Make the most of your car park space

The average company car park has 20-35% of its bays going underused every workday, even when there’s unmet demand. This is largely because when staff with allocated parking bays are away from the office, their bays sit empty. Parkable's parking management software facilitates easy bay sharing, so you can make the most out of your resources. If you'd like to create a smart car park and get the most out of your assets, get in touch to talk to a Parkable expert.

When it became widespread knowledge that just 50-60% of staff are present at the average workplace on any given day, hot desking was born. Rather than needing an assigned work space for each employee, including the 40-50% on annual leave, sick leave, and working off-site, companies decided they only need space for the number of employees in the building. The solution, hot desking, became a global phenomenon to cut costs and make more efficient use of resources.

Download the "How Smart is your Car Park Management" checklist

Despite using sound logic when it comes to workspace, most large businesses and organisations have another underused resource - their car park. Car parks might be flat, grey, bland, and forgettable, but they’re certainly a valuable asset.

• On average, 12%* of companies’ real estate spend is on their car park.
• Parking in the CBD of Sydney and Melbourne is on average around AUD$70 per day, while Brisbane has the most expensive short-term parking in the country.
• A quick look on TradeMe Property shows you that the weekly cost of a parking bay in Auckland, Wellington, or Christchurch can be as much as NZD$150 per week.
• Despite their value, NRMA found that up to a third of bays in commercial car parks go underused.
• Parkable’s experience is that on average, company car parks experience 20-35% underutilisation.
• The primary cause of underutilisation is that companies assign permanent parking bays to particular staff members, and when they’re out of the office, their bays sit empty.

Let’s consider a hypothetical situation.

You have 100 CBD parking bays, and a third of them go unused throughout the year. In New Zealand, that’s equivalent to letting an asset worth NZD$257,400 per year go to waste. In Australia, the cost increases to AUD$600,600.

“Transportation and parking industry experts suggest that parking problems are not simply a result of a lack of parking space(s). Rather, they can signify a need for more efficient parking management.”
- Nicole Ybarra, International Marketing Manager, IPS Group, Inc.

Happily, much of this asset waste can be reduced through more efficient systems and smart management tools.

The power of smart parking tools

Parkable for Business is a car park management system which helps businesses to make better use of their parking space, so your resources are used efficiently - not sitting empty.

With improved space efficiency, you could:

1. Provide more of your staff with free parking, improving staff satisfaction and boosting the many benefits that come with happier staff, including revenue.
2. Recover a sizeable chunk of your resource costs. If your staff pay for on-site parking, you can increase revenue or recover leasing costs by increasing utilisation.
3. Reduce the number of parking bays you own or lease. Once you have efficient management in place, you might even be able to downsize your parking space. These savings could be put into other parts of the company or into improved offices.

Using Parkable for Business, companies like Datacom have increased their car park utilisation by 15%, as well as lowering their lease costs by an estimated 25%. In 2017, Datacom was also able to downsize its car park from 600 bays to 300, using Parkable for Business to manage the change by improving utilisation.

The magic works through easy bay sharing, ability of staff to reserve bays in advance, and visibility of car park availability.

Are you making the most of your space? Download our free checklist to find out

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Easy bay sharing

Parkable enables people to share their bay with others when they don’t need it.

• Whether they’re working from home, unwell, on holiday, or just out at meetings, people can use the app to share their allocated bay with others.
• Switching between sharing and using a bay takes just a moment, so your staff have complete control.
• They can also share their bay ahead of time, so if they know they’re going on a holiday in a few months, they can switch their bay to sharing mode for that time period.

For organisations which charge a fee for parking, bay sharing can either increase the revenue generated from the car park or recover leasing costs. The added bonus is that bay sharing encourages a positive culture based on sharing and equity.

“It has benefitted Spark tremendously. When people have a car park and are away, Parkable gives us the ability to open their park to the rest of our staff members. It also gives a better experience to those people sharing their car park.”
- Tony Agar, Head of Auckland’s Sales IoT, Spark

“I shared my car park on Parkable for the first time last week and had $100 in my account when I returned - what sorcery is this! It’s awesome being able to recoup some of my parking cost when I’m working remotely or out of the office. It’s also a plus knowing that I’m helping a fellow colleague who needs a park at work.”
— Datacom Employee

Instant visibility and advanced booking

Parkable makes car park availability visible on the app in real-time, solving the problem that occurs when staff are unaware that spaces are available. Staff can simply check the app and see whether parking spots are available. Plus, they can reserve a parking bay the day before or in the morning before they leave home.

“I used the parking app today and it was AWESOME! So easy to use and made such a difference to my morning knowing that I was able to just book a park with the push of a button!”
- IAG Employee

If you’re like most companies and organisations, your parking space is probably being underused despite plenty of people wanting to park on-site. Rather than spending hundreds of thousands each year on resources that don’t get fully utilised, create a car park that’s smart and get the most out of your assets.