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Urban congestion caused by parking traffic

30%

The search for parking spaces alone accounts for an
unbelievable 30 percent of urban traffic pollution. Each
such search generates 1.3 kilograms of CO₂.

App your way to a parking space!

You're mine

You waste nine months of your life looking for somewhere to park, but that is about to change.

  • Reinventing urban transport doesn’t have to go as far as building flying taxis or send­ing people through futur­istic underground vacuum tubes. A smart app is sometimes all that’s required – one that finally puts an end to the tedious search for a parking space, for instance. That’s exactly where the new Park and Joy app comes in. First introduced in Hamburg back in October 2017, it enables motorists to quickly and reliably find and pay for parking spaces.

    That represents a big step forward – not only for you, but for the whole of mankind – because, believe it or not, there will be 30 percent less traffic on the roads once everyone is reserving parking spaces by app. According to the APCOA parking study, that’s the percentage of vehicles currently accounted for by people looking for somewhere to park. On average, Germans drive around for 10 minutes before finding a suitable space, and Italians for as much as 15 minutes. Assuming we look for a parking space once a day over a period of 60 years, we waste nearly nine months of our lives trying to find somewhere to park, driving the equivalent of almost three times around the world in the process and paying a whopping 30,000 euros in travel costs, even without taking account of inflation. The worst thing of all, though, is that we’re polluting the environment with nearly 29 metric tons of CO₂ – per person, that is. But all that’s set to end.

How would you like your
cellphone to guide you to
the nearest parking space?

  • How exactly does the whole thing work? Simply download the free Park and Joy app and let it navigate you to the nearest free parking space. The app also makes it easy for you to pay for parking and even extend your parking time from a nearby café. Park and Joy is now up and running in some 90 towns and cities. To let parking enforcement officers know you’re paying via Park and Joy, simply download the free Park and Joy parking vignette and display the printout in your windshield. The costs vary according to parking zone, but you’re charged for the exact parking time, so you never pay more than necessary – and you don’t need to walk to the parking meter, either.

This parking spot
is available

Smart cities have
cleaner air and
less traffic

  • This innovation delivers a significant boost to the quality of life in smart cities, because less traffic results in a big impro­ve­ment in air quality. Each time you use the app to park, you save 240 grams of CO₂ plus 231 milligrams of nitrogen dioxide. You also reduce the amount of traffic, unnecessary noise pollution, and the health problems caused by parti­cul­ates, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxid­es from car fumes – all without any elec­tric vehicles. Cycling would obviously be even better, but not quite as comfortable or convenient – and far more dangerous in winter when the roads are slippery.

The parking space of
the future is connected
to the internet

  • What’s the innovative technology behind the system? Many parking spaces in smart cities are quite literally connected to the internet. In Hamburg, for example, there are already over 11,000 spaces online. Special sensors are placed in the parking space for this purpose. Based on the latest NarrowBand  IOT mobile standard, they ensure extremely energy-efficient transmission of their current status – “I’m still free” – to your cellphone to give you a real-time overview of all the available parking spaces in the area. It goes without saying that all data exchange takes place via the highly secure Deutsche Telekom cloud. In locations where no physical sensors are installed, intelligent evaluation of motion data from other road users helps locate free parking spaces with astonishingly good accuracy – 78 percent and getting better all the time.
90

Park and Joy is available in about 90 cities already. Find out whether your home town is among them by downloading the App here and trying it out.

You save 240 grams of CO₂ each time you use the Park and Joy app to find a parking space. Help the climate and save valuable time with Park and Joy.

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