Intermobility – targeted development of new customer potential

How many times have we all read the phrase "The journey is its own reward"? Used at times superficially, at times sentimentally, but rarely used meaningfully. However, in relation to intermobility, this phrase acquires a completely new and deeper meaning.

43 million cars were registered in Germany alone in 2013, making the vehicle density 658 cars per 1000 inhabitants. An awe-inspiring figure! And almost every car owner needs a parking space at his own home, as well as one close to his place of work and yet more close to where he runs his day-to-day errands. After all, it's no use driving somewhere if there's nowhere to park. However, the trend in cities is for the number of available parking spaces to reduce rather than increase. So it's no wonder that the next generation of potential car owners is making use of a variety of different mobility options.

This so-called "intermobility" is becoming increasingly important. It represents the seamless interaction of the most diverse modes of transport, such as cycles, buses, trains, scooters, cars and car-sharing. The good news: there will continue to be a large parking market for owners of car parks – everything will stay as it is. It'll just be a bit different.

In future, increasingly different user groups with distinct expectations will use car parks. Customers who travel with high value bicycles (or motorised scooters) represent an ever larger user group. New services, such as the opening of car parks for new mobility concepts, such as electric charging stations for electric cars or bikes, and fixed car-sharing parking spaces are needed. On top of that, the smartphone is creating a radically altered culture of expectations. Simply tapping a touch screen should mean that you can deal with everything immediately, automatically and securely – even the pre-booking and payment of a parking space.

What do all these new trends mean? For us at DESIGNA it means turning our thoughts to this topic and considering which future technical developments are needed to create the conditions that will enable our customers to attract the new user groups to their own car parks in future. For this reason the development department at DESIGNA is taking a key role. This is the only way in which we will be able to offer our customers precisely the technical support and advice today that the market of tomorrow will demand. And ultimately give them a huge advantage over their competitors.

About DESIGNA

In 1951 DESIGNA became Germany's first producer and supplier of parking meters. DESIGNA's history of innovation continued. At the end of the seventies, the Kiel-based enterprise was able to to introduce its first fully automatic parking system. The company's programme has now been further developed to encompass fully comprehensive solutions, from the design and planning phase right through to the installation and service of fully automatic parking systems. The experience DESIGNA has acquired over the last 50 years continues to benefit customers at every stage of the project.