Corporate Parking Management Success Story 

 

How to fit a Swiss Industry Leader’s 1,000+ employees’ vehicles into 600 parking spots

 

Corporate Parking Issues

Parking pressure at large corporate campuses presents several challenges:
 

  1. Limited space
    Corporate campuses often have limited parking, resulting in overcrowding and competition for available spots. 
     
  2. Traffic congestion and parking shortages
    Insufficient parking can lead to increased traffic and parking pressure around the campus, making it difficult for employees to commute and disrupting nearby neighborhoods.
     
  3. Employee frustration and visitor experience
    Employees who arrive at work and cannot find a parking space are frustrated and stressed. This will affect their overall job satisfaction and productivity.

    Visitors, including customers and partners, who cannot find a parking space may develop a negative impression of the company.
     
  4. Security concerns
    Overcrowded car parks can lead to safety issues as it becomes more difficult to maintain a safe environment.
     
  5. Environmental impact
    Overcrowded parking lots can contribute to increased carbon emissions as employees circle in search of spots. This undermines sustainability efforts.

 

Expansion or densification of the existing parking area to alleviate the pressure is not always possible, and valet parking is often prohibitively expensive and, depending on the culture, not accepted. Encouraging alternative modes of transport and promoting remote work and home office help but do not solve the issue.

Effective, reliable, and accurate real-time parking management that enables dynamic response and allocation of parking is indispensable. 

 

 

The Need

Manage the parking pressure in a corporate campus parking lot 

  • Save employees’ and visitors’ time and hassle with real-time parking assistance
  • Dynamically allocate the parking to different user groups
  • Enforce due use and prevent long-term parking 
  • Optimal price-performance ratio by transforming existing security cameras into parking sensors
  • No disruption of the car park use during system installation

When merging two company locations at their headquarters, a Swiss industry leader turned to Parquery to solve the acute parking pressure. With the relocation of the additional employees to the headquarters campus, a total of more than 1,000 staff members, as well as visitors and external contractors, would suddenly have found themselves vying for just 600 parking spaces.

Although the management actively promotes the use of public transport, cycling and remote working, the number of parking spaces is insufficient. Expanding the parking facilities was not a viable solution. Therefore, the company needs to optimally manage the available space to accommodate the increased number of vehicles. 

Parquery's adaptable and efficient approach convincingly met the needs of this Swiss industry leader.
 

 

The Use Case

The corporate parking lot is used by employees, visitors, delivery companies, as well as external contractors, such as the facility management, cleaning and restaurant staff. Due to the shift work of the industry giant, there are several peaks in demand on the car park during the day. Consequently, both staff and visitors are constantly in need of quick access to the car park so as not to waste time navigating the sprawling car park.

In addition, a significant concern was the misuse as a long-term or holiday car park and exceeding of the maximum permitted parking time, which further aggravated the parking problem. 

Ground sensors were not a viable option due to their exorbitant cost and limited lifespan, costly installation and disruption of use due to necessary road works.

The corporation's head of security is responsible for overseeing parking operations. They dynamically allocate parking spaces based on daily requirements. During periods of low demand, they allow facility and restaurant staff to enter, while during peak periods they deny them access and advise certain employees to work remotely to alleviate parking pressure.
 

 

The Solution 

A cost-effective solution that gives real-time occupancy information, enforcement, and statistics with as few parking sensors as possible 

  • Harnessing existing security cameras for a rapid pilot study
  • Utilizing 4 cameras for a total of 700 parking spots, including cars and motorbikes 
  • Complying with strict security and privacy requirements
  • Flexibility during the Covid-19 pandemic

 

In the year 2020, Parquery swiftly implemented a 3-month pilot study by leveraging the security cameras already in place to monitor the parking lot. The proven solution seamlessly evolved into a permanent solution to the corporation’s parking challenges that has been in operation ever since.

The cameras are strategically mounted on buildings at heights ranging from 15 to 20 meters. This elevated vantage point provides a near-bird's-eye view of the parking area, allowing each camera to monitor up to 300 parking spaces. At the same time, privacy and data protection concerns are addressed, as the cameras do not capture identifiable details such as license plates nor faces.

Protect individuals' privacy 

 


 

Smart parking timeline: In a mere six months, the project transitioned from initiation to deployment for the pilot project. After the transformation and extension of the pilot into a permanent project, it was fully operational with an accuracy of 99 % within just one month of the first images arriving on Parquery’s cloud servers.

Since the pilot phase, the project has been expanded to include about 100 motorbike parking spaces, all monitored with the same cameras. Parquery's solution showcases its ease of expansion, versatility and adaptability.

Detect any object or vehicle

As security and data protection are top priorities for the client, our solution has been carefully tailored to meet the client's needs. This customisation includes the development of a new file transfer protocol for camera images that ensures compliance with strict security requirements.
 

Parquery's solution efficiently oversees approximately 600 car parking spaces and 100 motor bike parking spots with just four cameras. This camera alone monitors nearly 300 spots. Tapping into the existing power supply and network infrastructure, this implementation required minimal hardware and installation effort. In contrast, the cost, labor time, inconvenience, and logistical challenges of installing 700 ground sensors in a parking space that remains in constant use, are disproportionately high.

 

Check out the dashboard

 

The Impact

Efficient and effective parking management exceeding expectations

Parquery’s camera-based solution, coupled with the interactive dashboard and management tool, has “tremendously eased” and streamlined the security officer’s tasks. Furthermore, it facilitates dynamic space allocation for different user groups. The statistics and detailed analytics provided play a pivotal role in generating informative monthly reports.

 

Explore the dashboard Read about parking statistics

Saving everyone’s time 

Since the implementation of Parquery’s smart parking solution, the parking pressure at the headquarters has markedly diminished, leading to increased satisfaction among both employees and visitors.

 

Our employees save time and avoid frustration. When the parking is nearly full, we can promptly direct them to the empty spaces.
Head of Security

 

Straightforward enforcement of parking rules

Since the introduction of the Parquery module for parking enforcement in the dashboard, problems with long-term parkers, such as during holidays, have been effectively solved.

The head of security affirms:

There are no longer issues with overstaying vehicles, as they can be spotted straight away.
Head of Security

Check out the dashboard

Checking each car's parking duration and finding overstayers is easy with Parquery's dashboard. The enforcement module allows filtering both real-time and historical parked vehicles. 

Easy integration

Furthermore, the corporation intends to utilize the occupancy data for workplace management, security, and driver convenience. 

They plan to develop their own parking app that will allow employees to check parking occupancy from home and decide to work from the office or remotely. A booking system that allows parking reservations in advance is part of the idea.

Another option considered is the implementation of digital map displays and dynamic guidance panels on-site, assisting drivers navigate and park.

Integrating real-time data into an app, booking platform, guidance boards, or other software is seamless thanks to our robust Application Programming Interface (API)

Find out about the API

Real-time parking data

Thanks to Parquery’s smart parking solution, the security officer and their team have been able to optimize their operations. It enables them to allocate parking spaces in response to demand and guide drivers directly to a vacant spot while simultaneously overseeing security tasks.

This efficiency has resulted in substantial time savings in maintaining parking security and ensuring smooth traffic flow. The dashboard allows them to “have a very simple complete view of the parking spots,” and their occupancy status in real-time. 

 

Added benefits – facilitating flexible work policies

An unexpected advantage has been the ability to implement a more flexible work policy based on parking demands, both statistically and in real-time.

We've identified days when the parking lot is full and now encourage staff to work from home on those days.
Head of Security

In addition to real-time parking data and statistics, Parquery also offers forecasting and predictions based on historical data, calendar dates, and events. These insights further enhance the ease of scheduling and work planning.
 

The statistics clearly show the peak demands during the working week. Finding a free space in no time is not an issue anymore for the corporation’s employees and visitors. Parking management, planning, and allocation have become straightforward for the company.

 

Parquery is trusted by large corporations

Parquery is trusted by large corporations in Switzerland, the EU, and the US to solve their parking pressure. Ask for a live demo of our references. 

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Parquery is based in Zurich, Switzerland

Our main office is located in Geerenweg 2, CH-8048 Zurich, Switzerland

   parking [at] parquery.com
   +41 44 501 39 19 (8:30am - 5:30pm CET)

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