Press Releases
APCOA Parking and German Telekom Enter into Agreement on Strategic Cooperation for Comprehensive Parking Services
APCOA PARKING and Deutsche Telekom have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to develop and launch a comprehensive parking service offering including APCOA parking garages and on-street spaces.
Stuttgart/Bonn, 8 October 2019 - APCOA PARKING Group ("APCOA"), Europe's leading parking manager and Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telecommunications company, have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to develop and launch a comprehensive parking service offering including APCOA parking garages and on-street spaces. The aim of the cooperation is to provide customers of the joint parking solution with a parking product that is as complete as possible.
The agreement includes the integration of the APCOA FLOW platform as an authentication technology for non-contact entry and exit and automated payment in the APCOA-managed parking facilities. In addition, customers will be provided with additional parking spaces that were previously inaccessible to the public in residential and office properties at after-hours. Deutsche Telekom is using its Park and Joy app as a parking solution. It shows free parking in public spaces and private areas and also allows you to book and pay by smartphone. The combination of the two innovative technologies creates a comprehensive range of services for parking in car parks and on the roadside in Germany.
Within the scope of this cooperation, motorists should be provided with a common parking solution consisting of elements of both parking solutions of the respective parties. This allows them to access and exit non-contact and automated payment (APCOA FLOW) as well as to display, book and pay in public and private areas (Park and Joy). To this end, a corresponding embedding of the APCOA FLOW non-contact entry and exit functionality and automated payment in APCOA-managed parking facilities is agreed in the Park and Joy App.
Contact:
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-100
About APCOA PARKING Group
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 45 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages approximately 1.5 million individual parking spaces at over 9,500 locations in 13 European countries. These include parking spaces at 1,800 city and shopping center locations, 400 hotels, 150 hospitals and 58 European airports. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximizes value for private and public real estate owners.
Via its open digital platform APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with clients, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into mobility hubs, offering innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: with its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of traffic searching for parking. By connecting parking and mobility, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the Smart City.
PARK NOW acquires Parkling
PARK NOW has acquired Berlin-based data company Parkling. Adding Parkling´s best-in-class parking prediction to PARK NOW services will further strengthen PARK NOW's capability to improve and shape urban mobility.
Berlin, 23rd September 2019 - With the acquisition of the Berlin-based data company Parkling GmbH, the market leader PARK NOW is strengthening its international portfolio of digital parking solutions. With its highly accurate predictions of free on-street parking spots, Parkling offers a best-in-class solution.
PARK NOW, leading international parking solutions provider, is constantly growing its services and locations with more than 1,200 cities in Europe and North America. With the integration of Parkling´s parking prediction, the PARK NOW services will become even more attractive for users. It will have an immediate impact on improving the traffic situation in cities, as it helps to reduce the 30% of inner-city traffic caused by the search for parking spots. Already today, digital parking solutions make a direct contribution to a better traffic management, traffic flow control and a better use of urban space.
PARK NOW CEO Jörg Reimann says: "We are very happy to have Parkling join PARK NOW. Parkling´s prediction solution for on-street parking spots will be a great enhancement of our product portfolio. Through the acquisition, we not only strengthen our offering towards consumers, cities and automotive manufacturers, but also pursue our goal to make cities more liveable."
Detlev Hülsebusch, founder and CEO of Parkling, says: "Joining forces with PARK NOW is a great opportunity for Parkling. PARK NOW gives us the backing we need to rollout our data coverage across European cities and North America. I want to thank Centerbridge and the APCOA Group for their excellent support as investors and founding partners of Parkling."
Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA PARKING Group, comments: "Supporting Parkling in setting up their business and shaping their business model for Europe has been highly strategic for APCOA. We believe that PARK NOW will be a very strong partner for Parkling as the business rolls out internationally. We are excited to see them to continue to prosper."
About PARK NOW
PARK NOW is part of YOUR NOW, the mobility joint venture of the BMW Group and Daimler AG. With digital parking solutions under the brands PARK NOW, Parkmobile, RingGo and Park-line, it currently serves over 33 million users in more than 1,200 cities in Europe and North America. Making it the biggest provider of digital parking solutions in those regions.
ABOUT PARKLING
Parkling is a data company that provides highly accurate predictions of free on-street parking spots. The company attaches scanners on fleets and taxi cabs to analyze the parking situation in real-time. In addition, Parkling generates high quality static parking maps including parking rules & restrictions and location of parking bays.
For further inquiries please contact:
Johannes Terracciano
LoeschHundLiepold Kommunikation GmbH
Telefon: +49 - (0)89 - 72 01 87 - 296
E-Mail: j.terracciano(at)lhlk.de
APCOA‘s ANPR parking management system wins Innovation Award of the European Parking Association
APCOA PARKING has won the European Parking Award (EPA) for the rollout of an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) based parking management system in Norway, providing a seamless customer journey connected to the innovative APCOA FLOW app.
Stuttgart, 19 September 2019 - APCOA PARKING has won the European Parking Award (EPA) for the rollout of an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) based parking management system in Norway, providing a seamless customer journey connected to the innovative APCOA FLOW app. The first place in the "Innovative schemes in parking" category has been awarded today to APCOA during the 19th EPA Congress in Malaga, Spain.
The EPA has been established by the European Parking Association as a biennial award for excellence in parking. The EPA Awards are designed to set standards, demonstrate the high quality of parking structures and services and to encourage operators to provide good services throughout Europe.
ANPR Solution for APCOA PARKING Norway
Today APCOA FLOW provides the most sophisticated parking app and loyalty program in the market, including employee and partner parking integrations. In April 2017, APCOA PARKING Norway started one of the largest rollouts for an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) based parking management systems in Europe. Since then the system was implemented at 104 off-street parking locations including car parks at 30 airports across Norway. Further locations are currently being equipped.
The new system was primarily introduced to offer customers a faster and more convenient parking experience but also to reduce the number of parking hardware for cost reasons and to optimize revenues. In addition, it is seen as a long-term investment to future-proof our sites for autonomous driving and parking.
Seamless customer journey with ANPR and APCOA FLOW app
To make full use of the system, customers download the APCOA FLOW app and register a user profile including their credit card data. The app can navigate the driver to the chosen APCOA site. The customer enters the car park seamlessly without stopping at a barrier or pulling a ticket. Instead, ANPR cameras detect the license plate and the parking session is started. The customer receives a notification on his smart phone and can look up information about the current as well as past parking sessions in the app. When exiting the car park, ANPR cameras again detect the license plate and the parking session is ended. The customer again receives a notification on his smart phone and payment happens automatically. In case of any issues a customer service center is available 24/7 at 365 days a year.
"Removing barrier systems, P&D machines as well as traffic islands and introducing new payment methods has significantly improved the user experience. Customers benefit from a constant traffic flow and a ticketless entry and exit as well as automatic payment. So no time is wasted anymore queuing in front of the barrier for tickets or at the payment machine and exposure to harsh weather condition at surface car parks is minimized," said Rune Feltman, Managing Director of APCOA PARKING Norway.
Alternative payment methods available
But payment can also be done without the download of an app and registration. In that case, the ANPR system detects the license plate and puts it on a whitelist. Before leaving the car park, payment is done at the payment machine, entering the license plate. A grace period is granted to leave the car park comfortably and the system again detects the license plate and the parking session ends. If payment at the payment machine is forgotten, late pay can be made online within 48 hours. After that period an invoice is being sent including an administrational fee. That ensures that no customer will receive an unpopular parking fine.
About APCOA PARKING Group
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 45 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages approximately 1.5 million individual parking spaces at over 9,500 locations in 13 European countries. These include parking spaces at 1,800 city and shopping center locations, 400 hotels, 150 hospitals and 58 European airports. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximizes value for private and public real estate owners.
Via its open digital platform APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with clients, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into mobility hubs, offering innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: with its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of traffic searching for parking. By connecting parking and mobility, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the Smart City.
innogy and APCOA agree on partnership for designing mobility centres of the future
· Car park of the future to be central element of the smart city
· Electric mobility and digitalisation in car parks provide citizens with diverse services
As electric mobility continues to gain momentum, it is also changing the requirements placed on transport infrastructure in our cities. This involves the expansion of the charging network and new digital offerings for customers throughout Europe. Car park operator APCOA and energy company innogy intend to develop joint solutions for designing mobility centres of the future, with both companies having signed a declaration of intent. In essence, the companies will focus on equipping car parks with charging infrastructure for electric cars, digital customer contact and the joint development of new services and business opportunities.
APCOA is Europe's leading car park operator with the most extensive portfolio in its industry. In the area of digitalisation of car parks in particular, APCOA is regarded as a pioneer. "We are delighted to have found innogy as a strategic partner with whom we can play a major role in the transformation of transport in cities. With around 1.6 million parking spaces at approximately 10,000 sites in 13 European countries, we have a solid foundation for interlinking parking facilities and sustainable urban mobility. Together with innogy's experience in the area of electric mobility and an extensive digital service portfolio, we will be able to provide different customer groups with tailor-made services in future," says Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA. For property owners, this represents an attractive solution for transforming their car parks into smart mobility hubs, which support the drive towards comprehensive electric mobility in urban centres and thus become a central point of interest.
innogy has been leading the way in the electric mobility sector for more than ten years. During this time, the company has installed more than 34,000 charging points at customer premises in Europe, the USA and Canada. The project is expected to expand the infrastructure. "Car parks play an important role in the energy transition in cities as well as in the expansion of electric mobility and the public charging network. With photovoltaics on roofs and façades, battery storage and intelligent energy management systems, the car park of the future has the potential to become an energy centre. There is also the option of using car parks as locations with digital infrastructure. With the project, we are taking a look at the city of the future and showing how digitalising infrastructure and expanding electric mobility could improve people's quality of life," says Hildegard Müller, Director of Grid & Infrastructure at innogy.
As an initial step, APCOA and innogy plan to equip APCOA car parks with intelligent charging infrastructure that is compliant with German calibration legislation. Innovative processes and digital systems will be interlinked to simplify finding and reserving parking spaces and charging points, concluding the charging process and paying for a parking space and electricity collectively. The ever expanding networking and digitalisation of common services is expected to create brand-new business models and offerings in future. The car park of tomorrow will be an integrated hub of movement and transport, where delivery stations for packages as well as charging options for electric cars, scooters and bicycles will be provided, in addition to parking spaces for cars and bicycles, rental bicycles and electric car sharing.
Please direct enquiries to:
innogy SE
Sarah Schaffers
Press spokesperson
T +49 201 12-20929
M +49 152-54951481
sarah.schaffers(at)innogy.com
About innogy SE
innogy SE is a leading German energy company, with revenue of around €37 billion (2018) and around 43,000 employees. With its three business segments Renewables, Grid & Infrastructure and Retail, innogy addresses the requirements of a modern, decarbonised, decentralised and digital energy world. Its activities focus on its about 22 million customers, and on offering them innovative and sustainable products and services which enable them to use energy more efficiently and improve their quality of life. The key markets are Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as several countries in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe. In renewable power generation, the company is also active in other regions, e.g. Spain, Italy, the USA and Australia, with a total capacity of 4.0 gigawatts. As a leader of innovation in future-oriented fields like eMobility, we are represented in the international hot-spots of the technology industry such as Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv and Berlin. We combine the extensive expertise of our energy technicians and engineers with digital technology partners, from start-ups to major corporates.
About the APCOA PARKING Group
The APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading car park operator with more than 45 years of industry experience. With around 5,000 employees, the company manages approximately 1.6 million parking spaces at around 10,000 sites in 13 European countries. This includes parking spaces in around 1,800 city and shopping centres, 400 hotels, 150 hospitals and at 58 European airports. With its systematic asset light business model, APCOA is a reliable partner that maximises property value for private and public property owners.
The company links street parking spaces and car parks with corporate customers, partners, drivers and their vehicles via the open digital platform APCOA FLOW. In doing so, APCOA is turning multi-storey car parks into mobility hubs with innovative services to create a convenient mobility experience. It is also good for the environment: By offering digital services and using an intelligent traffic management system, the company is actively helping to reduce the number of cars searching for spaces and emissions in cities. APCOA is becoming an integral part of the smart city by combining mobility and parking.
www.apcoa.com.
Press contact
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70629 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-652