The majority of car parks that offer a cashless payment option offer a traditional car park ticket machine as well, so that motorists have a choice of paying by cash at the machine or using the cashless payment option.
There are many benefits to offering a cashless payment option and this article explains why every car park should offer one.
The recent AA survey also found that most motorists don’t mind how they pay for their parking as long as it is easy to do. Cashless payment at car parks definitely ticks this box. It is incredibly quick and easy to use. Motorists can pay for their parking in as little as 30 seconds using a mobile app or via an automated phone call. As you can pay without having to carry cash, there is no worry about finding the right change. Motorists can pay from the comfort of their vehicle, safely and securely. No more battling with a ticket machine in the pouring rain.
You only have to register for cashless car park payment services once and they are then available to use every time you park. This makes it an excellent option for repeat bookings and a stress-free way of paying for your parking. As most cashless payment services are available in car parks nationwide, you can also take advantage of this easy way to pay for your parking when you’re travelling throughout the country.
Some car park ticket machines are still unable to accept the new £1, an issue that needs resolving as soon as possible. But even without this additional inconvenience, I’m sure we all recognise the sinking feeling when the car park ticket machine repeatedly rejects our final coin for no apparent reason. When you’re in a hurry or just want to enjoy your time elsewhere than in a car park, ticket machine issues can be extremely frustrating. Cashless car park payments can bring an end to these difficulties. With many cashless car park payment apps, motorists can pay for their parking using a variety of payment methods. These include card payments, Apple Pay, Android Pay and PayPal One Touch. This makes the payment process as easy and efficient as possible.
Unlike with car park ticket machines, there are no maintenance costs needed with cashless car park payments. This means that there are never those difficult situations where you go to pay and find that the machine has been vandalised or has simply broken down. If councils can save money on car park ticket machine maintenance, this means that they have more money to spend elsewhere on re-vitalising town centres and sprucing up shopping areas. Cashless payments also mean that councils and other car park operators can still collect payments even when the car park ticket machines are out of order. Lost revenue due to fraud, theft and counterfeit coins is minimised too.
Traditional car park ticket machines tend to offer you a little stub of paper stating what time your parking time runs out. Sometimes they don’t even offer this. Trying to keep track of that little piece of paper, or remember what time you have paid until, can be a challenge when you have a million other things on your mind. Car parking doesn’t need to be stressful. With cashless car park payments, you can choose to receive a helpful text message to remind you when your parking time is about to expire.
Attending an important meeting and worried that it may over run? Catching up with an old friend and not sure how long you’ll be? With cashless car park payments, motorists can extend their parking time from wherever they are. There is no need to rush out of your meeting or leave your coffee going cold while you physically return to the car park ticket machine to put more cash in. Instead, you can pay for the minimum amount of time upfront and then top up later on if you are going to be longer than expected. You can top up from your mobile app or phone without having to go anywhere.
Cashless car park payments can also be used as a data collection tool. This means that the data collected can be used to re-market the scheme to previous customers. As a motorist, this is an advantage as you will be receiving marketing materials and offers that are most relevant to you and your parking needs.
If you need to keep a record of where and when you’ve parked, then cashless car park payments make this a doddle. Unlike a car park ticket machine, cashless parking means that all this information is stored digitally, so you can access it whenever you need it.
Many cashless payment parking apps also offer a convenient service to help you find available parking spaces in your local area. Simply search for your location and follow the directions to cruise straight into a parking spot. This helpful service avoids motorists having to drive around looking for a parking space, saving them time and reducing emissions into the environment.
Swap scrabbling for change to embracing the change – move into the digital age and join thousands of motorists already enjoying the benefits of cashless car park payments. Every car park should offer a cashless payment option. If your local car park doesn’t offer this yet, watch this space. It probably won’t be long until they do.