AppyWay has announced the launch of their innovative Smart City Parking scheme in the West Yorkshire town of Halifax in partnership with Calderdale Council.
The launch follows the successful implementation of the same scheme in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, earlier in 2019.
AppyWay’s Smart City Parking solution remains the first of its kind to integrate technical capabilities such as smart parking sensors and sensor-enabled payments across on and off-street parking spaces into a seamless mobile app experience for customers, whilst also providing powerful kerbside analytics for the local authority.
In addition to transforming the parking experience for motorists, the firm are now able to report that the scheme can help support the local economy, following the successful implementation earlier this year in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
Users, when comparing the AppyParking experience to using traditional pay and display machines report they find it more convenient, less stressful and end up staying in town longer as they didn’t worry about their ticket expiring.
Dan Hubert, Founder and CEO of AppyWay, “We’re incredibly excited for our service to go live in Halifax and look forward to seeing local residents, businesses and visitors adopt the app. We know that by alleviating the uncertainty of parking and making the whole experience as pain-free as possible, we can help breathe life into local economies as they struggle to compete with the rise of online shopping. Our survey results from Harrogate demonstrate that if you can show people where they can park with real-time availability, make payments more convenient and less stressful then people are likely to stay for longer. We’re committed to delivering tangible benefits like this for our local authority partners and we look forward to the feedback in Halifax and to launching our next location, Portsmouth, later this year.”
For motorists parking in Halifax, AppyParking helps reduce unnecessary miles driven around town looking for parking, by providing live parking availability in the app – a key feature of installing parking sensors in each bay. The firm argue that less time and fuel spent looking for parking naturally contributes to a reduction in associated congestion and vehicle emissions.
Once parked, paying for parking is also simplified. Not only does the launch represent the first time bank card payments have been made available in Halifax, users of the app also benefit from the option of One Click Parking, a concept created by AppyWay with the support of payments technology company Visa.
The app seamlessly pairs the user’s mobile device with the sensor under their vehicle via Bluetooth, enabling them to start a pay-as-you-go parking session that automatically ends when they drive away. This means that following the minimum ticket duration (which is either half an hour or an hour depending on location) users enjoy pay-per-minute rates, helping them avoid paying for time they don’t use, which is typical when having to decide how long they need to park at the start of their stay with pay and display.
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Services and Communities, Cllr Susan Press, adds, “We know from listening to residents that they would like more flexibility when it comes to parking. By utilising this new technology we can allow drivers to plan ahead and easily see which areas of Halifax are busy for parking and where has available spaces."
“People will also have the option to pay through the app, saving the need to find the correct change or worry about over-staying the time on their ticket – allowing visitors to explore Halifax at their leisure.”
