Not every car park has painted lines and numbered bays. Lots next to shops and halls, grounds by sports venues, surfaced plots on the edge of town — the driver simply drives in and parks wherever there is room. With places like these in mind we have introduced the open car park mode in ParkApp. In this article we explain how it differs from an ordinary car park, how drivers see it and who it is a good solution for.
What is the open car park mode?
The open car park mode is a way of running a car park in which the spaces are neither marked out nor numbered. The driver is not given a specific bay number — they pay for parking in the car park and use any free space.
The owner still enters the number of spaces in the app. In the open car park mode it is not used to allocate bays, but to let drivers know before they arrive how much room is waiting for them.
The ParkApp team switches a car park over to the open car park mode.
How do drivers see a car park in the open car park mode?
Drivers can recognise an open car park straight from the map — such car parks have their own marker, different from car parks with numbered spaces. The car park’s details show a clear notice: “Parking lot with no designated or numbered spots!”.
Instead of a list of bays, the app shows an availability indicator:
- high spot availability,
- medium spot availability,
- low spot availability,
- no free spots.
In larger car parks — from 15 spaces upwards — drivers also see the exact number of free spaces.
Parking from now, without future reservations
In an open car park you can only park from now: the driver chooses how long to stay, pays and can take a free space straight away. An advance reservation needs a specific space assigned for a specific time, which is why it is available only in car parks with marked, numbered spaces — it is not available in car parks running in the open car park mode. If a driver sets a future start, the app will tell them that only parking from now is possible in this car park.
How are payments checked in an open car park?
A paid session is tied to the vehicle’s registration number, not to a space number. Checking therefore means checking whether a vehicle standing in the car park has parking paid for at that moment. It can be carried out by the owner of the car park, the people they appoint and by inspectors.
This suits an open car park well — it does not matter where the driver parked, only whether they paid for their stay.
Which sites is the open car park mode suited to?
The open car park mode is a good choice wherever marking out and numbering bays would be costly, impractical or simply unnecessary:
- lots at retail and service premises,
- grounds by halls, warehouses and sports venues,
- surfaced or gravel plots made available for parking,
- seasonal and occasional car parks, for example at events.
What are the benefits of the open car park mode for the owner?
1. No marking out or numbering of spaces
The car park can be opened to drivers without painting lines or numbering individual bays. All it takes is working out how many cars will fit.
2. Easy for the driver
The driver does not have to look for a particular number — they drive in, pay in the app and park in the first free space.
3. Reliable information on availability
The availability indicator lets drivers judge before they arrive whether there is a free space. Fewer disappointed customers means fewer complaints and a better reputation for the car park.
4. The same settlement as in an ordinary car park
An open car park uses the same mechanisms as every other car park in ParkApp: a price list set by the owner, payment in the app and automatic settlement.
