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Two innovations shortlisted for EPA awards

Two of Q-Park’s innovative parking projects have been shortlisted for the prestigious EPA awards in Category 4: innovations. These projects demonstrate how innovative thinking and industry partnerships can change mobility.

Park Lane Mobility Hub

Q-Park UK has partnered with a range of mobility service providers to transform one of London's largest car parks into a sustainable mobility hub. All the services offered promote sustainable mobility in the city.

The Park Lane Mobility Hub is conveniently situated under London’s famous Hyde Park and is located in one of the largest car parks in the metropolitan area. It forms part of London’s sustainable mobility plan and sets the standard for sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs).

The underground car park is at the edge of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and is therefore the ideal location for all the services it houses. It is also within easy reach of Oxford Street, London’s busiest shopping street.

To create this sustainable mobility hub, Q-Park has teamed up with partners, each offering an environmentally-friendly mobility solution. Services offered include:

  • EV car hire

  • EV car sharing

  • Public EV charging points

  • DC charging hub for fleets with lounge facilities

  • Last-mile logistics solutions for delivery and collection

  • Bicycle parking for residents and commuters

  • BMW forecourt centre

Naturally, all these service providers can access the parking facility quickly and easily thanks to the innovative and proprietary Q-Park technology platform PaSS, Parking as a Smart Service.

Having such facilities and services in underground car parks contributes to improving the quality of the public space and to maintaining greenery in inner-city areas.

Read more about this project shortlisted for the EPA award here Park Lane Mobility Hub.

Digitised partnerships

Q-Park Belgium has digitised the customer journey from start to finish and implemented this nationally. We enable our partners to offer parking directly to their customers - easy - by means of an API or a URL.

The customer journey starts when the customer pre-books or uses an app to register their number plate and links it to a payment method. When the customer arrives at a Q-Park car park, the barrier equipment recognises the number plate (APNR) and opens without the need for a ticket. When the customer is ready to leave, they simply drive to the exit, the barrier equipment recognises the number plate (APNR) and charges the parking fee to the appropriate payment method and/or a fully integrated partner.

The customer has a QR code or PIN to open the pedestrian door.

PaSS makes parking quick and easy:

  • Online registration or pre-booking

  • No need to take a ticket

  • No need to go to the payment machine

Q-Park has made this functionality available to partners via an API or URL. Partners currently include:

  • API solution

    • KBC, one of Belgium’s leading bank-insurers. KBC focuses on providing all-in-one solutions for their customers and wanted to add parking to their mobility services such as bicycle hire and public transport offering.

    • Parking service providers such as ParkMobile, EasyPark, 4411, Skipr, ...

  • URL solution

    • Purpose partners who want to offer parking as part of their customer proposition.

    • Cities who want to have bespoke sustainable and integrated mobility offerings.

There are many benefits from digitising the parking journey for our partners’ customers, including:

  • Improving liveability: less traffic searching for a place to park as customers are more informed.

  • Enabling choices: customers can easily select alternative mobility options such as public transport, walking or cycling.

  • Contributing to the local economy: visitors who travel by car can easily reach urban amenities and feel welcome.

  • Improving public space: encouraging off-street parking behaviour means cities can open up the public space for people and greenery.

Read more about this project shortlisted for the EPA award here Parking as a Smart Service (PaSS).

About EPA

The European Parking Association (EPA) is the umbrella organisation for European parking associations. The national member associations represent the parking sector, consisting of private companies and public bodies that are operating and managing on- and off-street parking structures and services.