Parking & mobility will lead the way
Touch-free’ payments will protect users’ health and provide data for public safety
There’s a reason the word “unprecedented” is now plastered across our cultural landscape. No one has seen anything like this. Reopening and recovery will be particularly dynamic for parking and mobility, which were already undergoing a sea change. Statistical insights and informed prognostication are needed to get a sense of what comes next. With more than 20 million customers in more than 930 cities, PARK NOW Group is uniquely situated to access digital parking data. We interviewed some of our sector’s experts and contrasted their ideas with our most visionary leaders across seven countries.
Our panel opined on the factors at play, possible outcomes, challenges to be met, tools at hand and ongoing environmental concerns. Though they disagreed in some detail, they concurred on the changes in progress. Large-scale travel will probably resume, but mobility is moving towards a shared model. Municipalities will change their deployment of parking resources. Most importantly, Western countries will sprint towards a contactless/cashless society to further protect public health. The coronavirus has accelerated the evolution of touchless payments and mobility. As restrictions ease, digitalization will become standard. Authorities looking to keep citizens safe know that cash is no longer the best choice for parking meter payments. Digital parking providers can and should take up their responsibility to support public health in cities across Europe. Even more importantly, sustainability and health
go hand-in-hand; by focusing on reservations, insights into parking availability for citizens, and emission-based solutions for cities, the parking industry can change for the better and contribute to pollution reduction.
The digital tools are already in place for the parking sector to be a beacon towards a digital, touch-free economy. Contactless parking solutions can do more than kill the parking meter; they can show a model for a healthier and cashless society. To see how, we must look at the pre-crisis industry, expert predictions for the future of the sector, post-crisis challenges and solutions, and environmental concerns.