Our social engagement
Q-Park endeavours to be part of local mobility policy as well as being involved in relevant community activities, such as supporting local charities.
Q-Park is in favour of fair parking tariffs that contribute to the quality of life in urban areas. It is in the interest of municipalities as well as Q-Park to tune parking tariffs for different facilities and distances, such as parking on the street or in car parks, and in the city centre or on the outskirts of the city. By engaging municipalities in dialogue on this matter, we want to use our expertise to make a contribution to the sustainability of cities. We seek collaboration with local authorities, so that regulated and paid parking become an integral part of urban mobility.
We are always nearby for motorists. We deploy our mobile teams in the city to ensure that customers who are in need of help get the assistance they need, and that our customers feel safe and welcome. Our Parking Hosts are proud of what they mean to our customers. They are welcoming and can make the difference for Q-Park. This also applies to our call centre employees, who are ready to answer questions and offer assistance to customers 24/7.
What we have achieved
We want to serve the communities in which we operate. Not just by providing parking services to assist mobility and make the urban area more liveable, we want our projects and contributions to benefit society as whole.
So it is particularly fitting that our projects in the 2017 EPA categories ‘innovative schemes in parking’ and ‘marketing & communication on parking’ were winners.
EPA Awards
In 2017 no less than five of the entries Q-Park submitted for the 2017 EPA Awards were shortlisted from the 28 projects from 13 different European countries of which the quality was very high.
The five Q-Park finalists shortlisted were:
- Category 1 – Tapiola Park, Espoo, Finland
- Category 2 – Queen Square, Liverpool, UK
- Category 4 – Cashless & Contactless payments
- Category 5 –
- Prevent Smash & Grab campaign, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Q-Park Blogs - a pragmatic knowledge sharing platform
We were pleased to have so many of our projects shortlisted, the most we have ever achieved. And we were delighted to hear during the award ceremony at the 18th EPA Congress held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, that two of our entries were winners in their categories:
- Prevent Smash & Grab
- Cashless & Contactless
You can read more about these and our other award winning parking facilities and projects in the showcases section of our website.
Customer Performance Index
For the first time, we surveyed multiple customer groups at the same time, in the countries where we operate. The results reveal a rich seam of information on what our customers expect from us, how they make their decisions to park or do business with Q-Park, what we are doing well and – just as important – what we can do better.
The survey was conducted in Q3 2017 and we started to process the results in November 2017. For the purposes of this report it is still too early to detail what actions we are/will be taking, but we can summarise the methodology, main conclusions and preliminary points for action.
Methodology
We surveyed a representative sample of our four main customer groups: short-term parkers, medium-term parkers, long-term parkers and public/private landlords. We asked customers to score us on indicators such as:
- Easy to contact customer service / Parking Host
- Quick and correct answers to questions
- Sense of safety and security
- It is easy to find a vacant parking space
- Smooth/satisfactory contract & negotiations phase
For season ticket or value card users and pre-bookers:
- The access device works well
- Usage of value cards or other products ordered
Main conclusions
Overall, Q-Park received positive scores on loyalty and added value. Customers consider Q-Park to be the best or one of the best in comparison to our competitors on quality, safety and brand image.
Questions which specifically related to parking facilities revealed that customers feel secure and safe, and experience Q-Park as well-lit with a good atmosphere and clear signage. We also received positive scores on the efficiency of our payment, access and exit systems.
The main area for improvement identified is our complaints handling process. In the coming year we will be focusing on achieving real changes in this area.
Spending for community activities
Q-Park's spending for community activities in local communities remained stable at EUR 403,429 compared to 2016.