Kiss & Fly - Park & Ride - Rail & Rest

From Amsterdam to Arnhem, and from Groningen to Maastricht, Dutch motorists are now able to leave their vehicles (and the hassle of road travel) at any Dutch Railway park-and-ride station. The service comes courtesy of Q-Park, who have implemented the scheme in a joint partnership with Dutch Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) and SKIDATA™ as the technical supplier of the parking system solution.

During the tender period, a handful of selected parking system providers were selected and offers thoroughly assessed to make sure the solution would meet Q-Park's high quality requirements. Another key factor was the ability of the system to accommodate future demands such as the acceptance of the contactless annual pass for frequent rail travellers.

All 29 park & ride facilities are interconnected on a virtual private network (VPN) platform. This allows motorists to make cashless payments at the car park and request assistance from the central Q-Park hotline over an integrated CCTV and intercom system. Upon arrival at the car park, instead of taking the usual paper ticket at the entrance gate, parking customers may use a pay card or customer pass to gain entry. There is a wide range of cards to choose from, as the system accepts anything from credit cards to electronic purse cards (Chipknip), to ISO mag stripe cards (NS business card and Mobility Mixx card), and, of course, the proximity cards issued by service provider Q-Park itself. As an added incentive, Dutch Railways rewards motorists who commute by train from and to the park-and-ride sites: when buying their rail ticket, users of the P&R service receive an extra parking discount ticket that is accepted by the SKIDATA™ parking system and effects a reduction of the parking fee. This service was implemented easily and cost-efficiently by interfacing the appropriate card readers into the parking system.


In all, it took only four months to install SKIDATA™ parking systems at 29 Dutch P&R sites currently offering convenient train commuting for motorists. And there are more to follow. Future plans also call for the introduction of a service brand to make P&R sites more easily recognisable. Creating a separate brand is expected to enhance the significance of this prestigious project for all involved. A substantial number of P&R facilities have already been networked, offering cashless payment for customers and central control for operator Q-Park.
The future lies in networked intelligence instead of isolated stand-alone solutions, as the joint project of Q-Park, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and SKIDATA.

Q-Park

Q-Park is Holland’s largest commercial parking provider, managing more than 300 parking facilities with over 100,000 parking spaces as proprietor, administrator, and operator. Q-Park specialises in all-inclusive parking services, with a focus on quality, service, convenience, and security. A string of European and international awards attests to the success of their strategy.