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.
