A TALE OF TWO CITIES THAT START PAY BY PHONE PARKING.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead have launched Parkmobiles cashless parking system to assess the viability of pay by mobile phone parking for a trial period. Windsor & Maidenhead are the first local authority in the UK to adopt both start/stop and the more traditional buy time methods in the same Borough. This has been modelled based on the different dynamic of the customers parking in two of the main town centres.
For example in Maidenhead, a multi-story commuter site serving the nearby railway station, which has fast links to London and the West. Customers can elect to buy one days parking from Parkmobile and only need to make one quick call to activate their parking. This mirrors the operation of the pay and display machines. This has been an instant success with commuters who are often in a rush and do not always have the correct change to pay for parking.

Further downstream on the Thames, in Windsor, the parking needs of the Boroughs customers could not be more different from the commuter site. Windsor predominantly serves the needs of tourists to Windsor Castle and historic Eton, shoppers, restaurant and theatre goers. The council were keen for motorists to stay longer in the town centre, so adopted Parkmobiles unique start/stop approach. Motorists have welcomed this method of parking as they do not need to second guess their length of stay.

Runaway success
Early results from the trial have shown that the commuter car park has performed in line with expectations. The car park has built a steady flow of regular users which has continued to grow by between 5 – 10% per week.  In Windsor, despite its varied and international customer base the introduction of cashless parking has been a runaway success.  From the date of launch, interest in the scheme has been strong and whilst there is a core of local repeat users, it is tourists that have really embraced cashless parking at this site. 

Customer focused offering
When asked why Windsor was performing so well, Managing Director of Parkmobile, Peter O’Driscoll commented.
“The start/stop product is really ideal for users at this site who are unsure of how long they will need to park.  This customer focused approach of giving visitors to the car park the flexibility to stay as long as they like, has clearly struck a chord.  We knew from the outset that users of this site were likely to have come from all over Europe and we paid particular attention to signage to ensure the benefit that cashless parking brings to customers was clearly stated.”

Peter further attributed the sites success to Parkmobiles market leading smartphone applications saying, “The smartphone apps, that are free to all users, have helped this site flourish.  They are available in a range of languages and the applications allow users to register at their own pace.  This is particularly suitable for the high volume of foreign tourists that come to Windsor every day.”

Expansion of The Scheme
“The benefits of the introduction of cashless parking have been quick for the Royal Borough to realise. The council have been impressed with early take up rates and the marketing efforts that Parkmobile have undertaken to drive up usage” said Iain Wallace, Parking Technical Manager for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.  This has resulted in a decision to trial Parkmobiles service at another large multi-storey car park in Maidenheads busy shopping and business centre.