City Pulse

Plonk: The app that helps you find parking spaces

February 21, 2016 By Team ICMYC

The idea of a readily available parking space is quite common in many cities across the globe. But back home in Bangalore, an available space to park is, increasingly, becoming a luxury. Exponential growth in traffic and low acceptance of carpooling, among other factors have contributed greatly to the lack of parking spaces. In a bid to curtail this persistent problem, two brothers have developed an app, Plonk that helps commuters to easily find parking spaces, thus enabling them to plan better.


Arjun Jairaj, Co-Founder, of the Bangalore-based start-up, says, “There was no single incident. Rather, the app was born out of shared experiences. My brother Balram and I studied in the United States. Balram lived in the outskirts of Boston and had a car to get himself around, and it was fairly easy for him to drive anywhere and find parking. Even in the heart of the city, he could find parking, but it came at a lofty price,”


However, on moving to India, the brother realized that readily available parking spaces are hard to come by. “When we both returned to India, we found ourselves unable to move around as freely.” In fact, the uncertainty of finding a parking space also starting influencing their plans for a night out. “Parking was a crutch that was preventing us from making the most of the social, commercial and cultural life that our city had to offer,” he adds, voicing an experience felt by many a Bangalorean today.


“There is a dearth of organized parking in Bangalore for public access. Large tech parks and office complexes have organized parking, but these are meant for a restricted audience. Malls have organized parking, but they are far from ubiquitous. As for traffic woes, IBM did a study a few years ago, and Bangalore ranked near the bottom in a list of global cities with regard to commuter and parking difficulties,” says Arjun.


“Around the time we started discussing this problem, we met John Seemon (Co-Founder) through a mutual friend. John brought with him years of IT experience and so we got together and Plonk was born,” he adds.


Currently, Plonk has more than 1,000 listings in its app and plans to expand further in the coming months.


How the app works:


Quite simply, the apps works as a discovery platform for parking spaces. “Once a person registers on the app, they see a map with all the nearby Plonk parking locations around their present location. Users can click on each location to see details of the lot and choose the one that best suits their needs. They can then choose to navigate to the location through google maps, and once there, can access and pay for parking through the app itself. The parking lot is accessed by scanning a QR code, after which a timer starts. Once done, the user scans another QR code on exit to stop the timer and generate the bill. At this time, a person can either finish the transaction through a cashless mobile wallet or pay by cash before leaving the facility,” explains Arjun.


He goes to add, “Anyone on the app can also become a parking space provider at any time by listing a vacant space that belongs to them. We take 48 hours to verify the listing, and once that is done, space may be listed and de-listed at the owner\'s discretion. This flexibility with timings and rate allow anyone to become a parking provider without any hassle.”


Challenges faced:


The development and implementation of Plonk had to go through a mandatory phase of fighting challenges. “We faced numerous challenges while developing the app. At the outset, we needed a system that required no investment, so as to allow anybody to participate, and at the same time, needed to be able to provide users with a reliable count of how many parking spaces were available to him/her. This is why we shunned the use of sensors and other hardware in favour of a simple QR code system,” he says.


He adds, “We also understood the operational challenges. Our initial testing revealed that many buildings in India had multiple tenants, and our app would have to allow for different tenants in the same building to list their spaces but also choose their own schedules for availability. Furthermore, we needed a system that would be easy for a security guard to follow. Our on-screen indicators for terminating a parking and billing are colour coded, making it easy for a person who may not be able to read or operate a smartphone to understand.”


Arjun also adds that the app is just one of the many things that can help. Citizen awareness and sensitivity go a long way in solving the problem of parking. “There are a number of things that citizens can do. On top of the list would be to stop parking on busy streets. We often see people violating traffic and parking rules because there is a lack of enforcement by the authorities, but it should be every citizen\'s responsibility to abide by these rules. This would greatly contribute to reducing the chaos. Not double parking, following lane discipline, obeying traffic signals etc,” he says.


“Plonk helps with one aspect of this, by allowing people to find alternatives to roadside parking. The long term benefit and success of Plonk will depend on the action of both, people with vacant spaces making them available, and end users using Plonk to find reliable parking around their destinations,” adds this changemaker.


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