Tech Review: Precise ParkLink Launches ‘Touchless Parking Solutions’
5 min read
Canada’s first zero-contact gated parking solutions are now available
- Marc Saltzman
To say the world has changed over the past six months would be the understatement of the century.
As a result of the global pandemic, virtually every business has been forced to adapt to ensure the wellbeing of its patrons and employees – and this includes parking solutions, too.
Fortunately, Precise ParkLink – Canada's parking industry leader for 30 years – has just launched its Touchless Parking Solutions, which introduces contactless services to gated parking facilities, in order for property managers to meet its important health-related commitments.
After all, Canadian provinces are gradually reopening, and therefore businesses and institutions of all types want to minimize the spread of viruses for employees, guests, and visitors at its facilities.
“Precise ParkLink’s focus on technology has put us ahead of the curve, with several touch-free innovations already in place at many of our partner sites,” says Luigi Lato, Precise ParkLink’s Chief Operating Officer. “As times have rapidly changed, our in-house Research and Development team took the lead early on to evaluate what the future of parking would look like under this new normal.” “We worked diligently to innovate technology required for our customers to meet the health and safety realities of today.”
There are several benefits to Precise ParkLink’s full suite of Touchless Parking Solutions, as part of its ParkSafe program. It minimizes physical touchpoints throughout your parking facility, providing safe and high-quality visitor experiences. That is, there is no trade-off between safety and customer convenience – in fact, it speeds up processes and visitor journeys by improving your parking operational processes and traffic flow. Plus, Touchless Parking Solutions help Canadian businesses transition easily, in the shortest amount of time possible, at a reasonable cost, and thus lets you capitalize on your investment by building on your current parking technology.
Deeper dive into Touchless Payment Solutions
How does it work? What do you need to get going? What are the different elements to all of this?
Here’s a closer look at Precise ParkLink’s suite of software and hardware solutions – to create a touch-free and contactless journey for your tenants, staff and clients -- with many of these requiring simple upgrades to your existing gated parking.
Auto-dispensed entry tickets: This software integration for your existing gated parking technology automatically dispenses entry tickets when a vehicle is detected, therefore eliminating the need to touch a button. (For systems accepting hands-free permits, a short grace period can be configured to ensure paper is dispensed only when necessary.) Learn more here.
EasyWave™: This hardware integration for your existing gated parking technology adds an illuminated infrared button, activated by a simple hand wave, for customers to enter your parking facility in a touchless manner. Again, the goal is to prevent the spread of viruses by reducing the need to touch surfaces, and making employees, guests and visitors more comfortable in the process. More on EasyWave is here.
Virtual communications: Another step Precise ParkLink is taking to help property managers is by implementing remote communication technology. Protect your on-site parking attendants and customers with simple two-way video and voice communication technology -- which allows for physical distancing and convenient 24/7 customer support without needing on-site parking attendants.
Parkedin™: A software upgrade, you can virtualize the customer journey with Parkedin, an intuitive, cloud-based mobile app that processes everything customers need, every step of the way -- from pre-arrival and parking to their final destination. As you’ll see here, this includes mobile payment, reservations, and validations.
Tap-and-go payment: A hardware integration option for your existing gated parking system, Tap-and-go enables quick and cashless payments using EMV-certified banking platforms that accept credit and debit chip-and-pin transactions. Plus, it also allows for contactless transactions and payment using popular mobile wallet applications on smart devices. The idea is to eliminate physical payment touchpoints while enhancing financial processing security devices. For more on tap-and-go and other financial services, click or tap here.
Flowbird mobile parking app: With support for the free Flowbird smartphone app, drivers pay for parking using a web-enabled device, such as a smartphone (iOS and Android). The supports virtual permits and validations, shows a path to your parking destination, works with multiple enforcement platforms, and provides a unified reporting dashboard. As you’ll see in more detail here, this mobile app makes your customer experience quick, convenient and touch-free.
Licence plate recognition: As the name suggests, license plate recognition (LPR) is a hardware solution that allows you to get a clear read on real-time activity and trends within your parking facility. When paired with gated entries and exits, LPR takes ticketless parking, validations, and instant access to the next level. LPR is a reliable and contactless way to serve your customers and capture revenue.
Hands-free permits: Precise ParkLink lets you offer customers a hands-free entry and exit option when they reserve or park in your facility on a regular basis. Hands-free permits can be paired with long- or short-range readers, and consist of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), HID, AVI, or mobile permits. Click or tap here to explore this option for monthly permits, prepaid permits, and parking reservations.
Social Distancing Signage Package:Precise ParkLink’s comprehensive package includes a variety of clear safety and instructional signage that protects the wellbeing of your visitors – and mitigates potential liabilities from taking place on your property.Effective communication for your new protocols -- throughout your facility -- is an important consideration. Read more about this here.
Digital marketing services: Did you know 87 percent of the search for parking begins online? And so now is the time to move online and maximize your visibility on Google Search. Reduce the need for in-person interactions by ensuring all parking information – including new protocols, hours of operation, rates, and touchless payment options, and so on – are all communicated and readily available online. Speaking of online, this site has more on Precise ParkLink’s digital marketing services.
As you can see, Precise ParkLink is now offering a full suite of touchless solutions to transform your day-to-day parking interactions.
Marc Saltzman
Technology Journalist