The fight against climate change
With environmental issues high on the world's agenda, it is only natural that being green is at the forefront of conscientious car park Management Companies' minds.
At APCOA, we are actively addressing the environmental issue and while it is commonly acknowledged that driving is the preferred means of transport, the question is how best to address the impact on the environment caused by vehicles and parking facilities.
Use of low CO2 emission cars, car sharing, solar powered parking machines and energy efficient lighting systems are just some of the options being explored.
Within our shopping centre car parks, improved directional signage is now an important feature for reducing carbon emissions. Bay guidance systems are increasingly common and with clear lighting systems highlighting free bays, we can reduce congestion, wasted mileage and time spent searching for a space and pollution.
At Gatwick Airport we use an innovative 'block parking' system that allows 30% better usage of existing space. It means that the need to find or build extra parking spaces is eliminated.
At one of the car parks we manage called The Wave in Waterside Cardiff, we advised on installation of lighting that is sensor controlled - it senses when people are in the car park and goes in to a lower power use when it has not sensed movement for more than 20 minutes.
The majority of our company fleet of cars and vans are diesel and we are always investigating more fuel-efficient ways of travel for our staff.
We are saving on paper by introducing paperless payment systems including the Verrus and RingGo cashless payment systems which enable customers to pay for their parking over the telephone.