Parqio puts idle parking garage space to sustainable use

In European cities, on-street parking is disappearing. Meanwhile, more people are staying at home, receiving doorstep deliveries and in-home services. So where are all the delivery drivers, tradespeople and home health nurses supposed to park?

“This is a huge problem. Urban landscapes are changing. To meet climate targets, cities are building solutions for emission-free transport and removing private parking options. This looks fantastic on paper, but we need to solve the access and parking problem for service providers. Car-sharing companies and other mobility solutions need to find space and easy access for their vehicles as well,” explains Høigaard.

Parqio’s smart city solution transforms private shared garages into mobility and service hubs. “Parqio makes the many unused private parking spaces in cities accessible for those who need them. Currently, up to 50 per cent of these spaces are unused on average. We help to put all of that space to good use,” says Høigaard.

For building residents and office workers, the Parqio App provides automatic gate opening for communal garages. All the users need is a smartphone. They can also use the app to share their parking space with visitors or rent it out to people they trust.

Garage owners use the Parqio Admin dashboard on their PC or smartphone to easily manage their garages. They can add and remove users, and add and order services for the garage.

“With our system, garage owners can generate revenue from the unused space. They can rent the space to car-sharing companies, provide fee-based storage and charging of electric bikes, and contract other services for garage users, such as parcel boxes and tire change in the garage. These are just some of the many possibilities,” says Høigaard.

Such services appeal to city dwellers seeking greater convenience in their everyday lives, while reducing the need to drive to a farther location to access such services. “Convenience is a huge motivating factor for humans. All these services are provided in a central location, close to home or work.”

By replacing remote controls with a digital garage key, Parqio reduces the use of microelectronics, while saving garage owners time and money on administration and allowing garage users to quickly enter the garage with only their smartphone.

“We don’t know the exact number of private shared parking garages in Europe. But statistics show that Norway has over 10 000 such garages, and Sweden has double this amount. Based on this, we can surmise that the whole of Europe has millions,” says Høigaard.

Parqio’s target customers are administrators and developers of residential housing and office buildings with communal parking.

Launched in January 2021, Parqio has acquired more than 60 locations and 5 000 users within one year. Two of its largest customers are OBOS, Norway’s largest housing developer, and the car-sharing company Otto Mobility. OBOS and the corporate venture investor Construct Venture invested in Parqio in January 2022.

The company seeks to expand first within the Nordic region.