paid parking capabilities too, for businesses who want to charge their staff for parking. Underutilised staff parking spaces can also be listed on DIVVY Marketplace to generate extra revenue, with options that give car park operators discretion over who can book their spaces.
  • Drive Up – everything drivers and car park operators love about DIVVY – easy contactless parking – is now available in a casual drive-up parking product. Drive Up’s payment device technology accepts VISA, Mastercard, AMEX, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay at the car park entry or exit.

What will it cost?

Traditional parking equipment, such as paper pull-ticket machines and cash payment machines, is costly.

DIVVY’s parking equipment, on the other hand, comes in at a fraction of the cost of old-fashioned parking equipment. Our innovative parking solutions are light on the hardware. Because they don’t use paper tickets or take cash payments, all they require is a DIVVY access control device at the car park entry and exit, making them considerably less expensive than traditional parking solutions.

The world-first DIVVY IoT I/O Controller makes existing hardware (such as roller doors and boom gates) remotely controllable, saving the cost and waste of replacing such equipment.

Both the software and hardware components of DIVVY’s parking equipment are quick and easy to set up. A speedy and simple installation process means minimal downtime for the car park, ensuring car park operators maximise their revenue.

How do the numbers stack up?

If you’re investing in parking equipment, you want to be sure that your investment will pay off.

Not only is the capital cost of setting up DIVVY parking equipment much lower than that of traditional equipment, but it costs less to operate too.

Because DIVVY parking equipment’s software updates are performed remotely, there’s no need for a technician to attend every time a change or update is required, meaning less spend on repairs and maintenance.

And because our parking equipment takes all payments electronically, there are also no labour or contract costs associated with cash collection and remittance. DIVVY parking products are energy efficient, using less power in their operation than conventional parking pull-ticket and payment machines, making them cheaper to run.

One of the largest overheads associated with public parking products has always been the cost of paper pull-tickets, which need to be continually replenished and are all too often written off in wastage events. DIVVY’s parking equipment completely eliminates this cost from parking management, saving car park operators potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

DIVVY parking equipment allows car park operators to get more out of their parking assets, which ultimately helps to boost their bottom line. Listing underutilised spaces on DIVVY Marketplace generates additional revenue with no extra effort, and managing staff parking with DIVVY parking means existing parking assets work harder.

Some of our Enterprise clients have even been able to reduce the number of parking bays on their lease because the DIVVY system is managing their staff parking so efficiently.

Is it easy to use?

This one is key. Your new parking equipment needs to be user-friendly for both drivers and car park managers.

DIVVY’s parking equipment has been expressly designed to deliver a better user experience for both drivers and car park operators. The DIVVY app, website and access control devices are simple and intuitive for drivers to use, guiding them through the parking process step-by-step.

Drivers are placing increasing value on being able to pre-book hourly, daily or monthly parking and pay without cash via a parking app. The ultimate user-friendly option is the DIVVY LPR solution, which uses licence plate recognition technology to offer a completely frictionless parking experience.

All of DIVVY’s parking products are backed by customer support 24/7, 365 days of the year, via phone, text or email.

Is it smart?

It is now widely acknowledged in the property industry that smart cities technology, or proptech, is the way forward to enhancing the customer experience and extracting more value from real estate, including car parks.

Using smart building technology, DIVVY parking equipment brings parking into the 21st century. The exclusive DIVVY smart technology – the DIVVY app, our access control device, the DIVVY IoT I/O Controller, our payment device technology and our software – delivers an improved, streamlined parking experience with fewer friction points for drivers.

It makes life easier for car park managers too, by delivering real-time, accurate car park usage data to the DIVVY cloud portal where it can be translated into reports and analysis to inform astute business decisions.

Technology is the future, so it makes sense to invest in parking equipment from a parking tech company like DIVVY.

Want more?

We’re always here to help. Our expert sales team can help you find the right parking equipment – get in touch today.


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News

Parking Industry Trends in 2021

While we might not be working on aerial car parks for flying cars just yet, the parking industry has come a long way since the parking meter was invented in 1935. We take a look at the industry’s latest trends.

The rise of parking apps

The best technology makes our lives richer and easier, and that’s exactly what a good parking app can do. Sophisticated parking apps like the DIVVY app are designed to deliver a higher level of customer service, enhancing and streamlining the parking experience and generally making life simpler.

The DIVVY app revolutionises parking by taking payments digitally and granting car park access via QR code, eliminating both cash and parking pull tickets to deliver a contactless parking experience.

But it goes even further, enriching the parking experience by providing the driver with details about their closest DIVVY car park, real time occupancy information, and detailed access information specific to each car park. Bookings can be extended via the DIVVY app if drivers need to stay longer.

The days of driving around aimlessly looking for a parking space, scrabbling for coins for a parking meter or even getting a parking fine for overstaying the allocated time are fast becoming a thing of the past.

The death of cash payments

Cash as a method of payment has been on the decline for a while now, and hygiene concerns raised by the COVID pandemic have further hastened its demise. In 2020, only 8.3 per cent of Australian transactions involved cash, and experts predict that by 2024 that figure will be as low as 2 per cent. The parking industry is keeping pace with the cashless trend and a proliferation of e-payment options are now available, with DIVVY’s payment device technology leading the way.

Here at DIVVY, we’re well known for our contactless parking solutions. Both our pre-book public parking solution DIVVY Marketplace and our new casual parking product Drive Up use parking equipment that makes the process completely cashless.

Payment is charged to the customer’s credit card, either via the DIVVY app or the access control device at the car park exit. Not only are all our parking solutions cashless, but with products like the DIVVY LPR solution that uses licence plate recognition technology to calculate the duration of stay, we can offer completely frictionless parking solutions too.

Consumer desire for cashless parking existed before COVID, but now drivers are demanding it. DIVVY makes contactless parking simple for both drivers and car park operators.

A focus on sustainability

In 2021 consumers are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on sustainability. Sustainable parking solutions appeal to car park operators too because they’re often more cost-effective than conventional parking systems.

DIVVY was born of a desire to do better for the environment. Our founding premise was to reduce the up to 30 per cent of traffic in our CBDs comprised of cars driving around looking for a park by making better use of underutilised parking spaces.

Both our B2B parking solution, DIVVY Enterprise, and our consumer parking product, DIVVY Marketplace, make better use of existing parking spaces through more efficient staff parking management and making parking spaces available for pre-booking. This means less traffic, fewer emissions, shorter travel times and less stress. By making existing parking spaces work harder, the need for new parking facilities is reduced, saving money and precious resources.

We’ve been working towards paperless parking since the beginning, and car parks using the DIVVY Enterprise and DIVVY Marketplace systems can be operated and managed entirely without paper. Our QR code-operated access control devices replace old-fashioned paper pull tickets, and with the DIVVY cloud portal housing our real-time data and reporting functions, there are no paper reports.

DIVVY’s Sammy access control device, used in all our parking solutions, uses fewer materials in its manufacture and less power in its operation than conventional parking pull-ticket and payment machines. It is energy efficient and uses no water or other materials in its operation, and both its tech and plastic components are recyclable.

The DIVVY IoT I/O Controller is a simple, cost-effective device that automates and controls parking gates as part of our parking solutions. Developed in-house at DIVVY, it’s the first of its kind in the world, and through its ability to convert a non-internet capable piece of hardware (such as a boom gate) into one that can be controlled remotely, it breathes new life into existing equipment, reducing waste and ensuring the conservation of energy and resources.

Want more?

The DIVVY team is always here to help. For more on the latest in the parking industry, contact Kat Fowler, DIVVY’s Head of Client Services, at kat@divvy.com.au.

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DIVVY: a complete intelligent parking management system

Calling all parking operators! Whether you need an intelligent parking management system to take care of your staff parking, you want help turning your vacant parking spaces into moneymakers or you’re looking for a casual parking management solution, DIVVY has you covered.

We offer a full suite of parking management software that saves you time and money and makes managing your parking simple. We’re also a parking equipment provider, with a range of access control solutions to meet all your car park management needs.

DIVVY’s Smart Parking Solutions

DIVVY Marketplace

Start generating revenue from your empty car spaces by listing them with DIVVY Marketplace. DIVVY Marketplace parking technology connects your unused parking spaces with more than 90,000 registered DIVVY parking customers searching for pre-booked hourly, daily and monthly parking via our app and our website.

You decide when your parking spaces will be available, whether it’s weekdays only, or weekends, or specific dayparts or for special events. Then sit back and let DIVVY’s Enterprise system handle bookings, payments and access in its seamless inventory management system.

Troubleshooting is handled by DIVVY’s 24/7 customer support, who are on hand 365 days of the year to help both parkers and parking operators. DIVVY Marketplace is simply smart parking.

DIVVY Premium Parking

Not keen on every human and their dog booking your parking spaces? DIVVY’s Premium Parking option gives you the ultimate discretion, allowing you to decide exactly who can book the parking spaces you list on DIVVY Marketplace.

If building access is an issue, you might choose to allow only tenants in your building to book your parking spaces. Or you can select certain groups from within your own business, or perhaps open your spaces up to all staff in your organisation, but no-one from outside the company. With DIVVY Premium Parking, the power is in your hands.

DIVVY Drive Up

Drivers love parking with DIVVY – after all, it couldn’t be simpler. But what about the days they’ve forgotten to pre-book their parking? That’s why we launched Drive Up casual parking. Drive Up brings the simplicity and ease that DIVVY customers love to casual parking. No cash, no tickets, no pre-booking required.

Casual parking operators can choose to install Pay on Entry, where visitors are charged a set all-day rate as they enter the car park, or Pay on Exit which charges drivers a fee based on the duration of their stay at the car park exit. It can also be installed in tandem with DIVVY’s LPR solution to use licence plate recognition technology to allow entry and calculate length of stay.

DIVVY Staff Parking

Throw away the physical access cards and delete the parking spreadsheet. DIVVY offers a complete staff parking management solution that can handle the most complex of staff parking arrangements, including visitor parking and paid parking options, all via our QR code access control devices.

Highlights of the system include Free Up My Space, a market-first feature that allows parkers to free up their parking space for others when they’re not using it. It means your staff parking works harder, and parking won’t be sitting idle when staff are on leave, working from home or away from the office.

Book On Behalf is a superior visitor parking management feature giving selected staff members the ability to book parking on a visitor’s behalf. Book On Behalf gives you complete visibility over all visitor parking, and grants visitors car park access with the same QR code technology. You’ll never have to run down to the car park to let a visitor in again.

The DIVVY reports portal gives you access to real-time, accurate data about your staff car park utilisation, which can be used to claim fringe benefits tax (FBT) deductions (if eligible) and makes informed business decisions about your parking assets.

With the DIVVY staff parking management system, you can even opt to charge staff, or certain groups of staff, for parking.

DIVVY’s Access Control Device

Sammy Hardware

Sammy is the primary DIVVY access control device, and it makes entering and exiting car parks a breeze. It uses QR code technology for entries and exits and is used in both our pre-book and Drive Up parking solutions.

Sammy features a fully integrated VOIP intercom and it accepts payments via its onboard payment terminal. It is built to withstand harsh Australian environmental conditions.

Sammy is a key element in our smart parking control solutions, using the latest in the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to provide a seamless experience for parkers and a live and accurate source of rich data for parking operators.

IoT I/O Controller

The DIVVY IoT Controller solution is a simple, cost-effective device that uses the Internet of Things (IoT) to automate and control parking gates as part of DIVVY’s smart parking control solutions. Developed in-house at DIVVY, it’s the first of its kind in the world.

This all-in-one Controller enables companies to collect data and generate meaningful insights through the cloud, while streamlining parking operations. DIVVY’s IoT Controller offers the utmost in secure services for both car parks and data.

To find out more about our smart parking products or access control devices, contact our friendly sales team today.