Last Updated: 2nd August 2024 How has parking become more accessible? Car parks should have a range of different spaces. Your visitors all have different needs when it comes to where they park. Some simply need a place to leave a vehicle, others need extra space to help them get their children in and out of a car, and others need space and a parking location that makes life easier due to disability. This means that not all parking spaces are created equal. Some need to be different and tailor-made to help visitors. But the right spaces are only part of the equation, there’s a lot that can make your car park more accessible. Explore more Inclusive design There are elements of car park management that make a site more accessible, not only improving how people interact with a site but protecting those elements to ensure that the people who need them most can get the maximum benefit from them. These include: Wider designated parking spaces Signage that’s easier to read Accessible routes from parking spaces to entrances Easier to use payment kiosks Government guidelines recommend that 6% of spaces on a car park should be designated as bays to support visitors with disabilities. Other supporting elements, such as the signage and kiosks for payments, are available across the entirety of a car park. Think of the different ways people can interact with a site as tools. You need the right ones for specific tasks, and the more tools that are available, the more people can use a car park properly. Using a car park should not be made difficult for any user. Touchscreen kiosks, mobile payments, online portals, permits and parking apps all make managing a visitor’s stay much more convenient. What are accessible spaces? Accessible spaces are places on car parks that accommodate people with different user requirements. These often mean spaces that are wider, located nearer entrances or other services. Parent & child spaces and EV charging stations often get the same treatment, helping to increase safety and convenience for drivers travelling with small children or needing the extra room to plug in their car to top up its battery. The issue with a car park comes from those spaces being in locations that are technically convenient for everyone. This is why there’s such a problem with people misusing the priority spaces on a car park. From someone parking in a Blue Badge bay to quickly run into a shop, to motorists without children taking up a parent & child bay, or a non-EV driver using an EV charging space. This is why they are so frequently misused. Countless motorists will have said or thought ‘I’ll only be two minutes’ or ‘I’m just nipping to a cash point’ and parked with no other care in mind. This is the problem, that’s not what those spaces are for, and blocking them creates larger problems across an entire car park. People adopting more of a “park anywhere” attitude is a major contributor in the 80% of priority spaces on car parks that are misused. When you factor in the limited amount of those spaces on any car park, even a small amount of abuse creates delays, congestion, and complaints. Sites become congested with people circling the car park trying to find somewhere to park and visitors get frustrated at not being able to park where they need to. This becomes an issue for businesses as staff have to deal with complaints or even worse, watch revenue decrease as their customers go elsewhere with their perception of that brand damaged. How do car parks protect accessibility? Car parks have made major steps to become more accessible, but access to those services needs to be protected. Preventing space misuse is difficult. There’s a lack of physical presence as a deterrent, and staff often don’t have the time to hunt down every suspected vehicle owner and ask them to move. Bay Management adds ANPR to key areas on a car park, making it so drivers using priority spaces need to validate their parking or risk a parking charge. Adding a monitoring bollard to a site creates a clear visual deterrent too. One that makes drivers reconsider their behaviour and park elsewhere, keeping those spaces free for the people who need them most. Tailor your site to multiple user types Accessibility takes multiple forms as everyone has different requirements that need to be considered. This is why your car park needs to be flexible to accommodate as many accessibility needs as possible. This means providing: Clear signage Easy-to-use payment terminals such as touch screens Varied payment options to meet Ongoing support through FAQs, helplines and guides Providing clear communication and multiple options for interacting with your car park supports everyone, not just the users with different accessibility requirements. Not all disabilities are visible and sometimes just making a parking experience less anxious and stressful by ensuring people are aware of the rules and able to get where they need to is enough to support them. Helping you make more of your car park At Parkingeye, we understand the importance that those priority spaces have on customer experience, accessibility and how a business is perceived. Our Bay Management solution is a first-of-its-kind way of protecting those crucial areas of a car park, ensuring that the priority spaces that are intended to support the most vulnerable, or those with specific requirements, are protected. To learn more about our new Bay Management solution and how it could transform your parking, get in touch using the form. First name *Last name *Email *Telephone NumberCompany *Postcode *MessageBy submitting this form, you are confirming that you have read and accept the Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions and consent to your data being processed and used for the purpose of reviewing and responding to this enquiry.Keep me updated with information from Parkingeye relating to my enquiry.YesNo SubmitPlease do not fill in this field.
