As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes on the 14th of October, 2020, three years ago, Karlo Starcevic and his team in Zagreb presented the innovative WePark application – a smart digital solution designed to deal with the chronic lack of parking spaces in urban areas – which finds a free space for the driver and immediately reserves it, while the driver navigates their way to the location.
Since back in 2017, WePark’s smart parking has added options for parking users and owners and developed a completely new application, background system, administrative interface, additional hardware for car parks and the ability to raise ramps from any remote location.
“We’re striving for a larger number of users and parking locations,” WePark’s director told Poslovni dnevnik.
The current version of the WePark application is expanded and more stable, allowing for the purchase of parking vouchers and monthly tickets via a bank card in the application itself, entry to the car park by recognising the vehicle registration number without using the application, the digital grouping of users at each parking location and control of individual parking barriers.
In addition, for car park owners, WePark now offers the installation of parking equipment completely independent of the availability of electrical connection, since, says Starcevic, the plant runs exclusively on solar energy.
The company has more than 1000 registered users, and in the system they have more than 100 parking spaces at six locations across Zagreb, of which five are open car parks and one is located in a garage. The most frequent locations are those near large office buildings, hospitals and other public institutions, such as Prisavlje, Heinzlova and Ilica.
”Our car parks are marked with a blue WePark sign, and in certain locations, individual parking spaces are marked with smaller WePark signs. Users have the ability to navigate to the car park through our application. At the moment, we offer several options for purchasing parking tickets and there are several different types of tickets. Users can purchase monthly parking tickets or parking vouchers that have no time limit but function as mobile phone vouchers; you can use the service until you spend the amount the voucher is worth. Users can buy tickets through the application itself via a bank card or by payment to the company’s giro account, after which they’re issued the desired parking ticket. We’re currently working on implementing other ways of buying tickets, too,” WePark’s main man explained.
They also have competition – car parks that aren’t currently listed in the WePark system. “It’s great that our potential business partners are also competitive, and our system doesn’t exclude the use of other parking systems, but
“They’re offered various options in terms of installing various hardware options and accompanying software. All owners who are interested in our services can register their parking availability through our website without obligation and completely free of charge, so that we can contact them and answer all their questions,” explained the young director.
The WePark service prices haven’t risen; initially the parking reservation was free for the first half an hour, but according to the change of complete software and increased demand they had to scrap that. “Still, every new user can request and receive a free voucher in the equivalent of 10 kuna through our website, for the purpose of testing the service,” he pointed out.
At the moment, the company has three full-time employees and is also collaborating with several external partners.
“By the end of 2020, our goal is to open additional parking facilities in Zagreb, and in the first half of 2021 we intend to open parking facilities in several cities on the Adriatic coast and employ additional staff,” explained WePark’s boss. They also plan to enter the international market in the middle of next year, and the target countries are Slovenia, Austria and Germany.
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