Optimise your car park to remove stress and help drivers find every last space
UK drivers spend an astonishing average of four days a year looking for a parking spot and more than half of UK drivers report suffering stress as a result of not being able to park according to a recent survey. In the same survey, parking was even ranked as more stressful than visiting the dentist.
Not only is it an unpleasant waste of time for the person trying to park, but it’s estimated that up to 30% of town centre traffic is made up of drivers looking to park.
Imagine the difference if everyone could park quickly and easily at the end of every journey – Town centre traffic would be reduced, employees would arrive at work in a better frame of mind, shoppers would be more inclined to visit brick and mortar stores rather than shopping online, and ultimately drivers will be less stressed.
Fortunately, the smart parking technology needed to facilitate this quick and stress-free parking is available and in use today. Whether via smartphone app or variable message signs (VMS) situated around the car park, it is possible to guide drivers directly to the nearest available parking space and eliminate the frustrating drive around already full car parks. The challenge that remains is to find the right solution for the specific challenges of each car park.
To determine the right solution, car park operators need to consider:
- The layout of the car park; is it on a single level or multi-story? Are there distinct parking zones to monitor?
- How is the car park accessed; are there multiple entrances and exists to the car park or even multiple access roads?
- Who uses the car park? If it is employees a dedicated app would be beneficial, if it’s a tourist destination with one-time visitors a series of variable message signs (VMS) would be more appropriate.
- Are there constraints on the signage that can be used on site? For example, a high-end retail outlet or executive workplace car park may not permit the use of signs guiding users towards available spaces.
- Do management need to know just the car park occupancy or also length of stay? The software used to drive the apps and VMS collects detailed information on the use of a car park that can be transformed into actionable insights to inform the future management of the car park.
- Does the car park include drop-off zones or limits on how long users can park for? Again, the software behind any smart car park can drive alerts to inform enforcement officers when a vehicle has exceeded the limit for the length of stay.
The answers to the above will determine the most appropriate combination of technology to provide hassle-free parking. This could include solutions that focus on cars entering and exiting the car park such as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) or inductive loops. Alternatively, solutions can monitor individual parking bays through bay detection (overhead or in-ground) or computer vision based detection.
Clearview’s parking technology can bring intelligence to your car park.
