EnCarp: Online Carparking Pre-Booking of bays for Commercial and Ticketing Applications

Many Online Pre-booking systems for Carparking are available today. EnCarp differentiates itself by providing a system that books a bay for users as compared to an unknown space.

Carparking Bay booking offers a convenient way of Carparking and saves times for workplaces by eliminating un-necessary search for a suitable spot in a parking both when parking is scarce or even when it is abundant. At the least it saves parking time for the user and when price & proximity search is made, it finds the most cost efficient parking.

The system is useful in scenarios where time is precious for users. Some examples where pre-booking of Carparking bays makes a huge sense are:

- people visiting CBD or downtown for a short time when time is at premium

- Places with congestion levy in place

- Airports and train stations when parking need be done in a jiffy

- When certain specific spots are needed such as on lower floors or close to elevators

- When price and proximity is important

The software is Internet and Intranet based and is accessible on Internet Explorer (browser). It is light weight that enables it work even on slow networks or PDAs. It has easy to navigate pages including Carpark Displays. It comes with facility to send SMS and Email alerts when certain events happen. This easy to configure software can be deployed within no time or can be availed as a hosted solution.

How Does it work?

The software (called program hereinafter) is deployed on Internet or Intranet or hosted on Envision IT server, as may be convenient to customers. Users access the software through Internet Explorer on their desktop.

To book a spot, users visit the website on internet and enter:

• date and time of entry and exit

• Place of visit

• Distance within which parking need be found

• Price Range

Based on search criterion, the system displays a list of available bays with description such as:

• Parking Name

• Price

• Available Bays

The list can be sorted on any of the criterion.

Once a parking lot is chosen, this search can be supplemented with preferences such as:

• Level or Floor

• Close to - elevators, stairs, shops, exit etc.

The further refinement displays bays that the user can select and book.

To book a bay, user must be an account holder. If not, registration can be done for account now or existing account holders can login to book the bay with Credit Card details. The payment will be processed immediately. Upon cancellation of a booking, refund can be applied as per Parking Operator rules.

The Carparking Operator may offer the following Add On facilities to the user:

• Automated Entry and Exit through the use of License Plate Recognition or Smart Tag

• Sending promotional SMS when the user in proximity of the Carpark

Administrative Functions

Carparking Manager or its assignee can manage Administrative functions. These are defined as:

Start up Functions such as:

• Setting us the software

• Setting up Rates Table

• Hosting the Carpark Displays

• Hosting the Carpark Maps

• Loading Employee or Staff Lists

Day to Day functions:

• Monitor Carparking Use

• Allocate alternate Carparking bay to incoming user when someone overstays

• Send Marketing Information

• Manage Rates dynamically

• Change Bays status

• See Carpark Use

Reports

• List of Carparks, Users

• Utilisation of Carpark, GroupWise or individually

• Revenue generation

• Refunds processed

Add On Utilities

The Commercial Carparking operator may go on with the following enhancements::

• Real-time Display of Carpark Use - In very demanding situations, this sensor based system can provide real-time display of Carpark for easy management

• Automated entry / exit - can be achieved through various means ranging from License Plate Recognition (LPR) to RFID activated systems.

• SMS for Marketing

Product Benefit

• Easy to configure for all requirements

• Easy to implement in a variety of situations or be hosted by Envision IT

• High quality product backed by Envision IT Support

• Competitively priced with overall very low 'total cost of ownership"