How Covid-19 Has been A Breakthrough For Startups Operating In The Digital Parking Space

The drastic impact of Covid-19 on businesses has been in the headlines for quite some time now. Many industries are on the brink of cessation as it is no longer possible to carry on businesses that revolve around physical contact for routine functionality. As such, business sectors that manage to adapt to the new scenario succeed in surviving, while a different story goes for sectors that fail to evolve.

However, while the pandemic may be a colossal bane, there is also a bright side to it for those willing to see. For instance, it is a massive breakthrough for startups in the digital parking space. Though Covid-19 causes numerous business sectors to reel and falter, it throws in dynamics that generate a massive fillip for the digital parking industry.

Digitization Is Gaining Traction By The Day, As Contactless Parking Is The Need Of The Hour

Gone are the days when people interacted closely to facilitate transactions. The present business model shifts emphasis from physical contact to a contactless system. In fact, this is the case of businesses that succeeded in mobilizing solutions to navigate the Covid-19 maze. Digitization is all the rage now, and the parking industry is integrating the same to leverage more opportunities to grow in these Covid times.

In effect, contactless Parking means that there will be no human interaction when a car pulls in and out of a parking space. Contactless experience applies from entry to exit to payments and so forth. It will still be interaction-driven, but that will be via a digital interface.

Due to the threat of viral transmission, motorists are no longer entertaining the notion of exchanging cash, pulling a ticket or queuing up at a pay-station. This new consumer behaviour calls for digitized operations and the integration of mobile payment technology. In a nutshell, this is nothing but a threshold to an era of contactless terminals that offers a digitized experience. This is the time for the monopoly of contactless systems that transition from traditional parking practices, and usher in a quicker, more efficient platform.

Touchless Parking Experiences Are Becoming The New Normal

The war against Covid-19 is not going to be a short temporary phase. Though contained, the virus is going to stay with us longer than we believe. What this means for businesses is that there is a need for adopting methods that put the threat of transmission at bay. To that end, intensive safety and hygiene protocols are going to take precedence. The parking sector is no exception, and touchless parking experience is poised to become the new norm.

It is clear by now that in the post-Covid era the business world, parking sector, in particular, will continue to revolve around contactless pay-and-display payment systems that can be availed of utilizing debit and credit cards and smartphone payments. To that end, parking businesses that had not integrated smart parking technology in the pre-Covid times are now in a flurry to adopt and leverage the same.

A touchless parking experience is now the norm of the day as it allows customers to utilize a parking facility without having to exchange tickets with the staff there.

For instance, malls have, for the longest time, relied on the convenient parking tokens that can be acquired through a one-touch dispenser and returned at the exit point. However, seeing as the same token passes numerous – perhaps hundreds – hands per day, it is no longer a viable, safe, or reliable option. Mall visitors are as apprehensive of collecting tokens as staff members are reluctant to receive them back. Hence, the hitherto useful service has now become obsolete, and more importantly, unsafe.

Simply put, the traditional norm of queuing up at a payment terminal has become a thing of the past. In such a touchless environment, there are no more requirements for customers to come into close contact with a staff member or with each other, by navigating the facility’s erstwhile touchpoints in a contactless manner.

This is a great benefit for both customers and parking operators as both can operate from the safety of their remote mediums.  Motorists no longer have to step out of their cars, and at the same time, parking operators can remotely monitor the parking facility without a physical presence.

Parking and mobility industries have taken a hard hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But things are gradually returning to normal. And that is where contactless experience comes enters the parking scene as the new normal will be a complete departure from the pre-Covid-19 ‘normal’.

The new normal in the parking sector will mean a contactless digitized experience. When people venture out of their homes and look for a space to park, there will be a heavy emphasis on the minimization of human contact, something possible only through a digital interface.