Cornwall Council switches to JustPark

County expects to save £140k by switching payment provider

James Morris (JustPark), Craig Taylor,(parking manager, Cornwall Council), Cllr Geoff Brown (Cornwall Council) and Gavin Manger (JustPark)

James Morris (JustPark), Craig Taylor,(parking manager, Cornwall Council), Cllr Geoff Brown (Cornwall Council) and Gavin Manger (JustPark)

Phone parking services at Cornwall Council car parks will be provided by JustPark. The council said that the switch to the new provider would save around £140,000, with the savings being reinvested into maintaining the county’s roads and car parks.

JustPark took over the running of the service in 131 Cornwall Council pay & display car parks from Monday 4 December. 

Current BemroseMobile Phone and Pay users will have until the end of December to register their details with the new provider or download the JustPark app. 

More than 250,000 customers have signed up to use a mobile or app pay-to-park service in council car parks over the last two years. Around half of the parking sessions in several car parks were purchased using a mobile phone and a debit or credit card during the summer.

Giving people options on how to pay for their parking has many benefits, said Cornwall Council portfolio holder for transport Cllr Geoff Brown.

“This is about giving our residents and visitors a range of options. While you can still pay cash if you choose, using a mobile service means users don’t need to worry about finding the right change for the machine. They also only pay for the time they use.

“It’s good for our town centres, as the parking time can be extended by using the mobile app or by text message – shoppers don’t need to race back to the car before the ticket runs out. 

“It’s also good news for taxpayers because it means the council spends less time and money on emptying and maintaining the ticket machines, which means more of our surplus from car parks can be spent on maintaining our roads and car parks.”

Brown said moving the service to the JustPark app will see drivers benefit from a range of new features. He said: “Using the app, you can locate a vacant space, when location services are enabled on your phone, and you have the option to receive free reminders via the parking app instead of paying for text message reminders. We appreciate this will mean residents have to make a change, but we think the benefits make it worthwhile.”

JustPark won the contract to deliver the service over the next two years with an option to renew after this period. 

Anthony Eskinazi, founder and CEO of JustPark, said: “Our goal is to provide a positive experience for every driver, and we’re looking forward to making parking easier for Cornwall’s many visitors and residents.”

To mark the launch of the new payment service, JustPark offered free morning coffee to people parking in six of Cornwall Council’s car parks during the first week of December. Wearing green branded sweatshirts, the JustPark team helped customers download the app and use the payment service for the first time.

JustPark raises £1.9m via crowdfunding

Parking app developer JustPark has launched a new round of crowdfunding, so far raising over £1.95m in exchange for 5.6% of its equity. The company’s campaign has attracted over 1,700 investors. The London-based company’s initial aim was to raise £1.5m for 4.44% of its equity, but the round is now overfunding.

This was not a general offer, as investors had to be registered with Crowdcube to participate. In 2015 JustPark used Crowdcube to raise a total of £3.5m for 14.94% of its equity.

Besides individual investors, companies participating in the new round of crowdfunding includes existing backers such as LocalGlobe and Index Ventures.

The JustPark pitch on Crowdcube said the company has achieved volumes of £1m per month and generated a gross profit margin of 93% in the last 12 months. It described the parking sector as a £50bn industry “ripe for disruption”.