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Ever since urbanization flooded vehicle ownerships, parking troubles have pestered drivers to the hilt. Especially office commuters, whose daily routine depends upon parking efficiency, are in no way satisfied by the current parking management systems. A survey conducted by IBM revealed that, on average, 29 percent of commuters waste 20 minutes during their parking hunt. Ten percent of them even said to have spent 40 minutes finding parking daily.

As these numbers rose hand-in-hand with drivers’ frustration, COVID-19’s outbreak put a halt to them temporarily. However, the end of lockdown restrictions calls for non-negotiable systemic and technological upgrades in office parking systems. And, the challenges put forth by the coronavirus pandemic might be the perfect catalyst for improvement in Office parking management.

Office Parking Woes Owing to Coronavirus Outbreak

The most heavily implemented activity among corporates this year is Work-From-Home, persuading staff to carry out office tasks from their dwellings. As workplaces began to open up again, office commuters erupted with commotion against the traditional parking system – the nastiest reason being unorganized spaces to park their vehicles. Amid such confusion, how can companies track who will be present at the office on what days? Even when that’s charted out, how to designate parking spaces for them?

Typically, parking is offered on a ranking basis, where entry-level employees and interns are left with the option of finding a spot for themselves. But WFH has presented an opportunity to reshuffle terms. While most employees are at their homes, there’s enough space for the remaining office-going workforce to breathe a sigh of relief. However, the question still lurks – how can organizations ensure that no one is devoid of a parking space?

If that wasn’t enough, coronavirus has led people to avoid external contacts, especially when those points are touched by everyone every day – like pressing a ticket button or paying parking fees. Most offices haven’t integrated contactless parking, either because of sheer lethargy or ignorance.

Also Read: People in the US Use Car Parking Spaces for Offices

Are There Competent Frameworks that Can solve Mismanaged Office Parking?

Yes, there are! As always, technology takes care of convenience-related troubles. Perceived as a luxurious item earlier, smart parking has today become essential – primarily because of post lockdown requirements. Let’s discuss how it handles parking afflictions.

1. Agile parking

Since all employees won’t be in the office simultaneously, assigning one parking bay to each employee is worthless. Contrary to regular parking, agile parking acts like a hot-desk, but for parking space. It enables companies to let multiple employees use the same parking space each day – resulting in optimum utilization of unoccupied vehicle spaces.

2. Zero-contact parking

Contactless parking isn’t an out-of-the-blue innovation. Zero-contact parking solutions can be observed across metropolises worldwide. They comprise Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology that recognizes license plates and facilitates smartphone-based solutions. Smartphone-compatible solutions like Get My Parking offer the user the flexibility to access and pay for their parking usage directly.

Office Parking Management: Future Outlook

Parking solutions like zero-touch parking and agile parking are likely to replace the physical-ticketing system in upcoming years. Forget about wasting your time roaming around driveways and squeezing sanitizers after touching pass-cards&tickets; when you can get charged simultaneously on entry and exit from the inside of your car. Apart from the experience factor, parking solutions encompass health and safety – virtues making them a necessity for tightly-knit workspaces.

It is no secret that newer and more efficient parking management systems are here to relish their users, at least until we’re free from the coronavirus-stricken world.