Q-Park have taken parking safety and convenience to another level with the development of PaSS (Parking as a Smart Service), a new digital parking solution.

Evolving technology has always played a large part in the parking industry and has enabled Q-Park to continually expand payment options, initially introducing cashless parking and then more recently ticketless parking. PaSS takes this a step further. This new Q-Park innovation is a combination of ANPR parking technology and digital payments. Q-Park creates a seamless customer journey by allowing both access to the car park and taking payment for parking simultaneously. This all takes place by reading the number plate of a vehicle. Use of a debit/credit card while you are at the parking facility is no longer required.

By combining ANPR technology, digital payment solutions and Q-Park's Back Office Calculation (BOC) module, we can now integrate the Product Management System (PMS) at access and exit points. This integration leads to a fair, transparent and seamless parking experience.

PaSS offers solutions for:

• Customers who park by providing them with a seamless parking experience
• Partner platforms serving large customer groups
• Sales channels providing pre-booking services

PaSS is a value-adding innovation which includes:

• Integration with mobility providers
• Convenient internal and external back-office integration with Q-Park's business partners
• Opportunities to optimise parking capacity, enhance service levels and target specific customer groups

Q-Park customers now have access to masses of information and are digitally connected to all aspects of their life. Understanding this about our customers created an opportunity to grow the Q-Park business and innovate for the future. Using this information, we considered how to:

• Use innovation to simplify the parking experience
• Connect sales and service channels that are utilised by our customers
• Adapt the offering for businesses who wish to provide parking as part of their service such as hotels and event venues and making sure it integrates with their systems

These questions lead us to the creation of PaSS. The new system is a value adding innovation and will play a part in all aspects of the Q-Park business. Initially, PaSS has beeen implemented at nearly all Q-Park car parks in Ireland to improve pre-booking, requiring customers to enter their vehicle registration as part of the booking process. As customers approach the barrier their number plate is read by the camera and the barrier opens for them with the same happening upon departure after their visit. Q-Park have also devised a method to make daily parking much more seamless. If parkers download the Q-Park Mobile app, add their Number Plate and payment card, they can simply drive in and out of participating car parks without needing to ever visit a pay machine ever again.

Following this successful integration, Q-Park will implement this innovative system as part of the Premier Card offering and eventually as an option for all our customers. The overall aim of PaSS is to further enhance the convenience, transparency and seamlessness of the parking experience whilst developing Q-Park's partnerships and creating new opportunities for the business.

Adam Bidder, Managing Director of Q-Park commented "Q-Park are constantly looking for ways to improve parking for our customers. We are delighted to be able to implement this new technology which will provide our customers with quick access when visiting Q-Park parking facilities and helps create a fair and transparent parking experience. Following our roll out of the Tap & Go parking system in 2016, PaSS is our next technological development that will see Q-Park continue to lead the parking industry in 2022 and beyond."

PaSS has been successfully utilised by Q-Park parking facilities in Belgium, Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom.

About Q-Park

Q-Park is notable for its quality approach and has a portfolio comprising over 3,300 parking facilities with more than 640,000 parking spaces in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Ireland and Denmark.