Greener parking is good for business

Q-Park is a sustainable mobility partner, says John Denton

Q-Park has been providing off-street parking infrastructure in seven Western European countries for several decades, offering well-managed commercial parking facilities.

In recent years, policymakers in more than 300 cities have turned increasingly to Q-Park as a partner in their sustainable mobility efforts. In this position, Q-Park not only operates parking facilities, it has become part of the European mobility transition by advising municipalities on the parking aspect of their sustainable mobility plans.

This strategy will make Q-Park more visible as a mobility partner at an international level.

Q-Park's ambition is to increase its presence, particularly in cities with attractive market dynamics where the population is still growing. This population growth affects the number of cars on the road and the demand for parking facilities. What's more, migration to urban areas coincides with the trend towards more environmentally friendly cars and the challenge of keeping cities liveable (and accessible), with more and better regulated public space.

In its efforts, Q-Park always takes the specific needs of local residents and businesses as a starting point for initial discussions with councils and policymakers. As well as looking into accessibility and quality of life in the city, Q-Park considers educational, economic, social and safety standards.

Instead of facilitating traffic, Q-Park aims to organise traffic differently. We want to eliminate unnecessary traffic searching for a place to park on the street. We help limit and facilitate efficient car journeys directly to the destination, using smart navigation and pre-booking options. We ensure that all kinds of vehicles can park in our parking facilities (cars, bicycles and scooters). And we provide sufficient EV charging points for electric vehicles.

A key aspect of Q-Park's strategy, symbolising its role as a Sustainable Mobility Partner, is the 'Mobility Hub'. This is a parking facility that integrates a range of features and services, including parking, charging, pre-booking and sharing.

Q-Park mobility hubs support one of the most important pillars of the SMP strategy. Besides offering the usual parking services, the Mobility Hub connects travellers with sustainable mobility partners offering alternative ways of getting around the city: public transport, car and bicycle sharing options (including rental), secure bicycle parking, charging points for electric cars and bicycles, and bicycle lockers for e-bike batteries.

Q-Park mobility hubs are of course connected to our digital platform Q-Park PaSS (Parking as a Smart Service). PaSS enables a seamless parking service with digital access and automatic payment. It offers access to any customer with a pre-booking, parking or payment app within our ecosystem. Their number plate is the key to our parking facilities.

In the UK, Q-Park has already taken many steps as a sustainable mobility partner (SMP). For example, in London our mobility hub within the Q-Park Park Lane facility provides access to shared mobility services such as electric car sharing and a green last mile logistics hub all of which have had a tangible environmental benefit for the local community.

Q-Park continues to work on expanding and transforming its Mobility Hub offer. For instance, there are newly created mobility hubs being created at Q-Park Waterloo Street in Glasgow and Q-Park OMNI in Edinburgh.

John Denton is commercial director at Q-Park UK and Ireland