What is the National Parking Platform?
The National Parking Platform has been under development at the Department for Transport since 2019, with the help of partners in the parking sector and local government.
The National Parking Platform is a hub, connecting parking providers (organisations that allow people to park on their land in return for payment or subject to other conditions) with service providers (people who help users to arrange parking – such as parking apps).
Under the old market model, parking providers would sign contracts with individual service providers, most of which tied the parking provider to a single service provider for a fixed period. This meant that users trying to park would often be required to use a range of different apps to pay, depending on area or provider.
The NPP creates a system that sits between parking providers and service providers, so they can all connect to one another.
Operators will be able to:
- Describe the parking they offer (including rates, times, restrictions etc)
- Publicise occupancy in real time
- Accept payments and reservations from Service
- Providers without the need for a contract with each one
- Digitise compliance monitoring without the need for local digital infrastructure
Service Providers will be able to:
- Offer their customers the ability to park in any participating Operator’s facility
- Pay Operators for parking used by their Customers without the need for a contract with each one
- Negotiate rates and access with Operators for their Customers
- Reserve spaces in Operator’s facilities
- Develop value added services (e.g. guidance to space, frictionless parking) based on standard, available information.
What are the benefits?
Improved customer experience
- The NPP allows users to pay for parking via their preferred parking app (including integrated in-vehicle systems), rather than having to download different apps for different car parks when they arrive, thus eliminating the need for cash and reducing the risk of fraud.
- Competition between suppliers for customers – enables customers to choose the supplier that best meets their needs.
- Improved experience for people with specific requirements like blue badge holders
- Allows for diverse digital payment methods which suit different customers.
Easy implementation of advanced, digitised services
- Councils and Operators join a tried and tested process for enabling digital payments
- Information from all payment providers in one data stream for use by enforcement
- Councils (as data controllers) provided with a secure environment where they own and control the data.
- Payments from all payment providers aggregated into a single, auditable session payment schedule.
Reduced costs for Councils
- Reduced requirement for on-street payment equipment, improved customer experience, and more choice is proven to encourage greater use of cashless payment
- Removes the requirement for public procurement of digital payment providers which promotes innovation and resilience by giving more options to pay if one payment system fails.
Make Informed data led decisions
NPP will enable Councils to make informed strategic decisions on the implementation of policies to:
- Achieve sustainability goals (e.g. dynamic tariffs, emissions-based charging)
- Provide evidence to support tariff policies
- Support local businesses (through validation schemes, etc.)
- Improve traffic management (through better information on parking availability)
What has been done so far?
The NPP started real-world trials in late 2021. This took the underlying concepts and standards, and united them into a working technical system. Over 135,000 parking transactions per month are now handled through the pilot, using four existing apps. In 2023, government funded a system upgrade so that from 2024 it would be ready to operate across the UK.
How can my local authority join the NPP?
1. Joining Process:
- Step one short survey, that needs to be completed and returned before 31 March 2024, to avoid a £10,000 joining fee
- Step two Book an Intro session
2. Helpful web links with detailed information on joining and how the NPP works:
Contact:npp@dft.gov.uk
How can I find out more information?
For more information visit: npp.org.uk