Payments insight: The UK’s parking preferences

Across Europe, parking is an industry worth more than €30.5 billion per year, employing over half a million people and providing around 41 million spaces. It’s in every sector, from retail and tourism to healthcare and education. In fact, it’s hard to think of an industry where parking isn’t involved – much like payments!

“External factors – yes, including COVID-19 – have accelerated change that had long been in discussion as traveller volumes change and vacant parking bays increase. The impact of the growth in home working, regulatory changes promoting ‘cleaner mobility’ through car-sharing or cycling, and competitive pressures such as flexible car hire, has prompted wide-spread changes in parking payment strategies and a move towards Smart Parking,” said Patrick Doherty, Head of Emerging Markets at Elavon Europe.

To help its customers to understand what their customers want, Elavon surveyed 1,129 UK adults online, aged between 16 and 75, about their payment preferences when it comes to parking:

• More than half (53 per cent) prefer to pay at a machine or barrier, whether paying by card or with cash
• 28 per cent prefer to use a smart device – this could be through an app, sending a text or by making a call to pay by card
• Almost a quarter (24 per cent) don’t pay for parking at all – we didn’t explore why, but reasons could include being too young to drive or having parking exemptions.

Paying by smart device

When it comes to paying using a smart device, the most popular method is a parking app, such as APCOA or NCP – 14 per cent said that it was their preferred way to pay.

One in ten (10 per cent) prefer using digital wallets, such as Apple Pay or PayPal, through smart phones or watches, while nine per cent prefer to scan a QR code to launch a payment app.

Payment by text (seven per cent) is almost twice as popular as making a call to pay by card (four per cent).

Read the full report from Elavon to find out more about these insights and how they may impact the future of the industry.

READ FULL REPORT