APCOA News

Ready for the best ride ever to an APCOA Parking?

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The holidays are always a great time to take a drive and get lost in the beauty of Christmas trees, lights and presents, right? Get ready for the best ride ever to an APCOA Parking near you!

We're here to make sure parking is at its best during the festive season so you can have maximum festive fun. Let's toast to great spots and lots of parking fun! Happy holidays from the APCOA Belgium team. 

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Keep your car ice-free with these 8 tips!

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Keeping your car windows ice-free is obligatory in Belgium. With these 8 useful tips you can prevent the daily scraping of your car windows.

1. Cardboard

The most common tip to keep your car ice-free is to place a piece of cardboard under your windshield wipers of the front and back window.

2. Scraping

Make use of an ice scraper to remove the ice of the front and back window of your car. Removing the ice with your windshield wipers is not advised as it may damage your windshield wipers.

3. Defrost liquid

In most stores you can buy defrost liquid which is an efficient and easy way to remove the ice. In addition, this liquid also makes sure that the windows get frozen less quickly.

4. Keep your windows clean

Dirty car windows freeze more easily. That's why it's important to keep your windows clean to prevent your windows from freezing.

5. Prevent condensation

When car windows are frozen, there is also condensation inside the car. The condensation can be easily filtered with a sock filled with cat grind. Cat grind absorbs the moist air. 

6. Shampoo

After scraping the ice, a lot of times the windows on the inside of the car still have condensation. If this is the case you can clean the window with a bit of shampoo to prevent and remove the condensation.

7. Don't use your handbrake

During frosty weather it's possible that your handbrake will freeze. Because of this it is recommended that you park your car in transmission.

8. Ice-free parking

When a car is parked outside, it freezes easily. To prevent this you can park your car in an underground car park. Check your nearest underground car park here.

 

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APCOA PARKING Belgium goes for more sustainable parking in Brussels

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APCOA PARKING Belgium and Continental Car parks are joining forces to expand the UZ Brussels car park and to provide it with sustainable energy. For example, the expansion of P1 will provide an additional 400 parking spaces. 

By adding two extra floors to the existing parking it is possible to provide a considerable number of extra parking spaces. In addition, a bicycle parking will also be provided.

Green energy

Solar panels will be placed on the roof of the car park that will make it possible to almost function energy-neutral in the future. The existing façade will also be adjusted to match the new part. The entire building will therefore have a modern and sustainable look.

Parking growing continually

The expansion of P1 is already the third construction contract that Continental Car parks carries out for APCOA PARKING Belgium. The enormous growth already caused a shortage of parking spaces in 2008. Then the first layer of the parking was built. In 2015 the parking deck was further expanded with an extra floor.

With the future in mind and due to increasing growth, the third building contract will realize a doubling of the number of floors.

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APCOA PARKING Sweden obtains XPERT Parkering

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APCOA Sweden has acquired the Swedish parking operator XPERT Parkering. XPERT has over 40,000 parking spaces in the Skåne region in southern Sweden. 

The acquisition combines the strengths of both companies to provide a better customer service and to expand the position of APCOA as the leading European provider for parking and mobility services. 

In 2019, APCOA already acquired NCPS in Ireland and Onepark A/S in Denmark. With the acquisition of XPERT Parkering, APCOA wants to ensure future growth in Sweden. 

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APCOA PARKING and German Telekom enter into strategic cooperation.

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APCOA PARKING Group, Europe's largest parking operator and Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telecommunications company, have signed an agreement to jointly develop and launch an extensive range of parking services.

 

The aim of the cooperation is to offer customers of both companies the most complete parking solution possible, both in car parks and on parking places on the street.

The agreement includes the integration of the APCOA FLOW platform as a way to make contactless payments possible when entering and leaving the car parks managed by APCOA. In addition, there will be the option of offering additional parking spaces that were previously not accessible to the public in office or residential environments after office hours.

Deutsche Telekom uses the Park and Joy application as a parking solution. The app shows available parking spaces in both public and private parking area's and allows you to reserve a parking space and bay via smartphone. By combining these two innovative technologies, a comprehensive range of services will be created for parking on private sites and alongside the road in Germany.

In the context of this cooperation, drivers must receive a joint parking solution that consists of elements from both parties. This makes it possible for drivers to drive in and out contactlessly and to pay automatically (APCOA FLOW), but also to reserve a parking space and pay in public and private areas (Park and Joy). That's why contactless access to the parking and automatic payment of the APCOA FLOW app is integrated in the Park and Joy application.

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APCOA PARKING Norway wins Innovation Award at EPA

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APCOA PARKING Norway has won the European Parking Award for the rollout of an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) based parking management system which is connected to the APCOA FLOW app to facilitate the customer journey.

 

ANPR

APCOA FLOW provides the most complete parking app and loyalty program in the world. In April 2017, APCOA PARKING Norway started the largest rollout for ANPR based parking management systems in Europe. Since then the system has been implemented at 104 off-street car parks including 30 airports across Norway. The system was originally introduced to offer customers a more convenient parking experience but also to increase the revenue of the car parks.

Flawless Customer Journey

To make full use of the ANPR system, customers can download the APCOA FLOW app and register a user profile. Then the app can navigate the driver to the chosen APCOA car park. The customer can enter the car park without stopping at the barrier. Instead, the ANPR cameras will detect the license plate and a parking session will automatically start in the app. When leaving the car park the ANPR detects the license plate again and the parking session will stop. The user receives a notification and the payment happens automatically.

Apart from starting and stopping a parking session the app can also be used to look up information about past parking sessions. Thanks to the app two time-consuming parkings tasks disappear namely waiting at the payment terminal to pay the parking session and waiting at the entry barrier for your ticket.

Extensive payment methods

Payment isn't limited to the payment methods offered in the app itself. When using the ANPR system, the system detects your license plate and puts it on a whitelist. This way, you can also pay at the payment machine by entering the license plate number before leaving the car park. A period is granted in which you have to leave the car park. If the payment is forgotten you have the option to pay online within 48 hours after the session ended. An invoice is sent to ensure that the customer will not receive a parking fine.

EPA

The European Parking Award was established by the EPA as a biennial award for excellence in parking. The purpose of the award is to encourage parking operators to provide excellent services and parking structures throughout Europe.

This year was the 19th edition of the Congress in Malaga, Spain. An edition that APCOA will not forget anytime soon thanks to the first prize for the "Innovative Schemes in Parking" category.

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APCOA partners with Innogy to design Mobility Centres of the future

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Electric mobility has been gaining momentum in recent years, which has an impact on the requirements imposed on transport infrastructure in cities. For example, the charging network must be expanded to accommodate more electric cars.

 

Parking manager APCOA and Innogy will therefore jointly develop solutions to design mobility centers of the future. This means that both companies will focus on equipping car parks with charging infrastructure, enabling digital customer contact at all times and creating new services.

The first step for APCOA and Innogy will be to equip the APCOA car parks with charging infrastructure connected with digital systems to easily reserve and find charging points.

Innogy has been a market leader for more than 10 years in the electric mobility sector. During this period the company has installed more than 34.000 charging points all over Europe, USA and Canada. According to Innogy, car parks play a significant role in the expansion of the electric mobility sector and the public charging network. With intelligent energy management systems, a car park has the potential to become an energy center in the future.

With the project Innogy shows that the digitization of infrastructure and the expansion of electric mobility can improve the quality of people's life.

APCOA expects that the digitization in the future will create new business models which will be integrated in the car park of tomorrow. For example a car park will be the focal point for traffic and transport where in addition to car parking, there will also be delivery stations for packages as well as spaces for rental bicycles, scooters and electric shared cars.

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APCOA acquires NCPS in Ireland

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APCOA PARKING is excited to announce the acquisition of NCPS (Nationwide Controlled Parking Systems) in Ireland including subsidiaries PEA and parkbytext which completed on 8 August 2019.

 

Both companies see this acquisition as a real opportunity. This way APCOA can increase the strength of services to clients in Ireland by combining the knowledge, systems and operational practice. The focus will be to continue to provide the highest level of customer service.

NCPS manages 100.000 parking spaces on more than 1.100 locations which makes them together with APCOA, the biggest parking operator in Ireland.

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Survive the heat in your car with these 6 tips!

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A hot car is not only unpleasant but also life-threatening. With these 6 tips you can keep your car cool during the summer.

 

1. Do not immediately turn on the airconditioning

When you step in and immediately turn on the airconditioning, you spread the warm air. That's why it is best to first open the windows for 5 minutes before using the airconditioning.

 

2. Use sun protection foil

Your car heats up quicly from the direct rays of sunlight coming in through the windows. Therefore, the use of a sun protection foil will cause your car to heat up much slower.

 

3. Turn the blowers of the airconditioning system upwards

Because the cool air is blown up, it spreads much better throughout the car. This way, every passenger can enjoy the cool air.

 

4. Use a towel or blanket

Place a towel or blanket on leather seats to avoid burns.

 

5. Take enough water with you

With this warm weather you get dehydrated quickly. Therefore make sure that you always have water with you, even for short distances!

 

6. Covered car park

Use a coverd car park to prevent sun rays from entering your car and causing it to heat up.

 

 

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APCOA PARKING Danmark A/S acquires OnePark A/S

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APCOA PARKING in Denmark recently took over Onepark which was formerly know as 'Per Lyngbak Nielsen'. Onepark managed over 30,000 parking spaces in Denmark.

The fusion combines the strong characteristics of both companies. Thanks to the financial strength of the APCOA PARKING Group, this acquisition will provide an extension of possibilities for further investments and parking activities.

Both APCOA PARKING and OnePark see a great opportunity in this fusion, to significantly improve the service for both consumer and parking owners. This can only be done by combining the best knowledge, parking systems and experience in parking activities of both companies. 

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Women are better drivers than men

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Woman driving a car

An investigation by Ivox on behalf of Mercedes-Benz shows that women are better drivers than men. Women are more careful and more attentive behind the wheel which makes them better drivers.

Less accidents

The research shows that 35% of Belgian men have been involved at least twice in a car accident. This is only 19% for women. In addition, 28% of women would have never had a traffic accident. For men, it would be 21%.

One of the reasons for the accidents would be the lack of vigilance. For example, 37% of men admitted that they once fell asleep behind the wheel. For women the percentage is much lower: 18%.

Safety has priority

Notwithstanding, women still underestimate their driving skills and parking skills. For example, 39% admits that men can park better and 18% are even convinced that men can drive better in general.

 

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APCOA opens two new car parks in one week

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A historic moment because APCOA has opened two new car parks in Jette and Vilvoorde in the week of 16 April 2018.

Jette

The new underground car park is located under the Koningin Astridplein. The car park ensures that there are sufficient parking spaces (199) in the center of Jette. In addition, the square will be completely car-free and the "Mirror" square will thus become a quiet but especially multifunctional square.

Thanks to the rate per minute, the customer never pays too much. Moreover, the first quarter is completely free.

Vilvoorde

In Vilvoorde the new car park was built under the "Grote Markt". This car park has space for 192 cars. The opening was festively celebrated because the residents of Vilvoorde were relieved that this will make the parking chaos on the "Grote Markt" disappear.

 

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