At Dublin Airport, since February 2005, a quiet revolution has swept the serried ranks of harassed holiday-makers and businesspeople, giving them peace of mind as well as improving business processes within QuickPark, which manages some 3,750 car spaces at the airport.

It has resulted in the world’s first web-to-mobile parking solution. “Business has increased tenfold since we began this service in February,” according to QuickPark manager John O’Sullivan. The devices are called PIN-park keypads and have built-in SIM cards that allow users to key-in their own unique parking code.

Every day up to 1,000 cars are parked at QuickPark’s car park at Dublin Airport and, according to general manager Anne Smith, it is not always possible to guarantee everyone who arrives a parking space. “If people book online they are guaranteed a parking space,” she explains, adding that already 40pc of people that park in the company’s car park do so online.

It removes cash from the system and enables the airport to analyse the traffic and movement of cars arriving at the airport at any particular time. The technology works by users entering their name and email address on the QuickPark website and registering their credit card details. A text message is then sent back to the user over the O2 network verifying the credit card details and the PIN code. When customers arrive at the airport they key in their PIN code at the PIN-park keypad on the way into the QuickPark car park.

The service allows travellers to pre-book their car space online at www.quickpark.ie by using their credit card and is cheaper at €5 a day compared to the standard charge of €8 at Dublin Airport. With a significant portion of coin-based revenue going missing every year, this solution allows vendors to streamline payments. We are moving inevitably in the direction of the cashless car park. This system allows parking operators to streamline their operational systems and process online payments in real-time. It removes the need for paper and coin systems through the use of machine-to-machine technology.

According to General Manager Anne Smith there are obvious security benefits: “Because it’s all electronic, we are seeing a reduction in the amount of cash we have to handle and therefore feel more secure. By next year we envisage web bookings to go from 40% of all bookings to 80% or 90%. Customers feel secure and are guaranteed a parking space.”