Digitization, Innovation and Connectivity: the keywords of Pdays 2022, hosted on 22 and 23 June by the city of Florence. An event that, after three editions, continues to attract professionals, managers, stakeholders, public administrations and industry in the sector, gathered with the aim of creating a network, confronting each other and giving life to new ideas that can improve parking and mobility. in our country.
The Pdays 2022 told by the protagonists
We were there too at the Stazione Leopolda in the Tuscan capital, and we took the opportunity to chat with Fabio MosconiPresident of AIPARK and Director of Parking and Parking of ATM in Milan, Laurence A. BannermanPresident of EPA (European Parking Association) and Secretary General AiPark, e Giuliano CaldoGeneral Manager of EasyPark Italia.
And EasyPark opened our chat, explaining that no, EasyPark is not only the most popular application for the management and payment of parking on blue lines. In reality, the group supports cities, parking operators and companies into administer, plan and manage car parks and to implement rational parking policiesaimed at reducing traffic and pollution and making cities more liveable.
“Creating a digital parking ecosystem opens up an infinite number of possibilities: improves the parking experience of every driver and gives cities the opportunity to carry out thoughtful urban planning. Our mission is to make cities more liveable: to do this it is necessary to put the data into the system in an integrated way. With our tools we are able to do this and thus contribute to realizing a truly smarter mobility ”, explained Giuliano Caldo, General Manager of EasyPark Italia.
Giuliano Caldo, General Manager of EasyPark Italia
To testify it is the new feature dedicated to underground parking that use automatic license plate recognition technology. The EasyPark app now allows to verify the actual availability of free seats and to pay for parking with your smartphone. To take advantage of the service you just need to activate the appropriate option within the application. To date, however, there are only 15 compatible underground car parks that no, they are neither in Rome nor in Milan: “The reason why in Italy we are still behind is the lack of infrastructures capable of supporting such a service. Many buildings are still obsolete and not very digitized, although there have been clear improvements in recent years, so the barrier is more of a technological one ”.
Many others will be added to this new function. For example, in Europe it is already possible to use EasyPark to pay for electric charging. With us this option will probably come later, and no, it doesn’t surprise us. Basically, compared to other countries, we are also behind on the general use of smartphones for paying for parking: “In our country, the first obstacle you encounter is linked to a question of mentality”, explains Caldo. “In Italy, 20% of parking transactions are made via smartphone. In the rest of Europe, we are at 80%. However, the trend is positive, with annual growth of 50%, so we are confident that it is only a matter of time ”, commented Giuliano Caldo.
But what are the other obstacles towards a more advanced parking management system?
To answer is Fabio Mosconi, President of AIPARK and Director of Parking and Parking of ATM in Milan: “The great barrier is made up of two elements. One is made up of the rigidity of the legislation. […] While in Northern Europe the parking space that is loaded / unloaded at certain times, then becomes paid, then changes for residents is something that everyone does, in Italy it cannot be done because there is a regulation, the road, which is a great constraint. The second binding element is the issue of investments. Today there is this logic of the demonization of the car. But obviously the cars are there, we can’t hide them. There is a theme of transition and passage towards new forms of mobility but we have problems today. So the policy to follow should be that I put a goal at the bottom of the table but from here to the bottom of the table I get there with a series of steps and these steps must allow the transition of the parking facilities, which from car containers must pass to hubs. of services, where I find, for example, sharing, alternative modalities, car services, etc. To do these things it takes time, you have to believe in this goal. “
Fabio Mosconi, President of AIPARK and Director of Parking and Parking of ATM in Milan
The theme of the stop is certainly not a theme destined to disappear over time. Because it is true that the focus is on alternative mobility but it is also true that we will continue, at least in part, to use cars, albeit electric: “The electric theme is a theme that will accompany us from here to 2030-2035. And, unless you invent something specialthe car to be recharged will have to be parked so our facilities must adapt to this in order to achieve this goal”Explains Mosconi.
While the President of AIPARK shows us his vision on electric mobility and the future, we cannot help but think about what is current in the world of parking. In short, the Pdays 2022 show us what it will be but, alongside innovation and digitalization, we must take into account today’s problems of citizens. And no, they are not limited to just charging a brand new and ecological electric car.
We therefore take advantage of Mosconi’s presence, and of his role as Parking and Parking Director of ATM, to address a subject dear to all motorists: many. Especially because in Milan for some timethe traffic auxiliaries have stopped leaving the notice of assessmentan element that penalizes all those who travel with rental cars or elements belonging to the company fleet.
“There is no obligation, according to the highway code, to place any infringement assessment on the vehicle. […] The city of Milan has the parking meter, app, etc. in its payment methods. Today the balance that exists in the post-pandemic with respect to the payment methods for parking sees a division between those who pay at the parking meter and those who pay with the 50 and 50 apps. Of the 50% who pay at the parking meter, 60% pay with cards and 40% pay with money. It is clear that it is a peculiarity of Milan, and the rest of Italy is not like that, but obviously customer habits are changing in a logic of technological modernization that is not a piece of paper. To be completely paperless, the choice we made was that of create the Citizen’s File app which has now also introduced non-personally owned vehicles. And it allows you to do everything in real time. […] It is clear that there is always a slice [di utenti che non la usa o non riesce a usarla] but we cannot block an idea like this, tailored to the user. “
Laurence A. Bannerman, EPA President and AIPARK Secretary General
All this, however, concerns the stop on the street. But the silos?
“We in Italy have a crazy deficit of places in the structure because we have had policies for 30 years that said ‘Cars are lured into on-site parking lots’. All those cities that have parking facilities in the structure today are facilitated in the creation of alternative solutions. – explains Laurence A. Bannerman, President of EPA and Secretary General of AIPARK – Once I took a councilor to Barcelona. We went for a walk in the center of Barcelona and he looked at me and said ‘See? I’ve always told you! Don’t listen to me. You can have cities that are all pedestrianized ‘and I replied’ Yes, you are right but do you know what all this allows? Below are 150,000 parking spaces and more subway lines, more trams, more services. ‘ There is an infrastructure system that allows for something different. And this is what we have to do in Italy. We have to think about how we want our cities in 5-10 years. To do this, you cannot fail to use a tariff leverage but you need a plan. “
To conclude our chat at Pdays 2022 is Fabio Mosconi: “Stopping is a strategy. Parking should be used by public administrations not as a tool to smooth out the budget but as a tool to plan a mobility system. […] The effort must be made to work with the administrations. An effort must be made to make the administrations understand what is the opportunity that parking management can offer. “