Ah, I feel your pain. Unfortunately if they cars are street legal then they can park as many as they want. I feel like I’ve been irritated by the parking situation at most of the places I’ve lived in some form or another but the sad thing is that you can’t do much.

I used to live near a football stadium and there were no drives so it was only roadside parking and it would drive me absolutely mad when a game was on because fans would fill up our residential streets and just park right outside our houses. Ended up having to park streets away from the house and then when everyone would leave, would have to go and get the car and bring it back. To say it infuriated me is an understatement, everyone on the street hated it.

Where we live now has a drive that fits our cars on, so parking doesn’t affect us but I remember me, the bf and neighbours talking one day and saying that it felt like the street was absolute packed with cars and we had twigged that some of them were dodgy anyway but didn’t think anything more of it. It turned out that our street was being used to stash stolen cars blending them in with parked ones and when the police turned up one day and a recovery vehicle took them all away it was like it was empty in comparison. It was literally half the cars.. if not more.

long story short.. can’t do nothing unless it’s a dodgy car unfortunately but I understand the irritation.

They have been mixed. On one occasion I received a charge for not buying a ticket. I had bought one, but had thrown it away after I left the car park. Because I couldn’t prove I had paid, I had to pay the charge. I refuse to use that car park now.

The other was when I received a charge for apparently staying a shop’s car park overnight. They showed me a picture of me entering the park on a Friday evening at about 7:20 and leaving the following morning at 11:30.

I sent a letter telling them to look more carefully at their pictures and that they would see the car leaving about 15 minutes later the first evening and a second picture would show my car arriving the following morning.

I received a letter informing me that the charges had been cancelled.

You are able to park your car anywhere you can find. Whether or not you should and whether or not it is sensible, safe or legal is another matter.

If only it worked like that! The problem we have in the UK is that our houses were built at a time when most people didn't own cars so parking was never part of the plan — hence the reason we have lots of narrow streets with barely anywhere to park and this has to be considered before you move into a house basically as it would be impossible to facilitate it as a legal requirement when selling or buying a house because there is no space.

I've spent most of my adult life, living in cul-de-sacs — where parking is something neighbours have frequently fallen out about, particularly with regards to people who park outside of their parameters and make three point turns into ten point turns and if you can't reverse park confidently, it can mean having to park the car in the next street.

Modern houses (as in built in the last fifty years) usually have parking spaces allocated, check the paperwork.

It's a big contributor to neighbourly disputes in built up areas, that's for sure. Maybe speaking to your local council might throw up some solutions .

There is no ‘best’ parking app for London. You basically have to use whatever app is relevant to the area you’re in e.g. Chelsea, Westminster, Lewisham etc. to pay for parking.

The most common apps used by local councils in London are RingGo, PaybyPhone and ParkRight at the moment. When you sign up for the first time you will have to enter your credit card details along with your car make/ model. Prepare to spend up to 10 minutes doing this.

Just make sure you don’t used Residents bays or park on single or double yellow lines during the day. You are sure to get ticketed or worse, clamped. Not parking on reds or double reds goes without saying…

Car park reservation systems work and can be a game-changer for car park operators. I’ve seen car parks grow monthly revenue from €5k to €100k within a year by implementing online parking reservation systems.

I’ve also seen car park reservation systems which have failed to generate a single booking for car parks. So what is the secret to success with car park reservation systems?

There are two key factors but the game is changing.

i) Who uses your car park?

The performance of a car park reservation system in a busy shopping centre car park will be very different to a small car park beside a local theatre. Surprisingly reservations for the theatre will outperform the shopping centre every time.

It all comes down to consumer behaviour. Shopping centres have a massive amount of visitors each day. However, it’s a constant challenge to figure out who these customers will be before they arrive. The majority of shopping centre users are repeat visitors who follow irregular visiting patterns. Maybe they are popping in for the first time in 2 years to buy a new sofa. Maybe they have made a spur of the moment decision to head to the cinema or maybe they are meeting a friend for coffee. The important thing here, is that the motorists will take no significant action on a search engine or your website to indicate that they are going to visit the shopping centre. This makes it very hard to digitally connect with the driver before they arrive and let them know the benefits of reserving their parking space.

If you contrast this to the local theatre. The probably sell over 90% of tickets to their show online. This strong statement of intent online makes it very easy to profile the motorists and connect with them online through a variety of online channels. Conversions go through the roof.

Now this doesn’t mean that there is no value in having a car park reservation system in a shopping centre or similar style car park. Drivers who like to plan and motorists who are unfamiliar with your car park e.g. tourists will still use your system in large numbers if you get your digital marketing right.

ii) How is your car park designed?

Some car park designs are more suited to car park reservation system. The less friction, the more likelihood of repeat users.

Ideal case scenario, your car park is fitted with an internet enabled access control system meaning you can integrate with a car park reservation system to allow guests to enter and exit using their phone. Alternatively a camera access control system will can monitor guests who have spaces reserved.

Car parks without barrier systems which can integrate with reservation systems will find penetration to be slower, particularly among repeat users. A lot of motorists don’t like having to print off their booking and walk around the car park to find the parking attendant to get it validated. Although as mentioned above car parks with the correct user portfolio will still get away with this.

The good news is that the price of internet enabled systems are dropping all the time. You can now get a basic system installed for around €1,000, whereas even three years ago you were talking about €10,000+.

If you don’t have an access control system (barrier or gate). Introducing a car park reservation system can be very difficult to manage, especially if you don’t want to invest in sensors which can be costly. Although it is super easy to bring in an pay by app solution to appeal to digital natives.

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The growth in parking reservation systems has seen a lot of global parking companies invest heavily in building their own platforms to manage bookings. The broad uptake of these apps has been slow and in many cases is declining. The cost of developing a great app is in the millions and for the companies to invest sufficiently in building and maintaining a great app often doesn’t make commercial sense.

This is why we’re starting to see a steady growth in universal parking apps like Parkpnp in Europe, SpotHero & ParkWhiz in the USA. Ultimately consumers want one app which allows them to park anywhere. In the next few years as these apps reach tipping point it will dramatically change the way the world parks. As motorists become increasingly confident that there is one app they can use to park at work, in the shopping centre and at the theatre, this app will become their go to destination for parking. Ultimately reservation systems will replace cash as the biggest payment method.

The world of parking reservation systems is here and it’s only going to get bigger. Unless you have massive occupancy problems, I’d strongly recommend working with universal car parking reservation systems. There is no upfront cost and all they will do is drive extra cars to your car park.

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The really interesting thing is that parking reservation system are now being used outside of traditional commercial car parks to increase efficiency and occupancy.

Companies with more staff than spaces tend to have nightmares managing who gets a space and when. Services like ParkOffice are really disrupting this sector. Staff can now reserve space only when they need it, allowing companies to reduce real estate spend and automate the allocation of parking spaces.

You mean the advanced skill of car parking?

If so, then check this world record:

1. Parking enforcement companies such as Parking Eye do not send fines. They send invoices under the name of Penalty Charge Notice. A fine is a Fixed Penalty Notice. Similar, designed to confuse you, but not the same and definitely not a fine.
2. Parking enforcement companies have no credentials that allow them to obtain the particulars of the registered keeper of a vehicle from DVLA. No credentials are required. Anyone, even private citizens can write to DVLA, pay the fee and obtain the details of a registered keeper. The only requirement is to show good reason for the request, such as causing property damage with the vehicle, abandoning it in private property, being involved in an accident, or indeed, parking charge enforcement.
3. The DVLA will honour all such requests for keeper details unless it deems that the reason you provide does not trump privacy concerns. If you abuse the privilege, DVLA can blacklist you and refuse all future requests from you. I seem to remember this being done to several dodgy parking enforcement companies that engaged in shady business practices.

I hope this helps.

Car parking management is a system that is used to control parking lots. It tracks the number of cars that are parked in the parking lots. It can also increase the revenue of the parking lots by regulating the number of people who get into the parking lots.

I have used speedgatz for a couple of years. Their product is pretty good and user-friendly. it does help you in a lot of ways when you are looking for a parking lot. Some of their clients include health care, retail, apartment, office, and more. Their products are non-conventional and are at par with any parking system out there. Hope this helps!

This depends largely on when and where you want to park. If you live in Central London then finding a place to park at all is difficult. My brother lived in Crawley, a few miles outside of central London, and even though it was somewhat easier there it was a standing joke that if you found an empty parking space you should rush out and buy a car.

However, if you move into the more civilised and affordable parts of the country it then becomes easier. In city centres you will pay through the nose to park during the day, although this seems to be a worldwide problem. After business hours you can usually park for free, certainly on road. Car parks may still charge.

Get out of the busier cities into the smaller towns and parking is much easier, low cost or often free in car parks, with some local councils even offering free charging for electric cars. On the street parking is generally free, but subject to time restrictions, maybe an hour, two hours etc. You may have to display a disc clock showing what time you arrived. These are usually freely available from local shops, tourist information or the local library. Parking in residential areas is generally free.

Get out into open country and subject to obvious safety measures (lighting at night, not parking on a hill brow or blind bend etc or where local provisions otherwise prohibit parking) you can park without restriction indefinitely.

In case I have misinterpreted the question I’ll also add that cars in the UK are required to have forward and reverse gears, and rear view mirrors which make parking easy. Many these days have reverse parking sensors and many even have cameras. Parking is therefore very easy.

Parking garages generally have a bad reputation - particularly now that cars are seen as such an environmentally unfriendly way to travel, not to mention the fact that they are often unattractive utilitarian structures. To counteract this common perception, the website Stress Free Airport Parking has launched an award for the World's Coolest Car Park. Read on after the break to find out which 10 parking structures have been shortlisted for the top award.

1.)Millennium Point Car Park, Birmingham, UK

Designed by Birmingham City Council's in-house team, Millennium Point has blue acrylic panels which create a 'light cube' effect among its cubic facade.

2.)Michigan Theatre, Detroit, USA

This entry from the Motor City itself was originally, as the name suggests, a theatre. When it was closed, engineers feared that demolishing it would destabilize surrounding buildings, so converted it into a carpark - a bizarre cross of utilitarian structure, grandiose classicism and crumbling ruin.

3.)Veranda Car Park, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

The architect of the Veranda Car Park, Paul de Ruiter, consciously aimed to change the public's understanding of car parks, creating a building around a central void that provides a striking architectural image from inside and out.

4.)Charles Street, Sheffield, UK

Designed by Allies and Morrison and nicknamed "The Sheffield Cheese Grater" this building's angular facade, created by identical units oriented at a variety of angles, creates interesting light patterns on the inside of the building.

5.)1111 Lincoln Road, Miami, USA

With 1111 Lincoln Road, Herzog & de Meuron set out to create a structure which, whilst being honest about its primary function, was also a destination in the city - and succeeded with a design that is as popular as a function space as well as a place to park.

6.)Car Park Plaza, Cajnovas, Spain

This design by Teresa Sapey Architecture makes use of striking colors and graphics throughout to improve the experience of the parking garage. Each part of the graphic design is a reference to the local context, and the design is completed by a lighting scheme that aids navigation through the car park.

7.)Ballet Valet Parking Garage, Miami, USA

Above the street-level shopping, this building is entirely covered in vegetation to soften its appearance and reduce its visual impact on the Lower South Beach area of Miami.

8.)Cordova Parkade, Vancouver, Canada

Designed as part of the regeneration of downtown Vancouver, the Cordova Parkade incorporates pieces of old bridges into the design and pays homage to the historic fabric of Vancouver with its granite and steel facade.

9.)Parc des Celestins, Lyon, France

As an underground car park, the primary challenge for this design was to get light into the structure. To achieve this, a large light well sits at the center of the design, with a large rotating mirror which reflects light into the structure.

10.)Eureka Tower Car Park, Melbourne, Australia

This car park uses clever graphics throughout the building with directions painted in large lettering onto the walls and floors to aid circulation. These graphics make clever use of perspective so that the sign only becomes legible at the point when it is needed.

Well, Valet parking works in many places, such as malls.

Let me lay out what will NOT make it work...

The hassle factor needs to be very low.
You can't have a you must "reserve two hours in advance", except for airports.
You can't say that if you reserve at 11:00 and you are not there by 11:15 you lose the spot.

Besides dealing with the traffic and weather variables, clients and bosses who drag meetings out, many people have to deal with either small children (under age 5) or older adults.

There isn't much to be gained telling a 4 year old to "get your shoes, get dressed, and get in the car Now!". A similar problem shows up with some older people.

The payment options need to be easy - charge to cell phone number, or similar. You do not want any billing issues.

The use options also need to be easy. Many people will want to make their planing and reservations from their office or home computer, not just a smart phone. And they want to make the reservations on one system, use another system en route, and a third system to print out for expense reports and tax records.

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The people and companies who own parking garages are not dumb. They are going to want - and they will feel they deserve - a big slice of the money from this. After all, they have real space, a building, employees, liability insurance, etc.

Parking garages tend to fill up at many times of the day.

If the parking garage is going to sell you that space, they will want more money than they are charging now. That means a high enough rate, so the parking garage makes more money even if the space is used less with your reservation scheme.

Some people will pay money to eliminate uncertainty. That's a big part of your market.

Also, you want to get many of the spaces near the elevator, at a easy to get to floor.

Visit the Sutter - Stockton garage in San Francisco, and drive up to the top. Would you pay a little more for a lower floor ?

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Airport operations taxi regulation are often political. (all the lawyers and poli sci people reading this are saying, Well, duh ! Sun comes up in the East also.)

You will probably need some politically connected people locally to deal with each airport authority.

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You will need so sort of fall back plan, when your customer shows up a space 47 and finds -

1. There is a car in space 47
2. The SUV in space 46 overlaps 47, making it tough to get into, and then get out of the car.

Your fall back has to be a nearby space, not "we won't charge you"
They will need to be able call you, get a competent live person, and get directions to a new space inside of about 90 seconds.
(Incoming caller id to match cell phone to customer will help with this.)

If you contracted spaces are tied up...you have a problem.

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The people you should look at are the various other reservation systems, both in the U.S. and in other countries, like Open Table.

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Exit plan

One possible exit would be to sell out to ...

1. Open Table, Ticketmaster, or a similar company.
2. A major parking garage operator or group of operators
3. A consumer oriented company, like Amazon
4. A car rental company like Hertz...which also has large parking lots near airports, and existing shuttles.
5. One of the surviving internet car rental operations - there is a lot of synergy with being able to reserve a parking space AND a car...

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The Hertz/Avis/ whoever option would be slick - customer drives their car to Hertz lot, gets out with their bags. Hertz valet parks the car on their lot. Customer walks short distance to shuttle, gets to airport.
Customer arrives at destination airport, takes shuttle, picks up Hertz car...

Then reverse.

There are some slick use balancing things that Hertz will be able to do, but they will get some more revenue for pretty much the same capital and labor, and also have a way of "locking" customers into Hertz.

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Movies and shows have surge problem - the movie starts at 8:00pm

No one is showing up at 7:35 pm.
Two people show up at 7:40 pm
Fourteen people show up at 7:45
Six people show up at 7:50
Three people show up at 7:55

If you go the ArcLight theater in Hollywood, they have a giant parking garage and directed parking, and you can see this peak effect on Fridays and Saturday nights.
Showtimes - ArcLight Cinemas

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Synergy...

If the parking reservation is an "add-on" to a dinner, movie, or entertainment reservation, that makes things much easier, and probably allows you to charge a little bit more.

>>That little bit more can be the margin that lets you pay the parking garage more, and still make money.

You could also be the company that has their software work best with all the other reservation services... Open Table, Tickemaster, Zip Car, Hertz (especially with Hertz Number One Club), the Westfield Malls (chain of shopping malls), etc.

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The airport’s own website and car park, for the car park operated by the airport on the airport site, will provide the best car parking service.

Best is not cheapest.

That is, except the “Meet and Greet” at Stansted airport which is nothing of the sort; noone meets you, noone greets you, you just get to drop your keys into a deposit machine so that they can drive your car around as much as they like while you’re away and steal your spare change from the storage console. Always keep the keys to your car, especially at Stansted - park in the short stay, it’s faster than the laughable “Meet and greet”.