evopark and the evolution of parking
When automation of parking began a little over 50 years ago, presumably no one had any idea what the world would look like today. At the time, the issue of a token at the entrance and an electromechanical barrier were considered a mini-revolution. 25 years later, the first self-service payment machines appeared on the market – The idea of central payment was born. This was an important step towards fully automated parking management. The early 2000s saw the first tentative opening of parking systems to external services. For example, it was possible to export live occupancy data for parking guidance systems or to reserve parking spaces via a website.
Today, about 20 years later, the digitization of parking is in full swing. More and more parking garages are “going online”, leaving their island status and thus becoming accessible for digital services. This raises many questions: How does digitization in parking work and why is it even necessary? Will it completely replace conventional parking with tickets?
We summarize some of the key benefits of digitization below:
- Reduction of physical media (e.g., paper tickets) and thus more sustainable processing of short-term parking transactions
- Less paper in operational, contractual and billing processes
- Less cash and thus
- less maintenance costs
- fewer costs for moving/mechanical parts in the equipment
- fewer costs for cash collection
- Increased convenience for the end customer, due to
- less contact with equipment and media (more hygienic)
- no detour to the automated pay station required
- Higher throughput (no detour to the automated pay station and faster entry and exit due to contactless media)
- The parking behavior of end customers becomes more transparent and additional services can be offered more customized
- More user groups gain access – possibly resulting in new business models
- Business models can be activated, paused and changed more dynamically
- Prices can be adjusted in the future on the basis of real data and thus more fairly based on supply and demand
- Generally, more data is generated and decisions can be made based on relevant data
- More transparency for the end customer (Where are available slots and what is the price?)
What is mobility CONNECT and how does it drive digitization?
mobility CONNECT is a manufacturer-independent mobility platform and forms an interface between parking garage operators and mobility providers. By bringing together operators and mobility providers, mobility CONNECT thus enables drivers to enjoy a stress-free, contactless and cashless parking experience.
What is the goal of mobility CONNECT?
The common goal of all parties involved is to strengthen the digital infrastructure for parking and thus to potentiate the benefits for all parties involved. In 2014 evopark already laid the foundation for this goal and for mobility CONNECT. With its own digital parking offer for end users based on UHF/RFID technology, evopark introduced a cross-operator solution at that time. In just two years, evopark had already connected 49 parking garages in 19 cities in cooperation with numerous operator partners and managed to reach 10,000 active users per month after a short time. However, evopark does not see the greatest potential in having its own B2C stand-alone solution, but rather in the possible networking of various players in the mobility industry. The logical next step: in 2018, evopark began to phase-out their end-customer business for competitive reasons and in order to become an open platform, and opened its successfully established network to new partners with mobility CONNECT. Because with every additional end user who parks via the technology and with every additional parking garage that joins the network, the added value for all participants increases – and this has a direct network effect on all parties involved (end customer, parking garage operator, mobility provider). In other words, a win-win-win situation!
Who is already participating?
In Germany: more than 150 parking garages in metropolitan areas and by the end of the year the number will increase to 200 parking garages.
On the connected mobility provider side, five international partners are currently connected to the platform; Park Now, EasyPark, PayByPhone PREMIUM, Mercedes.me, and PORSCHE Parken Plus. evopark is already in negotiations about cooperation with several others.
„Utilization optimization, cost efficiency and traffic control are core issues for public and private parking managers. EasyPark has innovative answers for all these questions and is therefore an ideal partner to digitalize parking management. We see license plate recognition as THE solution of the future and are pleased that evopark supports this solution through its strong market presentation with mobility CONNECT and helps the topic gain new momentum.“
– Nico Schlegel, Managing Director DE at EasyPark –
How does mobility CONNECT work (technically) and why are we really talking about high-tech?
All customer-related data resides with the respective mobility provider and not in the parking management system. Drivers can register for the service of their preferred mobility provider. evopark acts as a technical service provider for all participating partners. Each mobility provider feeds the access media of its customers to evopark via an interface. As an alternative to LPR-based solutions, Mifare cards or UHF-Tags can be used.
This video briefly explains how this works:
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All registered customers can thus enter and exit connected parking garages without contact and pay digitally. evopark opens the parking barriers (if existent) via online authorization. The entry and exit time is registered locally for the calculation of the parking fee. In addition, evopark transmits all transaction data live and encrypted in compliance with the strictest data protection guidelines to the corresponding mobility provider for forwarding to their end-user. The car driver has insight into the costs incurred at any time via the customer account of his chosen service provider. In Germany, evopark offers a full service platform which aggregates all the parking fees for all connected mobility providers and sends them to the parking operators on a monthly basis. The information is processed transparently and consistent with the local parking management system.
„Together with our partners, we are constantly working to create an even better customer experience. The necessary investments in modern technologies are increasingly being accepted because they allow operators to differentiate themselves in the market. The further expansion of our partnership with evopark in Germany and Europe is important for us to respond to the great demand for uncomplicated digital solutions for parking garages.“
– Maximilian Geissinger, Lead Off-Street DE/AT at ParkNow –
The website https://www.mobility-connect.info provides end customers with an overview of all mobility providers connected to the mobility CONNECT platform in Germany. With one click, they are redirected to the selected company, where they can register for the corresponding service and see where the service is already available. evopark is thus driving digitization forward and is an important part of the evolution of parking.
Do you have further questions? Would you like to find out more about evopark, mobility CONNECT or our other software-as-a-service solutions? Then please do not hesitate to contact us or make a non-binding appointment with us. We will be more than happy to conduct a qualification of the current hardware with you and jointly create a “digital plan” for your property / car park.