APT Skidata, the parking solutions business, has introduced a new parking solution which it says gives hospitals ‘a new way of delivering a hassle-free parking experience with high-quality, reliable technology on a monthly subscription’.
Its ‘Parking-as-a-Service’ solution is a combination of technology and service, where the company takes responsibility for installing and maintaining the parking equipment, and the operator pays an agreed monthly fee for five-years. APT Skidata said: “PaaS instantly removes the need for capital expenditure, and the fixed monthly subscription cost is better for cashflow. All of the service, maintenance, and software upgrades are included in the cost, and PSP and banking are also handled by us.”
Managing director, Steve Murphy, says the new subscription-based model gives car park owners and operators a cashless, pay-on-exit solution that ‘delivers the best of all worlds’. He explained: “Parking-as-a-Service gives owners / occupiers the chance to have the best- performing technology for their car park where they might have ordinarily opted for a cheaper alternative. We know that parking is an important revenue generator for both public and private organisations, but operating a car park brings with it a collection of challenges – the first hurdle being the initial capital expenditure required to procure parking equipment which controls and collects parking revenues. This no longer needs to be a barrier.”
APT Skidata says that for a simple ‘one entry / one exit’ solution for a 200-space car park, the monthly subscription could be as low as £1250 per month. The revenues generated by such a car park, however, could be as high as £16,000 per month, giving a return on investment of eight times the monthly fee.
At a practical level, PaaS is a cashless solution, and the operator can configure the system to best meet the car park need. They have a choice of gates and barriers of different sizes, and ANPR camera mount and packages can include intercom, alongside a maintenance package and transaction (i.e. payment) bundles. Once the technology is chosen, the customer is connected to APT Skidata’s cloud parking platform.
Hospitals can build on their current car park usage by adding a reservations platform to manage patient and visitor reservations, or by offering discounts on parking through validations. EV charging can also be easily integrated with the parking infrastructure to allow drivers to pay both for parking and EV charging in the same single transaction upon exit.