As technology perpetually advances and progresses, there are still a few reluctant industries that either refuse to—or can’t find their way to—embrace and integrate modern tech into their existing models. As the world leader in parking technology, we took it as our personal challenge to turn the parking industry on its ear when we boldly presented our FlashParking Mobility Hub Operating System in early 2020. This revolutionary operating system is powering the transformation of parking assets into connected Mobility Hubs. We are ushering in the efficient, intelligent, and adaptable garages and surface lots of the future—don’t get left behind!
The FlashParking Mobility Hub is the forward-thinking catalyst changing the face of the parking industry. It elevates dormant and underperforming facilities into thriving community assets by connecting multiple modes of transportation. The advancement of technology and parking garages have finally converged, and the result is a Smart Parking revolution.
Asset owners and operators are now able to maximize their potential by discovering new and diversifying existing revenue streams from a single management platform. The meteoric rise of electric vehicles, ride-sharing services, and eScooters has transformed even the sleepiest of towns into urbanized hubs. The convergence of e-commerce and transportation is leading the parking industry down a new, unpaved path. FlashParking is your one-stop-shop to reinvent and rethink the very concept of what a parking asset can be.
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What Is a Mobility Hub?
Simply put, a Mobility Hub is a single point where various modes of mobility intersect. They can range from cars to eScooters to public transportation, or any combination thereof depending on the specific location and needs of the market. Not only might those needs change seasonally or daily—but hourly.
Parking asset owners who get on board with the radical mindset of adopting connected functionality to their systems will future-proof their businesses. These additional tools will create new efficiencies to bring parking lots and garages into the 21st century. FlashParking is transforming modern mobility forever.
How Does a Mobility Hub Work?
FlashOS, our cloud-based operating system, powers the entire suite of FlashParking solutions and offers mobile-first, real-time reports from our business intelligence engine. This data can inform and direct asset owners on critical decisions, enabling customers to build, grow, and manage connected services through FlashParking’s open-API platform and ecosystem of partners. As consumer demand for the latest mobility services grows, customers will be able to easily integrate new platforms, positioning their asset (the garage or lot) as the central hub and connector of today’s smart cities.
With the winning combination of technology, intelligence, and relationships, FlashParking is liberating parking operators from their legacy investments to emerge as leaders in the new field of Smart Parking and Mobility as a Service (Maas) through increased profitability and improved urban function.
“With the winning combination of technology, intelligence, and relationships, FlashParking is liberating parking operators from their legacy investments.”
What Is Mobility as a Service (Maas)?
Transportation as a whole is currently working its way through a complete transformation, with technology, products, and services disrupting the public’s expectations and daily routines. Commuters are demanding solutions that can effectively integrate and simplify the dizzying array of available options and improve their transportation experience.
As public and last-mile transportation play a growing, important, and complex role in today’s fast-paced urban lifestyles, these changes present new challenges to the consumer and asset owner alike. These same obstacles can also illuminate many new opportunities. Mobility as a Service is the intelligent integration of various forms of transportation into a single service, accessible on demand.
MaaS offers commuters added value through convenience, both physically and financially. Consumers can often locate and hire whatever services they might need at one central location, with one central payment gateway. MaaS allows asset owners to integrate an endless and ever-growing variety of transportation services into their existing locations. These can include public and chartered busses, eScooter rentals, taxi stands, and ride-sharing pickup and dropoff points. Successful MaaS operations exploit new business opportunities while accumulating valuable user data, which asset owners can then use to discover more opportunities and serve additional unmet demands in transportation.
Are MaaS and Hardware as a Service (HaaS) Different?
So, what is the difference between MaaS and HaaS? MaaS focuses on mobility itself (having one central, often virtual, touchpoint for multiple transportation services), whereas HaaS focuses on the value and use of specific hardware (such as parking gates and ticketing systems) as a monthly service (instead of an upfront capital expenditure) to enhance your existing asset.
Utilizing HaaS, which comes packaged together with FlashOS, our cloud-based management system, asset owners and operators can fix, reset, adjust, and monitor hardware remotely. FlashOS is natively integrated into all of our HaaS offerings, which include parking kiosks in a variety of sizes, efficient gate technology, and optional cash machines.
FlashParking hardware, when combined with the benefits of our cloud-based revenue management system, allows for simple over-the-air updates and configurations as technology progresses. This groundbreaking duo seamlessly incorporates world-class business intelligence software with a lifetime equipment warranty, all for a low monthly payment.
The genius of the FlashParking ecosystem is the cloud-based marriage of MaaS and HaaS all on one platform. Together, they provide a holistic view and approach to maximizing every bit of potential income that your lot or garage has to offer. Your operations will not only become more efficient in the traditional parking configuration, but you will also be armed with new tools to expand growth-potential. Plus, asset owners will have immediate access to the newest and best in metro mobility concepts as they arise.
Good Enough Isn’t Good Enough
Imagine if the antiquated computers of the ‘50s and ‘60s were deemed “good enough” and innovators didn’t push forward in expanding their capabilities and performance. You wouldn’t be reading this article, right now. The parking industry is infamously slow and resistant to adapting to change—but FlashParking is working to enable and encourage the evolution of your dated parking asset into the Mobility Hub of the future. Through the use of cloud-based technologies and clever integration of HaaS and MaaS, owners and operators can stay informed, active, and successfully function as pivotal members of today’s thriving metropolitan growth centers.
