Press release: “ParkJockey and PayByPhone Partnership”

>> PARKJOCKEY and PAYBYPHONE Partner to Help Drivers More Easily Locate, Reserve and Pay for Parking Using Their Smartphones

Partnership offers the industry a comprehensive set of digital services for off-street and on-street parking.

December 21, 2015 – Miami, FL and Vancouver, BC – PayByPhone, the world leader in mobile payments for parking has joined forces with parking location and reservations provider ParkJockey to deliver a comprehensive set of off-street and on-street parking services to parking authorities, parking operators and consumers.

Through the partnership, PayByPhone will integrate ParkJockey’s off street parking location and reservation services into its paybyphone mobile app. In turn, ParkJockey will integrate PayByPhone mobile payment services into the ParkJockey app. The partnership will initially focus on the US, Canada and the UK and will expand globally accordingly.

“Our goal is to provide consumers with a complete service that helps them find, reserve and pay for parking wherever their travels take them,” said PayByPhone President and CEO Kush Parikh. “Together with ParkJockey we’ll be able to offer consumers the ability to pay for parking using their mobile phone at additional locations as well as reserve a parking space in advance of their trip.”

Added Umut Tekin, co-founder and President of ParkJockey, “The exclusive ParkJockey-PayByPhone partnership forms the world’s largest parking marketplace, which brings on-street and off-street parking together. We look forward to scaling our integrated solution globally and bringing the parking industry to a similar level to that of the taxi/ride sharing industry in terms of 21^st century consumer experience.”

The two companies plan to introduce integrated services to their consumers in early 2016.

Experts estimate up to 30 percent of traffic in congested urban areas where street parking is in high demand results from drivers looking for parking. (1) A global survey of commuters in 20 international cities found that nearly 6 out of 10 drivers have abandoned their search for a parking space at least once and drivers often spend an average of nearly 20 minutes in pursuit of a coveted spot. (2) Furthermore, industry analysis has found drivers waste an average of 55 hours a year searching for parking costing them nearly $600M in wasted time and fuel. (3)

Cities Work Better When Parking Gets Smart
With over half of the world’s population living in our largest cities, transportation agencies are increasingly turning to intelligent parking solutions to better manage parking inventory and improve urban mobility. PayByPhone and ParkJockey provide cities with a scalable, cost-effective and immediate way to manage parking inventory as well as improve traffic in urban areas. Key benefits of PaybyPhone and ParkJockey’s services for parking authorities and local operators include:

Increase revenue: With the ability to get alerts and extend their time using a mobile app, PayByPhone’s mobile payment solution helps boost compliance which in turn boosts revenues through increased use of available inventory.

Improve and optimize capacity utilization: Adjust pricing based on demand to maximize use of available inventory and associated revenues.

Better operations & insights at a fraction of the cost. PayByPhone and ParkJockey offer cities, parking operators and building owners with an easier, faster and more cost effective way to manage parking. The two companies’ combined services enable parking providers to offer drivers with better services and greater convenience without having to install and maintain expensive smart meters or pay and display machines.

Better insight for urban planning. With a comprehensive understanding of parking inventory through payment transaction data, urban planners can gain insights that help them improve parking conditions and locations, and better locate special purpose lanes for bicycles and public transit on city streets.

Parking is considered the second largest source of revenue in most cities and expert estimates show deployment of smart parking technologies reduces traffic congestion while increasing compliance and revenue through better inventory utilization. (4)

ABOUT PAYBYPHONE

PayByPhone is one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies in the world processing more than four million parking, tolling, public transit, bike share and EV charging transactions a month in cities across Europe and North America. Through the company’s mobile web, smartphone and smartwatch applications, PayByPhone helps millions of consumers easily and securely pay for parking and other transportation services without the hassles of waiting in line, having to carry change or risking costly fines.

By helping transportation agencies and parking operators tap into the latest advancements in secure mobile payment, Big Data and location technologies, the company helps them reduce infrastructures costs while increasing revenue and compliance through the delivery of services integrated with consumers’ always on the go, mobile digital lifestyle. To learn more, visit us www.paybyphone.com or download our app for iOS, Android and Blackberry devices.

ABOUT PARKJOCKEY

ParkJockey is a rapidly growing technology start-up with a focus on helping drivers get the best parking spaces in the off-street market via reservations or on-the-spot payments. With over 100,000 parking spaces under management, ParkJockey is currently operating in Miami, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and all major cities in the UK. To learn more, visit www.parkjockey.com or download ParkJockey app for your iOS and Android device.

# # #

(1)Donald Shoup, The High Cost of Free Parking, Chicago: Planners Press, 2005 and 2011.

(2) IBM Commuter Pain Survey http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/35514.wss

(3) Frost & Sullivan, 2015,Analysis of parking in London, Berlin, Paris, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Washington D.C.

(4) Frost & Sullivan, 2015, Strategic Analysis of Smart Parking Market in Europe and North America

Click here to download the full Press Release in PDF.

Contacts:

For PayByPhone:

Jim Bak

jbak@paybyphone.com

For ParkJockey:

Igal Aciman

Igal.aciman@parkjockey.com

Pride Week 2015!

As the physical and virtual worlds transform into every color of the rainbow, ParkJockey invites all LGBTQ individuals and supporters to #ParkwithPride for Pride Week 2015! We have teamed up with the “It Gets Better” Project, a non-profit organization whose mission is to communicate to LGBT youth around the world that it gets better, and to create and inspire the change needed to make it better for them. We encourage all NYC and Chicago Pride Week 2015 attendees to reserve their parking in advance in support of the “It Gets Better” project. For every parking reservation, $1 of the proceeds will be donated to the non-profit.

♥ NYC Pride March ♥

One of the most popular NYC parades of the year will paint Fifth Avenue in every color imaginable. For Pride Week 2015, more than 50 floats, 300 marching organizations and thousands of spectators will unify for a celebration of love, equality and PRIDE for one’s’ true color! This year’s grand marshals are actors Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera and artist-educator J. Christopher Neal. Check HERE for a full list of New York Pride Week events. The march begins at Fifth Ave and 36th St and proceeds south to the reviewing stand at Fifth Ave and 8th St before turning west on Christopher St. to Greenwich Street.

To book your parking for the NYC Pride Week 2015 events, click HERE!

♥ Chicago Pride Parade ♥

Chicago’s 2015 Pride Parade will highlight 200 registered performances including floats, decorated vehicles, dance groups, marching bands and walking contingents.The participants represent LGBTQ supporting community programs, clubs, businesses, governmental officials and individual community members. As the most historical Pride Week 2015, officials are estimating the crowd to be in the hundreds of thousands. So the plans are to line the parade route with barricades on both sides of the street from beginning to the end of the parade route. Spectators will be required to remain behind the barricades. Extra police officers and parade marshals will be stationed at various points on the street in front of the barricades along the parade route. The parade starts at noon on Sunday, June 28, 2015, at Montrose Avenue and Broadway in Uptown and ends near the intersection of Diversey Parkway and Sheridan Road in Lincoln Park.

To reserve your parking for the 2015 Chicago Pride Parade, click HERE!

PlumValet Launch in New York

Sunday February 15th, Madison Square Garden, New York City. The end of the NBA All-Star game weekend. It is also the day that ParkJockey has chosen to launch PlumValet, its valet parking service, in New York. What a challenge for a launch: 8 professional valets from our partner, Elegant Valet, 30 reserved parking spots at a Rapid Park nearby, the lowest temperatures in 20 years, and a lot of traffic! But the team is ready. As soon as the first car arrives everything kicks in:

– “Thanks for using PlumValet, my name is Carlos I will look after your vehicle”

– “Use our app to request your car back, please give us 15 min notice”

– “Thank you for using PlumValet. Sign up on PlumValet.com and get your next booking free”

The launch is a success. The users are delighted, they could stop right in front of the Arena and avoid the freezing windchill. All cars were returned safely and there was no need to use our $2 million insurance policy.

We are really proud that all our users trusted us with their cars. That you drop off a brand new Porsche Carrera 4S or a 2005 Toyota Camry, we understand that your car is special to you and therefore it has to be special to our team.

Let us park you next time you are in town and enjoy life more!

Follow @PlumValet on Twitter.

10 Things To Consider Before Your Next Cruise

Ever since my first cruise with Monarch of the Seas, I’ve picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way. Here are the top 10 things to consider before your next cruise:

1. Know when and where is the best time to go:

For example, right now is the best time to go to the Caribbean, before the rush of Spring Breakers flock for warm weather cruises. Travel + Leisure has a great explanation, which you can check out here.

2. If you live in the Northeast, you have two cruise options out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal until June

If you are interested in taking a cruise out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, you have two options, both with the Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL): the Norwegian Gem Cruise and the Norwegian Breakaway Cruise. These are the only two options that go out of Manhattan and return to Manhattan until June, when the Carnival Cruise Line comes to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal.

3. Book your parking ahead of time.

Because parking at the terminal can be a bit tricky, not to mention expensive, on the day of, it is wise to reserve ahead. You can reserve ahead through ParkJockey here. Make sure to enter the promo code CRUISING to save $5 off of your booking!

4. Book at the last minute or while onboard another cruise

According to this article, you can really save a lot of money on last-minute cruises. Speaking from personal experience, if you are a retiree and are interested in Viking River Cruises, advertised on PBS during every episode of Downton Abbey, then there are a couple of tricks to get major discounts. You can really save when they have a boat that has a couple of cabins that haven’t sold, you can get a great deal by calling them up and seeing what’s available within four weeks. Alternatively, if you’ve already been on a Viking River Cruise, you can ask to be put in the “Viking Explorer Society” and get great deals. Lastly, if you book your next cruise while on board a cruise ship, you can experience major savings for your next trip.

5. Investigate credit card bonuses that my help you book your cruise for free or help with on-board expenses

I’ve long been a supporter of using credit card points to redeem for travel. Having redeemed mileage points for flights from Washington, DC. to New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, and Singapore for a grand total of $300 in taxes, using points for free travel is a bit of a hobby of mine, and the cruise industry is no exception.

Like airlines and hotels, cruise lines have co-branded credit cards. The Carnival Cruise Card is restricted to cruises and on-board expenses with Carnival. There are other offerings which might be more worthwhile, not being restricted to cruises, but redeemable for cruises as well as other cruise-related expenses such as airline tickets, hotel rooms, and car rentals. One such card is the Barclaycard Arrival, which will let you redeem at 1 cent per point for travel expenses.

According to the Points Guy, the Barclaycard Arrival offers 2 miles per $1 on all purchases and then you can redeem them at 1 cent apiece and get a 10% miles refund on travel redemptions. Another great example is the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which offers 2X points on all travel, including cruises, but also airlines, hotels, car rentals, etc., and whose points redeem normally for 1.25 cents (which means you can redeem 40,000 points for a $500 cruise) or for specfic cruises at 1 cent a piece.

Amex Cruises also enables you to book a cruise and pay with an American Express Platinum Card. They have a program called Cruise Privilege perks, which include stateroom credits, upgrades, and onboard amenities. According to the Points Guy, You can book a cruise directly through the website for a redemption rate of 1 cent per point. In other words, a $500 cruise will cost you 50,000 Membership Rewards points.

6. Book Through Airlines For Odd Savings That Earn You Miles

Airlines such as United and American Airlines have joined the cruise business (United Cruises and American Airlines Cruises), and you can earn airline miles on each cruise. You can even get triple the miles for balconies and suites!

7. Hire an agent to secure a good deal.

According to Budget Travel, agents have access to much better deals that we do. In fact, each cruise line employs specialists who can offer discounted fares. You can learn more about that here.

8. Enter a Cruise Auction

Apparently, there are cruise auctions as well that have bargains 90 days or less before sailing. Vacation To Go has a “90-day ticker” and Sky Auction has cruise auctions as well.

9. Explore a Repositioning Cruise for Extra Savings

According to Frugal Travel Guy, when seasons change, the cruise lines need to reposition the ship to warmer winter destinations and again for summer sailings in the cooler climates. These sailings are discounted, creating bargains for those who find them. When the ship makes this one-way voyage, there are a lot of cabins sold at a significant discount to prevent sailing a cruise without passengers. You can see options here: http://www.repositioningcruise.com/

10. Know the dress code.

Each ship has a different dress code depending on whether it’s high-end or more casual. Either way, you need to make sure you know what to wear to dress appropriately for the elegant dinners aboard cruise lines. Just in case, according to the Cruise Critic, one is able to rent tuxes on the luxury liners.

Enjoy the great savings! I hope this helps some of you on your next cruise!

Sail Into Easy Cruise Ship Parking

At any given moment on any given day, there are countless cruise ships embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime voyage — all from the same port. If you’re lucky enough to be heading out on one of these floating paradises, there is one last thing you have to do before you can kick back on the lido deck and enjoy that first Piña Colada: Park! With so many ships leaving port at the same time there are thousands of people flocking everyday to a very concentrated area, making parking a significant incubus for travelers. ParkJockey is here to ease these parking concerns by providing vacationers with a parking reservation technology system in four of the busiest cruise ports in America!

Port of Miami

Port Everglades

Port Canaveral

Manhattan Cruise Terminal

To book your cruise parking for any of these ports:

1. Visit www.cruise.parkjockey.com
2. Select your port, departure date, and cruise line
3. Choose from a list of ParkJockey affiliated lots
4. Reserve your parking spot!

The New Year in New York

As the holiday festivities finish up and 2014 draws to a close, there is one more grand celebration that brings people into New York City for the New Year: the dropping of the New Year’s Eve ball in Times Square. Come on down This annual tradition began in 1907-1908, when New York Times’ owner, Alfred Ochs, threw a new year’s eve party of massive proportions. It was his way of bringing people up from Brooklyn and lower Manhattan to what was then Longacre Square. The party began with a street festival that lasted all day. Once it was dark, fireworks were set off, and the ball was dropped for the first time. It was an instant success that suddenly became a New Year’s tradition. Before that, people had gathered at Trinity Wall Street Church, awaiting the bells to chime that would “Ring out the old year, and ring in the new year.” But given the drunken and raucous behavior of the celebrants, the church was glad to hand over the New Year’s celebration to the New York Times.

According to The New Yorker, the origin of using “time balls” to mark a point in time goes back to the early 1800s, when Captain Robert Wauchope thought of the idea of having naval observatories use visual signals to help ships recalibrate their chronometers. Chronometers were clocks used on ships to help approximate distance traveled over time. Although the time balls were ultimately believed impractical due to low visibility, the time ball became a more popular tradition inland. Alfred Ochs had Artkraft Strauss construct a time ball for One Times Square, which, at the time, was the tallest building in New York. But instead of dropping it every day at noon as other time balls had been used for, they just dropped it the once at midnight to celebrate the New Year.

There were only two years that the ball did not drop: 1942 and 1943. During the war, New Yorkers maintained a “dimout” procedure to prevent German submarines from seeing the shore to attack it. In those two years, the congregated people had a moment of silence and then rang bells in the old tradition.

According to Times Square New York, there have been 7 incarnations of the time ball. The first had one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds. The current incarnation has 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs, is twelve feet in diameter, weighs nearly 6 tons, and can create a kaleidoscope of colors to entrance and excite.

So come to Time’s Square and see what the time ball will look like this year given its immense possibilities, and bring in the new year right with the roughly one billion people that come to Time’s Square or tune in on their television. But make sure to book your parking ahead of time, as it will be almost impossible to find parking within Manhattan on the night of the event. ABM Parking Services is now partnering with ParkJockey to provide locations right in the heart of Midtown, just a few steps away from the Museum of Modern Art. And spaces this good will not last long. ParkJockey also has garages available all throughout the Upper East and West sides as well as lower Manhattan. So book your parking for New Year’s now! Wherever you need to go, ParkJockey has you covered!

Sign up now and use the promo code “NEWYEAR”, and new users will receive a discount on your next booking. But act quickly because once the ball drops, so does the promotion!

Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting

With all of the shows, musical performances, and holiday events happening all over town in December, it is tough to choose what to go see and it is simply impossible to see everything. However, there are a few holiday traditions in New York that are easy to schedule and don’t even require a ticket to visit.

One such tradition is the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. The tree lighting has been a nationally televised event for years and has drawn people from all over the world. According to the Rockefeller Center, this tradition was started in December 1931 when a team of demolition workers at the Rockefeller Center construction site pooled their money together to buy a Christmas tree. It was a mere 20 feet high, nothing compared to the 67-100 feet high trees used today, but during the depression, this tree embodied the hope and determination of an impoverished people. Two years later, after the opening of the Rockefeller Plaza in 1933, the lighting of the tree became an official holiday ceremony.

In following years, multiple trees were erected within a holiday season to commemorate specific events. For example, in 1936, to commemorate the opening of the Rockefeller Center skating rink, two trees were erected and lit for the ceremony. In 1942, to commemorate the war effort, three trees were erected trimmed in red, white, and blue. And in 1945, six ultraviolet light projectors were used to make the tree that year considerably brighter to make up for the years during the war when the tree couldn’t be lit.

In 1951, the tree lighting became nationally televised on NBC as part of The Kate Smith Show. Following years saw other hosts like Howdy Doody from 1953-1955, Barbara Walters, Bob Hope, Lily Tomlin, and Liza Minnelli.

The tree selected each year comes from different places all over the United States. It has been adorned with everything from tin cans and scrap paper, to aluminum and lights of every size and shape. And every year, there is a new star to bring the ceremony to light. Although the ceremony begins on December 3rd, you can still see the tree lit every evening until January 6th.

So make a trip to the Rockefeller Center, see the tree lighting that has become a national event year after year, and make sure to book your parking early with ParkJockey! We have locations near Rockefeller Center in Midtown, as well as the Upper East Side, NoHo, and all throughout New York City. Wherever you need to go, ParkJockey has you covered!

Sign up now and use the promo code “TREES”, and new users will receive a discount on your next booking. But act quickly, just as the holiday tree will have to come down, so will this promotion!

The Nutcracker Ballet

As New York City gears up the holiday festivities, one of the oldest and most treasured holiday traditions is the yearly performance of the The Nutcracker Ballet. Be it young children in their first dance to the music of Tchaikovsky, or professional ballet companies practicing tirelessly to bring new energy to such a familiar classic, no holiday season is complete without seeing a performance of the ballet.

Most are familiar with the story of the ballet: a girl receives a nutcracker for Christmas and gets drawn into a magical world of love and brave nutcrackers fighting the Mouse King. The story of the Nutcracker was originally based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tale, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Alexandre Dumas Père wrote an adaptation titled The Tale of the Nutcracker, and Marius Petipa simplified the adaption and choreographed it for the ballet with music set by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. According to the Moscow Ballet, the director of Moscow’s Imperial Theatres, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, commissioned the ballet in 1891. In 1892, a week before Christmas, the ballet was premiered.

According to the National Post, although Czar Alexander III thoroughly enjoying the ballet, the critics and audience found the choreography confusing. Despite the negative reviews, everyone loved the music, so the ballet toured the world using different choreographies. It first reached the United States in 1944, landing in San Fransisco.

It wasn’t until George Balanchine choreographed the ballet for the New York City Ballet in 1954 that the Christmas Ballet as we know it began to unfold. From that point on, everyone followed Balanchine’s choreography and the ballet became a mainstay of Christmas and of New York City.

Whether you are seeing your child’s first performance of the ballet at their school, or taking a trip to the Lincoln Center to see the New York City Ballet bring Balanchine’s and Tchaikovsky’s brilliance to life, remove the stress of parking and book with ParkJockey. We have locations throughout the Upper West Side, Midtown, and all throughout New York City. Wherever your travels take you, ParkJockey’s got you covered!

Sign up now and use the promo code “BALLETS”, and new users will receive a $5 credit towards your next booking. But act quickly, just as Christmas will end, so will this promotion!

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular

With Thanksgiving and its festivities coming to a close this week, everyone is moving their attention to the coming holiday season. Throughout New York City, stores are putting up holiday window displays, soon Rockefeller Center will have its annual Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, and Bryant Park is opening its ice rink.

But nothing really brings in the holiday spirit quite like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular takes place in the beautiful Radio City Music Hall at 6th Avenue and 50th Street. The building was constructed in 1929 with funding support from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and the Radio Corporation of America. After construction was completed, S.L. “Roxy” Rothafel was brought on as impresario of the Music Hall. Roxy developed a reputation as a theatrical genius by combining vaudeville, movies, and razzle-dazzle décor to revive struggling theaters in the wake of the stock market crash.

The legend of the Rockettes began in 1925 with a group called the “Missouri Rockets”. They had been tapping and making high kicks since 1925 under the direction of Russell Markert. The Missouri Rockets were invited by Roxy Rothafel to perform at Radio City’s opening night on December 27th, 1932, using the name the “Roxyettes.” They were one of 17 diverse acts including the Flying Wallendas, Ray Bolger, and Martha Graham. Despite the competition, they were invited back the following year to headline and were renamed the “Rockettes.” In the 80 years since then, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular has become the #1 holiday production in America. It has toured 74 different cities outside of New York, such as Nashville, Chicago, Dallas, and St. Louis. However, its home will always be the Radio City Music Hall.

So come into the city and see the show that truly celebrates the holiday season in style. Performances run throughout the month of December. And when you plan your trip to see this spectacular show, make sure to book with ParkJockey so you don’t find yourself missing everything because you can’t find parking. We have locations all over New York City, from Midtown, to the Upper East Side, to SoHo, and the financial district. Wherever your travels take you, ParkJockey’s got you covered.

Book now using the promo code “ROCKETTES” and get a discount off your next booking.

After Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Black Friday

Since we visited the history of the Thanksgiving Day Parade last week, it is only fitting that we give the history of the second scariest day of the year (just below Halloween): Black Friday. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Black Friday are intrinsically linked. According to blackfriday.com, ever since the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, “the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a bustling holiday shopping season.”

There is some disagreement as to the origin of the term, “Black Friday.” The term was most likely first coined in the 1960s by police officers in Philadelphia to describe the mess associated with congested streets filled with heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic. According to Ben Zimmer’s article “The Origins of ‘Black Friday,’” Philadelphia merchants initially detested the label because of its association with the stock market crisis of 1869. Merchants were worried that customers would have been scared off by the ominous title, preferring to call it “Big Friday.” However, the name “Black Friday” also had another meaning, and that is referring to stores moving from the “red” to the “black.” When accounting records were kept by hand, red indicated a loss, and black indicated a profit. So, despite objections, because of the alternate association, and continued use of the term by the press, the name remained.

In recent years, it has developed more of a negative connotation, with people aggressively waiting hours in lines to be the first to get the specials. But that does not change the fact that everyone agrees Black Friday is the best time to get your Christmas shopping done. You get the best deals you will be able to find all year, and you have all day to visit the stores and find the deals right for you. So brave the crowds and make sure you get out and grab some special deals!

But don’t get stuck in the traffic with no place to park! Book with ParkJockey now and reserve a spot close to your favorite shopping locations, be it in SoHo, Midtown, along 5th Avenue, or anywhere in the New York City area. And, of course, be safe this “Black Friday” and happy shopping!

Book now using the promo code “FRIDAYDEAL” and, in the spirit of Black Friday, get a great discount on your next booking!