Managing a car park yourself means: you decide who parks when, for how long and at what cost, and you run the site with your own technology instead of handing it over to an operator. PARQ supplies the parking system for this, that is, cameras with licence plate recognition, a pay station and barrier if you wish, and the portal. The rules and the income stay with you.
The path there is similar for municipalities, utility companies, hospitals, hotels, leisure destinations, shopping centres and property owners; what differs are the user groups and the technology at the entrance. The following sequence leads from the initial survey through the parking concept to ongoing operation.
1. Survey the existing situation and define the parking concept
A parking concept describes how a parking area should be used: who parks there, under which rules and prices, and with which technology this is implemented. It is based on the existing site.
This also determines whether the site is to be enforced or managed. For enforcement, cameras with licence plate recognition are enough; for parking management, tariffs and payment options are added, and a pay station if you wish.
- Counting parking spaces
- Recording entries and exits
- Checking existing technology
- Clarifying the power supply at the entrance
2. Define the rules
Who parks for free, who pays, how long is parking allowed, and what happens when this is exceeded? These questions come before the technology.
From these answers, tariffs, authorisations for specific licence plates and bookable tickets are created in the portal. This includes a grace period, which sets when an overstay counts as a violation.
3. Set up the technology
Cameras at the entries and exits, a pay station at the access and a screen at the entrance as you wish, and an existing barrier connected. The devices are connected via mobile network, after which the site is set up in the portal.
How long this takes depends mainly on construction and installation on site, for example masts and foundations.
4. Putting up signage: what belongs on the signs
The rules must be visible on site before the first parking session runs. The signs should state what applies to drivers: tariffs and maximum amount, free period, maximum parking duration, payment methods, and a notice that licence plates are captured.
What is on the sign must match the settings in the portal. If you change a tariff, change the sign too. You can find suitable signage for the entrance and site in the hardware catalogue.
5. Starting operation
Tariffs and groups are set, the signage is up, and the first parking sessions are running. From here on, it's about maintenance rather than a project: granting authorisations, answering queries, keeping an eye on payments.
The system records violations and transmits them via interface to the service provider for violation processing.
6. Fine-tuning
After the first few weeks, the reports and analytics show you when the site is full, how long people park, and which payment methods are used. You then adjust tariffs and time windows accordingly.
The reports and analytics hold far more data than you need for your first decisions. Which of it matters to you usually only becomes clear once you're up and running.
In the PARQ system