Ascom offers first off-street parking payment solution using the mobile phone

Ascom SMS solution revealed at PARKOPOLIS 2003 in Paris

This new SMS parking payment solution was presented for the first time at the French parking show PARKOPOLIS 2003 which took place in Paris on 18 and 19 June and was welcomed with interest by the numerous visitors.

Pay your parking fees by a simple SMS

No more queuing up at the pay-on-foot machines, the simple use of your mobile’s Short Message Service enables you to perform the parking payment. No more other payment procedures, your parking fees are deducted from your virtual stored value account which can be recharged automatically or on the internet.

How does it work? It is as easy as that: take a parking ticket on entering the car park. Then do your shopping or any other activity planned. At any time, before you leave the car park, use your mobile phone to SMS the code number printed on your parking ticket to the parking operator mobile service number. You immediately receive a confirmation message SMS. When you leave the car park, just introduce your ticket into the exit terminal, without having to go past an automatic cashier terminal. Your ticket is returned instantly to be used as a receipt with all the data of your transaction printed on (date, time of leaving, amount paid) and the barrier opens. Each transaction is simultaneously confirmed by an SMS message.

Shared advantages for both operator and customer

There are multiple advantages for both the parking operator and its clientele. For the operator, this new time-saving payment method helps solve the management of large flows at peak times at shopping centres, cinema multiplexes, business centres, amusement parks, etc. as it offers an alternative to the existing payment points. For the car park user, it offers a fast cashless payment means without having to queue at the pay-and-foot machines, especially at rush hours, for example, when the cinema ends. Just an SMS from anywhere before you leave the car park. Your payment is performed directly. Moreover, the customer may recharge his account and obtain his expense reports directly via the internet.

The parking operator becomes a service provider

A real partnership can be established between operators and retailers, like selling parking vouchers to retailers or grant other reductions of free time, value, percentage, price or tariff.

Indeed the SMS can become a real value added tool for both parking operator and customer and help maintain a regular clientele. To attract their clientele to visit their shops, the retailers have the opportunity to send information messages and special offers and coupons on their mobile phones. These offers can be combined with special parking discounts.

In the long run, many other user-friendly and practical services can be added like the reservation of parking spaces, traffic information and maps sent to access the car parks in a particular area belonging to the same operating company, behavioural statistics for optimised yield management, etc. Numerous other services may be imagined in the future to provide enhanced parking convenience and security. Undeniably, these new facilities will contribute to change the attitudes towards parking.

Contact: Alain Uzan, Head of Ascom Parking Division, Ascom Monetel SA, France, tel : +33 1 41 32 71 02, alain.uzan@ascom.fr