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The latest from CEO Grant Fowler: March 2021

DIVVY Parking's CEO, Grant Fowler

If 2020 was a bumpy road, 2021 is shaping up to be the highway leading towards better days. Here in Australia, we continue to handle the coronavirus threat remarkably well. Our vaccination campaign is underway, consumer confidence is bouncing back and economic predictions are looking good.

The pandemic hastened the uptake of experience-enhancing and margin-increasing property technology or proptech, among the Australian property industry. The Property Council of Australia surveyed 216 industry professionals in November and found that 55 per cent are enhancing their existing technology systems in response to COVID, and 27 percent are investing in new systems.

You can read more about DIVVY’s latest proptech products, Drive-Up and Check-In, in this update.

Drive Up with DIVVY

We’ve all had days where we’ve forgotten to pre-book our parking. That’s why we launched Drive Up casual parking. It’s everything our customers love about parking with DIVVY – cashless, ticketless, contactless and above all, easy – but without the need to book in advance.

We partnered with Enacon Parking to install Drive Up at their Bella Vista car park in December. It’s a busy open-air site next to Norwest Private Hospital and CircaRetail Shopping Centre.

We’ve had great success with two Drive Up products at the site, starting with Pay on Entry, where visitors are charged a set all-day rate as they enter the car park. Pay on Exit is now installed at the site, charging drivers at the car park exit a fee based on the duration of their stay.

DIVVY Drive Up replaces a pull-ticket and cash payment system at the Bella Vista site, and is already saving Enacon five hours of cash collection, ticket refill and maintenance labour per week, not to mention the cost of the paper tickets.

Drive Up is coming to more locations across Sydney soon, so keep your eye out for DIVVY Drive Up parking near you.

Parking is the hot ticket in 2021

Have you seen our fresh new website?

Many people have returned to workplaces after spending most of last year working from home, and lots of them are avoiding public transport and looking for parking instead.

Our new website was launched at just the right time in October last year. In the first two months of 2021, our website traffic and user sign ups have been at record levels, with site traffic up more than 100 per cent at the same time last year.

Check out the new staff parking case studies or technology page for yourself!

Check In with DIVVY

As Australia adjusts to the latest version of the new COVID normal, we’re evolving our proptech too. Our Queuing and Contact Tracing platform was designed to last year to help businesses (including Woolworths) communicate to customers their busiest periods and days and in-store wait times.

Now we’re developing Check In, a visitor management solution using DIVVY QR code technology to check visitors or staff into a business’s premises. Check In can be used for contact tracing purposes, or to maintain a record of personnel on site at any given time, and is designed to meet the needs of the business now and into the future.

Get the most out of your staff parking

Find out how the TOGA Group reduced their overheads while supporting their staff through the pandemic with DIVVY Enterprise’s staff parking management system.

Contact Us

The DIVVY team is always here to help. For more information, please contact Kat Fowler, DIVVY’s Marketing and Communications Manager at kat@divvy.com.au.  

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Monthly parking – the best value for regular commuters

Sydney City or Sydney CBD

For the regular commuter, a monthly parking booking offers the ultimate in value and convenience. But make sure you get in quick – monthly parking is so simple, handy and affordable that spaces fill up fast. 

Best value 

Booking your parking ‘in bulk’ with a monthly booking means you secure a reduced rate. For full-time commuters, there is no better value than monthly parking.

So convenient 

A monthly parking commitment saves you the time and bother of finding and paying for a new parking space every day. If you have offsite meetings or appointments, with a monthly booking you can leave and return to your parking space throughout the day without penalty or hassle. And there’s no need to fiddle with payment machines; your monthly parking is prepaid and completely cashless.  

Nice and easy  

When you’re booking your monthly parking on the DIVVY app or website, be sure to search at least three days in advance to ensure that all available parking is displayed in the results. Once you’ve made your booking, you can cross parking off your to-do list for weeks.

DIVVYs Monthly parking options 

DIVVY offers affordable and handy monthly parking options in sought-after central locations.  

Monthly parking can be booked with DIVVY at more than 15 car parks across Sydney city, from Circular Quay to Surry Hills, Barangaroo to Darling Harbour. There are also centrally-located monthly parking choices in Parramatta and Melbourne city.  

Because it offers such good value and is so convenient, monthly parking is popular. Make sure you book early to avoid disappointment. 

List your unused parking spaces with DIVVY 

Your business could be generating revenue from unused parking spaces by listing them with DIVVY Marketplace booking platform.  

DIVVY Marketplace connects drivers with convenient parking spaces and converts underutilised parking spaces into revenue for businesses. With a database of 80,000 parking customers, DIVVY reaches a lot of Australian drivers looking for a parking space.  

DIVVY Marketplace parkers and businesses have access to dedicated customer support staff via phone, live chat or email 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They can solve problems on the ground with their ability to operate boom gates and roller doors remotely.  

Monthly parking is very popular with DIVVY customers. If you have a parking space sitting idle, maximise that asset and list it with DIVVY Marketplace. 

To find out more about listing your parking spaces with DIVVY, contact sales@divvy.com.au.  

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Daily parking – the best choice for longer stays

Driving in Sydney city

Going somewhere for more than a few hours? Daily parking is your best bet.

More adaptable than monthly parking and offering better value than hourly parking, daily parking offers a great mix of flexibility, convenience and affordability.  

Good value

If you’re planning on staying a while, daily parking is the most cost-effective parking choice. For stays longer than a few hours, daily rates represent better value than hourly rates. Evening, weekend and motorbike daily rates are even more affordable. If you’re a part-time commuter only parking a few days a week, daily parking will cost you less than monthly parking.

Saves time

Pre-booking your daily parking with DIVVY is a time saver. Not only do you save time spent looking for somewhere to park, but because you’ve pre-paid you don’t need to waste any time at the payment machine when it’s time to leave either. Booking via the DIVVY app or website is quick and simple.

Contactless parking

Avoid ticket machines and cash payments when you book your daily parking with DIVVY. DIVVY’s QR code technology means entering and exiting the car park is contactless, and because your parking is pre-paid, it’s cashless too.

Peace of mind

You can relax when you pre-book your daily parking with DIVVY. Rest easy knowing your car is parked in a monitored, secure and well-lit car park. For added convenience, your parking receipt is emailed to you, making it easy to find at tax time or to claim reimbursement from your employer.

DIVVY’s daily parking options in Sydney city, Parramatta and Melbourne

DIVVY offers drivers affordable and convenient daily parking in sought-after locations like Parramatta, Surry Hills, Barangaroo, Darling Harbour, Sydney city and Melbourne city.

Check out our website or the DIVVY app for daily parking near you.

The benefits of listing car parking spaces with DIVVY

In cities across Australia, DIVVY Marketplace connects drivers with underutilised or empty car spaces. If your business has car spaces that are sitting empty, you could be generating revenue by listing parking spaces on DIVVY Marketplace to be booked by the public.

The system is completely flexible, allowing businesses to set the parameters around which spaces are available for booking, and when. Businesses can even decide to whom the spaces are made available for booking.

DIVVY marketing reaches a database of 80,000 parking customers looking for a car space. DIVVY Marketplace is supported by a dedicated customer support team on hand for parkers and businesses 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year via phone, live chat or email. With their ability to operate boom gates and roller doors remotely, they can solve problems on the ground.

To find out more about listing your parking spaces with DIVVY, contact sales@divvy.com.au.

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Fringe Benefit Tax changes are coming to the parking

Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT)-Employers, don’t get caught out by FBT changes

There is a prospective change coming to fringe benefits tax (FBT) and car parking. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has prepared a draft taxation ruling that proposes to treat any car park that offers all-day parking as a commercial car park for FBT purposes. 

This is even if the car park’s fees are so high as to discourage all-day parking. Under that definition, shopping centre, hospital, airport and university car parks could all be considered commercial car parks.  

Businesses whose staff parking facilities are both in the vicinity of the workplace and within one kilometre of such a car park may now have to pay FBT on the taxable value of employees’ car spaces, where previously they did not. 

Any business that provides employees with car parking but is currently exempt from FBT on that parking needs to assess whether these changes will impact them, and make that assessment sooner rather than later. 

Businesses in areas like Sydney’s Macquarie Park and North Ryde, home to car parks associated with Macquarie University and Macquarie Centre shopping centre, will potentially be impacted by these changes. 

Local transport management association Connect Macquarie Park & North Ryde is helping to educate their members about the prospective changes. Some of these businesses may be liable for thousands of dollars in car parking fringe benefits tax for the first time, and it is important that they determine now whether their liability is going to change.  

The prospective changes have the potential to affect any business in Australia within a kilometre of a shopping centre, airport, university or hospital car park. Those in areas like Melbourne’s Carlton and Parkville, with their plethora of car parks associated with the University of Melbourne and RMIT, could be affected. 

Businesses in Eagle Farm, Hendra and Nundah within a kilometre of the numerous Brisbane Airport parking facilities should assess whether they will be impacted by the changes. Organisations in proximity to Adelaide’s largest shopping centre Westfield Marion and its car parks, need to do the same. 

If businesses determine now that they will be affected by the changes, they can get ahead of the game and invest in smarter parking technology that can save them money at tax time. The ATO calculates how much FBT is payable on a car parking space based on its utilisation.

If a business can show, with thorough, accurate, real-time reporting, that utilisation is low – perhaps whilst their employees are working from home, for example – they can reduce their FBT liability. To be able to demonstrate this when FBT is due, businesses need to put the smarter parking systems in place now. 

For a few years now, DIVVY has been working with Connect and several Macquarie Park and North Ryde businesses, including Downer, Boral, Novartis and DXC Technology, to help them get the most out of their car parking and other bookable assets.  

Even our existing clients might not know that DIVVY’s fringe benefits tax reporting has been given the thumbs up by Deloitte Private, who acknowledge that using DIVVY’s reports can, in the relevant circumstances, result in a reduction to the car parking fringe benefits tax payable.  

The ATO’s final ruling is expected later this year and the changes will take place from April 2021.  

Car parking fringe benefits tax change is almost certainly coming, so make sure you take those proactive steps now. 

This is general information, and we recommend that you seek professional taxation advice relevant to your circumstances.  

For more information, please contact Kat Fowler, DIVVY’s Marketing and Communications Manager at kat@divvy.com.au.  

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Hourly car parking – affordable, convenient and easy

Sydney, Darling Harbour during the weekday

In a city like Sydney, the easiest way to get around is often in your own car. But where to park? Find out how DIVVY’s hourly parking makes parking in Sydney so simple.

It’s affordable

Some car parking operators charge a premium for hourly parking, especially in areas of high demand like the Sydney CBD. DIVVY is different. Our weekday Sydney city parking starts from $5 an hour, and weekend and evening rates are even lower. It’s almost certainly cheaper than a taxi or a ride share, and you might even find that DIVVY’s hourly parking is cheaper than taking public transport.

It’s quick

Pre-book your hourly parking on the DIVVY app or website before you leave home, and you’re good to go. No more time wasted driving the streets looking for a park. The booking process itself is super quick and easy too.

It’s convenient

Use the DIVVY website or app to book a park where you need it, when you need it. It’s that simple. Only book the amount of time you need – no need to pay for a whole day if you’re only staying an hour. Your receipt is automatically emailed to you, giving you an easy-to-find record of your parking if you want to claim reimbursement from your employer or for use at tax time.

It’s secure

DIVVY car parks are well-lit, monitored and secure. No more worrying about your car left parked on the street, or fumbling for your keys in the dark.

It’s contactless

When you pre-book your hourly parking with DIVVY, you’re securing yourself a cashless, contactless parking space. DIVVY’s unique QR code technology means no ticket machines.

Why list car parking spaces with DIVVY?

Maybe your business has more car spaces on its lease than it needs, or perhaps your car spaces are going temporarily unused whilst your employees work remotely. Businesses can list their unused parking spaces on DIVVY Marketplace for booking by the public. Every parking space booked returns revenue to your business.

DIVVY markets to a database of 80,000 parking customers, saving businesses from having to invest in marketing of their own to fill parking spaces. Businesses have the option to exercise discretion around who can access listed spaces, thereby eliminating any security concerns. Support is available to all parkers and businesses 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year via phone, live chat and email, and DIVVY customer support staff can solve problems on the ground with their ability to operate boom gates and roller doors.

To find out more about listing your parking spaces with DIVVY, contact sales@divvy.com.au.

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DIVVY’s new Back to Work Module

DIVVY's new Back to Work Module

In many parts of Australia, people are returning to work. Whether it’s full time, or just a day or two a week, employees are going back to their workplaces.  

To help businesses bring their staff back to work safely, we’ve developed our new Back to Work module.  

Optimising bookable assets through smarter technology 

Contactless access has never been more in demand. The booking platform technology that makes DIVVY’s contactless parking such a breeze can be adapted to many different functions. Indeed, for more than twelve months now, our own employees have been entering and exiting our offices using contactless DIVVY access technology.  

After witnessing the challenges faced by businesses during COVID-19, we designed our tailored Back to Work module to allow businesses to safely transition their staff back to their workplaces.   

How does It work? 

It’s simple. Staff use the DIVVY app to book a day and time to come into work. The booking parameters – how many staff can access the workplace, on which days and at which times – are set by the business. Just like the DIVVY parking experience, staff use a QR code on their phone for contactless entry to the workplace. 

It’s perfect for any workplace not accessible to the public, such as offices. For publicly accessible workplaces, see our Queuing and Contact Tracing Platform. 

How can it help? 

By allowing businesses to manage how many staff will be in the workplace at any one time, the module helps businesses to meet physical distancing guidelines. It even has the capacity to allow businesses to manage different spaces within their workplaces.  

It also takes care of the record keeping required of businesses under governmental COVID Safe rules. It maintains a digital record of all staff and visitor attendance in the workplace. 

The Back to Work module makes it easy and cost-effective for businesses to meet public health directions and comply with COVID safety plans in their workplaces. 

The module also has the capacity to generate valuable business insights with the data it collects. The customised reports portal can help with making informed business decisions. The module is bolstered by DIVVY’s 24/7 phone, email and live chat customer support, which itself has a 97% customer satisfaction rating. 

Whether or not DIVVY parking is already enabled in your building, the Back to Work module is simple to install.

To find out more about getting your staff back to work with DIVVY, contact our helpful team at sales@divvy.com.au.  

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Case Study: DIVVY and Enacon Parking

Enacon Parkings empty car parking space

Since 2016 DIVVY has partnered with Enacon Parking to manage all pre-booked parking across their portfolio of diverse Sydney carparks. Today, DIVVY handles on average 1,851 parking transactions for Enacon every month.

Enacon Parking is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mulpha Australia, one of Australia’s most experienced real estate investors. In operation since 1979, Enacon is responsible for developing and operating Mulpha Australia’s parking facilities.

DIVVY pre-book parking is in operation at Enacon’s multistorey carpark at 2 Cathedral Street, Sydney, their hospital-adjacent open air carpark in Bella Vista, their valet parking at the Intercontinental Hotel Sydney and their hotel carpark at the Novotel Darling Harbour. Each one of these sites offers a completely different parking experience, but DIVVY pre-book parking works successfully across them all.

DIVVY pre-book parking system or access control device

The DIVVY pre-book parking system allows parkers to select from hourly, daily or monthly parking options via the DIVVY app or website. The system manages payment and parkers then receive a QR code to their phone. The QR code is read by DIVVY’s market-leading access controllers at the carpark’s entrance and exit to allow access and egress.

DIVVY’s pre-book parking system has come into its own during the COVID pandemic. The cashless, contactless system offers peace of mind for drivers still moving around their communities but wanting to limit their risk. Commuters can avoid public transport with a pre-booked DIVVY car park that doesn’t require them to handle cash, pull parking tickets, use payment machines or touch any shared surfaces at all.

Matt Ormiston, General Manager of Enacon Parking, says,

“Since 2016, Enacon has depended on DIVVY to provide and manage a complete end-to-end pre-book car parking service across our Sydney carparks.

We know we can rely on DIVVY to market our carparks effectively, manage all pre-book customer transactions, and remit payments to us every month.

Their 24/7 customer care team handle any issues that arise, and all system and access controller maintenance is taken care of. The real time data and reporting that the DIVVY system generates provides invaluable insights into carpark usage. Enacon is happy to recommend DIVVY to other businesses looking to improve their parking systems.”

For more information, please contact our team at sales@divvy.com.au.

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Queuing & Contact Tracing Platform

DIVVY’s new Queuing & Contact Tracing Platform

DIVVY’s new Queuing and Contact Tracing Platform helps any business that is visited by the public to navigate venue capacity, social distancing and record keeping regulations with ease. It gives customers the peace of mind and confidence to visit shops, pubs, restaurants, galleries, gyms, hairdressers – any business, large or small, with publicly accessible premises.   

Businesses with premises visited by the public face unique challenges under COVID-19. Governments have introduced capacity limits to ensure social distancing can be maintained. Businesses are required to keep records and contact information for all visitors.

Not only are there government-mandated obligations to adhere to, but businesses also need to consider their customers’ mindset. Customers and patrons need to be assured that their visit will be safe, and that the business has taken all possible precautions, or they simply won’t come. 

At DIVVY, we optimise bookable assets through smarter technology. After witnessing the challenge faced by publicly accessible businesses during COVID, we turned our efforts to developing our Queuing and Contact Tracing Platform.

Our Queuing and Contact Tracing Platform enables any shop, venue, or premises open to the public to communicate with its customers when its peak periods are, which are its busiest and quietest days, and, in the event of queuing, the wait time to enter the venue.

By helping customers plan their visit before they leave home, our Platform makes it easy for them to avoid busy periods, save time, and visit with peace of mind. To find out how DIVVY is helping Australian supermarket giant Woolworths take care of their customers with their Q-Tracker tool, click here.

Our Platform also has pre-book capabilities, giving customers the opportunity to book their visit in advance to avoid queuing. By allowing businesses to control the time, duration and number of customers accessing their premises, and even manage separate areas within the venue, it helps businesses to adhere to venue capacity limits and maintain social distancing within the premises. Visitor record keeping has been mandated by many Australian state and territory governments.

Our Queuing and Contact Tracing Platform allows businesses to capture visitor information quickly and easily, including contact details and day and time of visit.

Our Platform makes it possible to track interactions and crossovers between visitors and employees, helping with contact tracing should it be required.

Some businesses require visitors to complete health attestation questionnaires, declaring any symptoms before entering the premises, and our Platform can manage this too. Using our Platform, it’s quick and simple to conduct these questionnaires, collect the required information and store visitors’ responses.

Effortlessly fulfill your COVID Safe obligations, give yourself peace of mind, and your customers the confidence to visit your business with DIVVY’s Queuing and Contact Tracing Platform.

For more information, please contact our team at sales@divvy.com.au.

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DIVVY supports Woolworths with the development of Q-tracker

As the COVID-19 situation continues to unfold, the Australian tech company DIVVY supported Woolworths in building an online booking system -Q-tracker that allows shoppers to assess crowd capacity before making their way to their local store. The customer tool is in addition to the existing measures Woolworths has put in place for COVID-19.

This new technology will monitor queue lengths outside shops with restricted customer numbers – and will help shoppers pick a less busy period when there is no waiting time. The Q-tracker makes use of real-time data to show customers whether stores have had to implement a queue at the entry to support social distancing and any wait time associated with it.

DIVVY’s Chief Information Officer, Anton Mills said:

“This technology was built with the ability to translate to other industries who are also facing similar challenges. It has been built to be agnostic to the industry and can be rapidly integrated with organisations to assist them to adapt to queuing and distancing measures throughout COVID-19.

I’m proud of the team for turning this around in one week, to ensure our client Woolworths Supermarkets could roll this tool out across its four stores in Victoria.”

Currently, this new online booking technology is being trialled at four Woolworths stores in Victoria including Taylors Lakes, Hampton Park, South Melbourne, and St Helena. With this system, customers can book a time to do their shopping without the need to stand in a queue if one exists and be able to safely practice social distancing.

Woolworth store

How does it work?

  1. Head to http://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/q-tracker and simply search for their preferred store by postcode or suburb.
  2. Use the key, to view the estimated queue wait time to enter the Woolworths stores closest to you.
  3. Based on the entered location, it will show the closest stores and also highlight it on the map.
  4. To help you plan when to shop, click the store card which will expand to show when to enter the store and when it is busiest during the week.
  5. The tool updates every 5 mins so you’ll have the latest information whether you’re about to leave home or on your way.

This technology – Q Tracker, can be integrated with other businesses & organisations to assist them to adapt to queuing and distancing measures related to COVID-19.

Woolworths Director of Stores, Robert Moffat said:

“Keeping our customers and teams safe continues to be our top priority at Woolworths.Q-Tracker is a new customer tool across all Woolworths Supermarkets. By helping customers plan when and where they shop before they leave home, Q-Tracker makes it easier to avoid busy periods, save time, and shop with health and safety in mind. Even though most of our stores do not need to implement queuing at the moment, this tool has been developed as another measure to support the safety of our team and customers.”

If your business is facing similar challenges, why not reach out and see how DIVVY might be able to assist – sales@divvy.com.au.

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How your business can save on its car parking spaces during COVID-19

DIVVY allotted parking space

To help businesses navigate this difficult time, here are our top tips for reducing car parking costs during the coronavirus pandemic. 

1. Pay less Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) 

Did you know that your business could be paying less FBT on employee car parking at the moment? If your staff car parking is not meeting all the ATO’s conditions, it could be exempt or receive a reduction from FBT – for example, if car parking is provided for less than 4 hours between 7am and 7pm. 

If your company has staff working from home, and employee parking is going unused, it is worth investigating whether that parking is currently exempt from FBT. DIVVY Enterprise clients can determine exact car parking usage in an instant with DIVVY’s reports portal and potentially save thousands during this time. 

2. Get an exemption on the Parking Space Levy 

Sydney, Melbourne and Perth all have versions of the parking space levy (known in Victoria as the congestion levy), an annual tax payable by owners of parking spaces located in specific high-density districts. 

As part of the NSW Government’s tax relief measures to assist businesses impacted by COVID-19, Revenue NSW have announced that PSL payments will be deferred until 30 September 2020. At the time of writing, the Victorian and Western Australian governments are yet to make similar announcements. 

Now is a good time to investigate whether your parking spaces are eligible for exemption from the parking space levy. In NSW an unused casual car parking space – that is, a car space available for public parking – is excluded from the PSL calculation. 

If your business has car spaces listed for public parking on DIVVY Marketplace that are not being used to their full capacity at the moment, investigate whether you are eligible to reduce your PSL payment. The DIVVY reports portal can provide the usage records required to apply for an exemption. 

If you’re a building tenant with car parking on your lease, there’s a good chance your landlord is benefiting from the PSL deferral. Consider asking them to pass the current deferrals and savings on to you too.  

3. Make money from your empty car parking spaces 

You could be generating revenue from parking spaces left empty by staff working from home. If you have DIVVY access controllers installed in your car park, consider listing your empty car parking spaces for public bookings on DIVVY Marketplace. There are still people commuting to work who need safe and secure parking, and every Marketplace booking returns revenue to your business. 

If your car park has a ticket validator or valet service entry system, your vacant parking spaces can be listed for public booking on our parking aggregator site Justbooked. List parking spaces for free and take advantage of a new marketing channel. 

4. Get efficient with DIVVY Enterprise 

The DIVVY Enterprise parking management system helps businesses get the most out of their parking at any time, and it can make life that bit simpler and safer during COVID-19.   

DIVVY Enterprise uses contactless QR code technology to provide access to car parks, doing away with the unsafe practice of sharing physical access cards. 

The ‘Free Up My Space’ feature offers the ultimate flexibility for staff parking management, even more, useful in rapidly evolving situations like the coronavirus pandemic. Employees with allocated parking who are working from home can make their parking space available for those staff that need to continue to travel into the office and who don’t normally have access to parking. 

The ‘Book On Behalf’ feature makes it easy to enable access to parking for employees or others visitors who don’t usually park on-site, or who usually work from another site, but need access during COVID-19. 

DIVVY Enterprise uses secure cloud-based technology so all these features, plus Enterprise’s multitude of other functions, can all be performed remotely, meaning staff working from home can continue to manage and monitor parking efficiently and with ease. 

*Please note DIVVY does not provide financial advice and we recommend you seek advice from your financial advisory or accountant.* 

We’re here to help. For more information, please contact Kat Fowler, DIVVY’s Marketing and Communications Manager at kat@divvy.com.au.