World Environment Day - This Startup Is Making Cities More Sustainable Through Innovative Parking!

Can parking really be used as a way to make a city more sustainable?

From the outset, it’d seem like an obvious no. How could parking be sustainable when driving and traffic emissions certainly do nothing to help the environment - there really is no debate on that!

However, one model is catching the eye of local councils, landowners and environmentalists – the re-use of idle building space for extra car parking; an issue that over-crowded cities have battled with increasingly as they continue to grow in population.

ParkBee is a technology start-up that has developed a simple model that ‘unlocks’ the under-used private car parks in congested cities for the benefit of public use. ParkBee’s simple model helps landlords generate large extra revenues by opening their car park spaces for the public at times it would usually sit empty. For the public, opening more areas that are available to park in means that drivers spend less time searching for parking (which reduces emissions) and for cities, this model helps lessen the need to build any new car parks.

Landlords are using ParkBee’s platform to make large profits on their sites, for example, since working with ParkBee in 2015, a site owner in Overtroom, Amsterdam, has made over €250,000 per year on just 30 parking spaces. By signing a site up with ParkBee, the property can also collect additional BREEAM rating points. There is no universally agreed definition of ‘sustainability’, however, BREEAM argues that sustainability is the use of an asset to its full potential, therefore this model has a positive effect on the property’s value.

Drivers are also benefitting from this model. Being able to park in a once under-utilised space means the costs of parking are dramatically lower than other local parking. For example, a ParkBee car park in the City of London offers 24 hours of parking for just £12, whereas other local car parks price at between £25 and £44 for the day.

So how does this positively affect the environment?

Put simply – by maximising a city’s under-utilised assets, we drastically reduce the need for construction. The example described above refers to parking, however, this model can be used in many different forms within the built environment.

So, to summarise, ParkBee's commitment to the environment is:

1. To help reduce the need for construction by unlocking under-utilised space for public use,

2. To help reduce a city's emissions by making parking easier and more accessible, meaning drivers won't need to drive around as long searching for parking, and

3. As a Trees for Cities corporate partner, ParkBee will fund the planting of a tree for every 10 cars that park with them!

For more info please see www.parkbee.com

Or email a.alexander@parkbee.com (UK Marketing Manager)


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About ParkBee

Most major cities have parking issues; it is usually difficult and unaffordable to find a decent parking spot. However, there are plenty of private car parks in great locations, sitting vacant for long periods of time, that are not accessible for public use. These include private office car parks, hotel car parks, shopping centres and private plots of land sitting in locations with high parking demand. These are the types of sites that could join the sharing economy, making parking better for the public, better for the environment as congestion is lowered, and also bringing the site owner a good extra income. ParkBee has developed smart technology that opens up these private car parks to the public, making the parking experience seamless and more affordable.