Plonk, a real-time parking app for user to find the right space

India: Finding parking in metro cities is nowadays a painful task. However, the growing technological advancement in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) can solve this issue. Plonk, a real-time parking application is launched by a Bangalore-based start-up to solve the parking issue in Bangalore.

Plonk has already mapped out close to 1,000 parking spots in Bangalore. Its key target areas are unconventional or unorthodox spaces such as individual houses, empty plots, churches, apartments, etc. along with the conventional parking spaces such as parking lots in malls, public parking lots, etc.

The start-up is onboarding people who want to offer their space for parking and in turn, these people can have monetary gains. The parking lot owner once verified, can decide the number of parking lots he/she wanted to offer, timings and the parking charges. Also, the owner has the freedom to design the parking plan in terms of prices and lot allotment. For instance, the price and lot spaces can be modified according to weekdays, weekends, etc.

Each parking lot is provided with exit and entry QR code which user scan to use the parking lot. The parking lot user can either pay through PayTM or Cash.

However, the startup usually recommends the price but the owner has the freedom to decide on the same.

The start-up takes its margin of 10 percent on the payments with the owner.

The mobile application is available for iOS and Android users.

As per the TechSci Research, parking is the key issue in India especially in metro cities like Bangalore and Delhi. The launch of these type of mobile applications which help the user to find the right space to park his or her vehicle can save their time and traffic congestion on the road.

A recently published report by TechSci Research, “Global Intelligent Transportation Systems Market By System (ATMS, ATPS, ATIS, etc.), By Application (Traffic Management, Electronic Toll Management, Parking Management, etc.) and Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2010-2020”, depicts the global ITS market is poised to grow at CAGR of over 10% during 2015 - 2020. Increasing vehicle density, need to reduce traffic congestion, parking challenges, and increasing investment by various governments is fueling the deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

The report discusses that Asia-Pacific especially the developing economies India and China, offers huge future growth opportunities for ITS deployments, and consequently, is expected to outperform the other region markets.