One of the most painful things about living in a city is trying to find a carpark at any time of day before work during the day or during the evening. Luckily, as smartphones and social media have become ubiquitous in the last decade, and data collection has begun seeping into our lives, finding a park is slowly becoming less of a hassle.
The ‘perfect’ spot
Finding a park is more than just a place to put your car. You need it to be close to wherever you’re going, it needs to be safe and it would also be great to be close to stores or food outlets if you’re in the city or the suburbs to hang out.
If you’ve never been to an area before, you can check on social media at some tags or location pins to find what’s in the area and use a parking app to get you closest to those restaurants and shops you want to visit. Gone are the days of aimlessly driving around a city or the suburbs looking for a park closest to your destination, just check a parking app or a city council’s car space social media account.
Take advantage of apps
A rather basic solution to finding a parking space in a major city is to download one of many park assistance apps and free park finders. These apps are often so well-developed that they even offer real-time statistics on whether parks are filled, how many spaces are left and where those empty spaces are.
There are a number of different parking assistance apps that have their own unique features and information, but the main point you’ll need to focus on is whether apps are city-specific or worldwide. A number of city councils and local government agencies have developed their own park assistance apps for their communities to make parking easier.
Parkhound, for example, owns and leases over 10,000 car parks through their phone application and also posts routine updates on their socials to let users know when and where free spaces are, and if there are new parks being built and where to find them.
Enterprise parking solutions
If you’re not looking for a one-off parking space and rather want to find a space to park for work and for the long-term, then enterprise parking solutions are a great option. The companies who own the spaces and lease them often have social media profiles or apps for you to interact with and allow you to pre-book a space in advance.
Companies like Parkhound let their users pay to access their own privately managed parking spaces so they don’t need to buy parking tickets or try to find a park again. This also means your park is secured and you won’t need to rush into the space to make sure you get it before someone else.
Government & Business Social media accounts
Councils, businesses and general users also often outline on their social media accounts where the best parking locations are, and when there are free spaces. Following these accounts from your smartphone will mean that you’ll be able to stay up to date on newly built parking structures or ground level car parks.
Online group profiles or group chats are also good ways to find a parking space in busy cities, as users will tell the group or their connected app that they are leaving or entering a park, like ParkTAG.
Image Source:
pixabay.com/en/parking-autos-vehicles-traffic-825371
parkhound.com.au