Finding an empty parking spot in the CBD is a stress-inducing nightmare we can all relate to. Driving around in circles, scanning for a gap between cars, or stalking people who are about to leave … we’ve all done it before. But Joshua Raphael hopes his app, Parket, will be the solution to end this all-too-familiar problem.
Joshua got inspiration for his app after witnessing this needle-in-a-haystack hunt for parking. He would watch drivers make their way up and down the packed streets of Cape Town while seeing empty indoor parkades standing unused, unbeknownst to the frustrated driver.
“I asked the question: If there is so much demand and supply right next to it, what can we do to bridge this divide and monetise assets for corporates and other organisations so that dormant assets can become a source of profit?” as shared by Business Insider.
Parket is that bridge; by simply going onto your phone, booking a parking spot and scanning a QR code when you get there, the struggle of finding parking in the Mother City could be a thing of the past. Parket has been “disrupting an industry that relies heavily on machines which are not only costly to look after but also outdated since 2019”.
Parket’s operations mean that users would enjoy the benefits of an entirely no-touch, cashless and ticketless system. But what makes it stand out even more is that AI could recognise license plates that allow users to register their vehicles, and drive through without having to even use their phones.
“After entering their number plate details into the app, all scepticism disappears when they pull up to a parkade and the boom immediately opens for them, and this amazes people,” explains Joshua.
Users might have come across similar technologies to access malls, with apps like Admyt and KaChing, but Parket takes this technology one step further. While some systems “manage access control and others manage the paperless hourly allocation of parking bays or a marketplace for vacant bays, Parket is the only platform that integrates all these functionalities into a single interface”.
And this means that Parket not only makes life easier for consumers, but also for landlords. The app solves many potential issues and discomforts for landlords, such as the stress of registering new vehicles, keeping cash on-site, dealing with vandalism of ticket machines, or even just the inconvenience of dealing with paperwork. More importantly, “they can help landlords fill up vacant parking bays in a day and age where it is increasingly becoming challenging to keep track of tenants working on flexitime”.
Landlords can easily log empty bays onto the Parket system and rent them out either per day or per hour. The software can also highlight which bays are under-utilised so landlords can monetise them.
Raphael adds: “The added ability to sell vacant bays on a demand-led basis has proven exceptionally popular because of the profit it generates from an otherwise stagnant asset.”
So if searching for parking spots in Cape Town is giving you more and more grey hairs, remember that Parket could be a quick and easy solution to all your woes.
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Picture: Unsplash