A parking meter, or a parking ticket machine is a compact device used to collect money to park a vehicle for a certain amount of time. These meters were traditionally installed in public parking areas by municipalities as a tool to manage traffic and ensure that the public can find parking spaces when visiting the city. In today’s world, we are most familiar with parking ticket machines found in private car parks. These serve as a tool for both revenue generation and enforcement, ensuring that people do not abuse car parks and only park when necessary. For a customer, they are paramount for ensuring a positive parking experience.
If you are thinking about installing a parking meter in your car park, there are various perks. In this blog, you shall find all the benefits of installing a car park.
1. Parking Spaces are Kept Free for Customers
By enforcing a paid fee for the car park, this will deter abusers of the parking facility and ensure that customers are provided with thespace. Without a system like this, cars may be dumpedor the parking space used by residential drivers who would leave their car for extended periods of time. A smart meter and parking ticketing system will even monitor and track the levels within the car park, notifying people if there are spaces readily available, saving time and reducing the risk of drivers having to ‘circle the car park’ hunting for a space.
2. More Use of Parking Space
Usually, parking spaces are not used efficiently. There may be a few slots that remain empty since people remain unaware of the vacant spaces, or there would be people filling up spaces unnessecarily, leaving their car for extended periods of time. A parking meter lets you know if a slot can be used or not with real-time information.
3. Revenue Generation
A pay and display parking meter in a car park is a fairly ‘hands off’ way of creating revenue from your car park. This, paired with technology such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition, or ANPR, will allow you to track and monitor car park use, ensuring that you are maximising revenue without the need for an on-site enforcement patrol or manager.
4. Cleaner Environment
The more individuals drive to find a parking spot, the more CO2 will be emitted from the cars. It is the most prominent contributor to greenhouse gases, which further pollutes the environment. Therefore, with the help of a parking meter, you will be able to lower individual environmental footprint and reduce emissions by up to 30%.
5. A Variety of Payment Options
One of the biggest benefits of pay and display ticketing machines is the wide-range of payment options. With many customers now going cashless, having both contactless and even digital payment options ensures that your customers can both park and pay with ease.
Customers could effectively pay with cash, credit card, debit card, contactless payments, e-wallet payments such as apple pay and even by using digital payment services and apps.
6. Accuracy
Very often, commuters can be charged with an incorrect parking fee. On the other hand, a parking meter notifies the total amount of fee a user has to pay. It gives accurate details on the fee; therefore, there are no chances of a person being charged more than he/she should. It is usually based on the parking condition and duration.
If you own a car park and have installed a parking meter, the real-time management capability will help you generate more revenue.
7. Data Remains Intact
A parking meter records every transaction associated with a parking ticket. It ultimately records the number plate as well. When the payment is made, the virtual ticket is saved and can be accessed by you. It eliminates any type of inconvenience and simplifies your job if you want to track any vehicle.
8. A Low Cost Solution
The pay-adn-display parking meter system is a low cost option for those looking to set up a car park in the UK. The machine is both durable and secure, and offers a simple to use interface to parkers ensuring that the instructions are easy to understand. It must be noted that the signage in a car park must be clear, concise and easy to follow. This is part of the guidelines set out by the British Parking Association and is something that we take very seriously at Gemini Parking Solutions.
Some companies, such as Gemini Parking Solutions, offer a 0 cost solution, which allows companies to install a parking meter without having to pay the cost, having a pre-arranged revenue share for maintenance, management and optimisation of the car park.
How does Parking Meter Work?
When a vehicle enters a car park, the parking meter takes the license information displaying the parking fee. The driver then needs to specify the time needed for parking. It may even notify the commuter before the expiry of time.
The ticket is either checked by a parking patrol manager, entered into a machine that verifies payment before opening the automated barrier, or is connected to an ANPR system which will ensure the whole parking experience is automated.
Final Verdict!
Each day there are more and more vehicles on the road, with the number of drivers and vehicled increasing at a fast rate. The need for easy to use, safe and affordable parking is going to continue to grow – along with the number of drivers on the road. Due to the challenges faced by the infrastructure of many cities, the need for parking spaces is getting higher day by day.
Therefore, if you plan to create a parking space or are in the process of building one, you will be guaranteed a sustainable income from your space, as long as you install the right equipment and solutions for your car park. It will help you keep track of the vehicles in your car park and also provide easy accessibility to your customers, creating a win-win scenario for everyone involved.
