ČPA international conference

From 18 to 20 April, we once again took part in the international conference of the Czech Parking Association (Česká parkovací asociace, ČPA) at the Hotel Luna in Kouty. 
This year's gathering was exceptional, and not only because it was a jubilee – the 10th in the series. Together with our business partner SAYTECH, we took 2nd place in the Car Park of the Year competition, specifically with the Benešov – Pod Brankou car park project. There we installed our CAT Ingenico unattended set and the Self/2000 unattended payment terminal on the car park's exit column and pay station.

The jubilee was also reflected in the programme of the whole event.
The opening took place close to the dam of the Švihov reservoir, which supplies drinking water to 1.5 million inhabitants of Prague and the Central Bohemian Region. 
During the conference, commemorative plaques were presented to colleagues from the Slovak Parking Association, who deserve invaluable credit for the founding of the ČPA. 
Another interesting topic was an explanation of why multi-storey car parks are so little used, even in places where on-street parking capacity is overstretched. Simply building a multi-storey car park is not enough; its benefits have to be promoted properly to convince drivers to park in a shared garage rather than on the street. 
The agenda also covered the introduction of residents' parking schemes in large Czech cities and other technological innovations in the field of parking systems. 

This year we also learned how vehicle parking works in Japan. Did you know that before you buy a car in Japan, you must have a parking space secured? At least that explains why so many Japanese people prefer to cycle.
The attendance of MUDr. Zdeněk Hřib, Deputy Mayor of the City of Prague, was also a pleasant surprise. 
You can read more about the conference on the official ČPA website. 

We also like to use this conference as a regular opportunity to meet our existing business partners from the fields of parking systems and e-mobility. Together we learn about the latest news and trends in modern parking system technologies, so that we can respond to them in good time with our new payment solutions. For more information about our payment technologies, see the section Parking systems.