Peter Park: Barrier-Free Parking in the Lindenberg Passage

In February 2023, the city of Lindenberg im Allgäu put the digital parking system from the Munich company Peter Park System GmbH into operation in the underground car park of the Lindenberg Passagen on two levels with a total of 160 parking spaces.

“Digital parking means more flexibility, faster parking processes, and a simpler payment process. We rely on the digitization of parking spaces in our tourist-oriented community because the advantages are obvious - customer friendliness, efficiency, and sustainability. We want to offer visitors to the Lindenberg Passage a modern, comfortable, and visitor-friendly parking experience," reports Eric Ballerstedt, Mayor of the City of Lindenberg in the Allgäu.

The digital parking system is significantly more cost-efficient and less susceptible to operational failures than a barrier system, as there are no maintenance-intensive wearing parts such as defective barriers. The digital system from Peter Park is characterized by a pleasant parking experience for parkers, increased efficiency through the automation of processes, and increased profitability.

On the one hand, the elimination of barriers leads to the avoidance of traffic jams at peak times, on the other hand, free driving in and out without stopping contributes to the saving of CO2 emissions in Lindenberg's city center. The waiver of paper tickets not only prevents potential loss but also contributes to waste avoidance and paper savings.

Barrier-free parking – how it works and things worth knowing for this type of parking: When entering and exiting the underground car park, the vehicle's license plate number is read using a scanner, and the parking time is automatically determined. The payment machines offer various payment options from cash to cards, Apple, and Google Pay (NFC). Alternatively, payment via the Parkster parking app is also possible. The amount to be paid is limited to the length of time actually parked. Posted signs remind you not to forget to pay. There is no conventional paper or plastic ticket, which reduces costs and waste. Important note for all cash payers: Have change ready! Because the machine does not return change, it clearly points out during the payment process that you can interrupt to insert the exact amount or decide to pay by card.

Thanks to the centralized digital system control, the parking system in the underground car park is designed for mixed-use with different conditions for different customer groups, such as short-term parkers, long-term parkers, and tenants.

What data is collected? And is that allowed in Germany? An image of the vehicle license plate number and a text file with a time and date stamp to determine the parking time are recorded. There is expressly no video recording. No public ground is recorded either. The license plate is read in accordance with Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. b and f GDPR.

What happens with my data? Only the number plate is recorded upon entry. It is not clear who the vehicle owner is. Only in the case of a parking violation can only be determined by the car park operator via a query at the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the determination of the driver data, which is temporarily stored in Germany for this purpose. If there is no parking violation and the payment is made before leaving the underground car park, the data on entering and exiting will be automatically deleted.

“We chose Peter Park's parking system because we wanted a complete solution from a single source. The team stood by us as a trustworthy and competent partner in every phase of the project in order to implement the best possible individual system solution for us, which covers the individual needs of all user groups," explains Thomas Geiger, project manager from the city of Lindenberg im Allgäu.

“Digital parking is a step towards the future. The use of modern technology already enables us to make parking processes more efficient and therefore more customer-friendly and sustainable as part of modern life. As a leading service and system provider for barrier-free parking, we have already equipped more than 130 parking areas with our system. We are happy to support Lindenberg im Allgäu in providing visitors of the Lindenberg Passage with a seamless and pleasant parking experience,” explains Maximilian Schlereth, CEO of Peter Park System GmbH.

About Peter Park 

Peter Park is a digital parking system that eliminates the need for parking tickets, barriers, and parking discs. Peter Park System GmbH transforms parking lots into mobility hubs by providing parking lot operators and municipalities with automatic license plate recognition and cloud-based management software. The system from Munich was launched in 2019 and is already available in Germany and Austria.