C-IQ: What is the British Parking Association (BPA) doing about contactless?

MR: The BPA is very keen to make sure that contactless is introduced as soon as possible in the parking sector. We think it has many benefits, particularly as it removes the need to have equipment that accepts cash, both for on- and off-street parking. We also believe customers will be happier to part with their money when there’s a cashless operation.

We’re encouraging manufacturers, local authorities and operators to actually look at the possibility of introducing contactless in their operations. I chair a group of companies that are all involved with manufacturing equipment for pay and display, pay on foot, mobile parking and so on. We are looking at how we can adopt current parking technologies to deliver a much better level of service to customers.

C-IQ: Do you think this is something that will move relatively quickly?

MR: I think it will be governed by the cost of implementing the hardware; where Chip and PIN has already been installed, we are looking at very small incremental costs to introduce contactless technology.

Where it is not in place, we believe we will have to wait until all the hardware has been replaced – whenever that happens to be – before contactless is implemented.

C-IQ: We have contactless in London and they’re introducing it in Scotland as well. Do you think it will be introduced in all parking lots across the whole of the UK or do you see certain areas adopting it first?

MR: I think that in certain car parks where the tariffs are still extremely low – in provincial car parks it’s not uncommon to have tariffs of 30 or 40 pence an hour – it will be difficult to justify installing Chip and PIN and adopting contactless. The tariffs will have to increase significantly for that to happen. But in the major cities, I think there is a total justification for adoption; it’s just a question of when the local authorities and operators will be able to invest in and introduce the technology.

I think it will be market led; people will be asking: ‘Why can I pay with my contactless card in that car lot but not in yours?’ It will be part of the knock-on effect: once one or two car lots in a town center introduce it, it will quickly spread out to the rest in the area.

C-IQ: You talk about the fact that it’s almost a viral effect – people start using it, they talk about it, they want to use it in more places. Do you think retailers could also be part of this? For example, in London, people will buy a coffee or newspaper with a contactless card and then want to use it to pay for parking as well?

MR: Yes, absolutely. I have been using my contactless card now for the past few months, so I’m now a real advocate. I can see the benefits for myself – the speed of the transaction and no danger of anyone seeing my PIN, which is a great bonus. The latter is one of the things I’m telling all my clients about. People don’t always want to use their PIN because the readers are often very close to each other and can be seen by others.

Contactless reduces that risk. So I think that key benefit means there is a great opportunity to introduce contactless. It’s a question of timing. I’ve got a number of projects where contactless is waiting to be implemented and we’re just waiting for readers to be made available and incorporated into the machines. The machines are already Chip and PIN- enabled, we simply need the proximity reader to be incorporated as soon as it’s available.

C-IQ: So it’s good news in the parking arena: contactless is going to happen soon. You’re not only thinking about it, you’re actually working on projects; you’re moving forward. So the message for the contactless industry from you and your members is a positive one?

MR: Yes, it certainly is. I think the success of contactless all hinges on the rollout of the cards – it’s the key as far as we’re concerned. I would like to be in a situation where all the major card schemes are involved in rolling out cards in bigger volumes. I think that in itself this will gain the necessary momentum, as well as attracting retailers to the scheme.

And the other thing, of course, is that many of my clients want to cut the costs associated with credit card transactions, and obviously they’re looking at proximity as one way of achieving this.

Go to article:
1 |  2 |  3 |  4 |  5 |  6 |  7 |  8 |  9 |  10 |  11 |  12 |  13 |  14 |  15 |