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two years. Rasores believes that once public transport providers start to adopt the technology across the UK, then it will escalate rapidly. Already Transport for London is using contactless technology on some bus routes and the Underground will accept the innovation from next year.
PARKEX REPORT Parking solutions
THE FUTURE IS ORANGE Sean Dunsten is managing director at ATP Skidata, a provider of parking telematics. For him, the future is all about customer interaction and, to meet that brief, ATP Skidata has teamed up with telecommunications giant Nokia to develop a customer-led solution.
The result is a sat nav system that provides a constant stream of real-time information, which will allow the motorist to make choices based on relevant information. The system will operate from the steering column, removing the need for a driver to look at a console or to press buttons on a touch screen. The information will include factors such as nearby electric charging points, car park locations, real-time occupancy, on-street availability and pricing, traffic volume on the approach route and a heap of other details to help the motorist make time-saving decisions. Dunsten used the example of a motorist going to the airport. With constant access to information, the driver can decide whether he or she needs to park nearer to the terminal because of traffic delays. This information can be transmitted so rapidly that plans can be altered at the last minute to reflect changing situations and requirements.
PARKEX REPORT Parking solutions
‘APPY CUSTOMERS Peter O’Driscoll is managing director of ParkMobile, suppliers of technological solutions to parking operators across the UK and Ireland, USA and the Netherlands. His message is loud and clear – if you want to stay ahead of the game, you need to be fully conversant with the world of the mobile phone app. For O’Driscoll there is no question that the balance of power has shifted from the manufacturer, who in the past dictated what the customer would be able to buy, to the customer who can now
22 MAY 2012
demand more and more from the service they are looking to utilise.
In parking, this concept translates into parking provision. Customers are no longer happy to turn up at a car park, find a space, park their car and then pay for a parking slot. A customer wants to be able to locate a car park of his or her choice. This could be dictated by price, location, convenience, safety of the car park, or a host of other factors. That same customer may want to know in advance if there are spaces available, and may also want to reserve a place as they approach the facility.
O’Driscoll has identified four types of parking app. The basic app, which simply serves as a stop watch, reminds the user how much time he or she has before the allotted parking time expires. The next level of app is a general information app, which may alert a customer to car parks in the vicinity, the cost and the total number of spaces. This takes the form of static information. Commercial apps are the services that allow transactions. These apps allow a customer to pay for parking via their smart phone, and offer another payment option for customers. O’Driscoll explained this was the field that ParkMobile was heavily involved in, offering a range of payment options, including ‘start/stop’ technology that allows a motorist to pay purely for the time spent parked. This is a significant move away from the current system where a motorist ‘buys’ a chunk of parking time. The fourth level, the diagnostic app, involves interaction between customer and service provider. The app provides up-to-date information on parking availability, tariffs for parking, traffic levels leading to the facility and other relevant information that would help the motorist make an instant decision. O’Driscoll said that the three most important things to remember when creating an app were: relevance to the user; its appearance, or attractiveness to the user; and how purposeful the app is. With an estimated 1.1bn smartphone users likely in 2015, this is a market in which savvy operators must become comfortable.
PARKEX REPORT Parking solutions
PARK, TAP AND GO Robin Bevan painted an explicit picture of a world without Near-Field Communication (NFC). The new technology allows
www.britishparking.co.uk
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