Varna (population of over 400,000) is an all time favourite Bulgarian summer resort. That’s why it was facing serious problems when it comes to parking. During the summer season, Varna becomes a temporary home for over one million tourists. This leads to traffic overload and blocked city center areas that become difficult to reach, leaving insufficient parking space. The city’s management was looking for an urgent and reliable solution that could be integrated with their available payment processors and additionally provide flexible payment options. And more so, be the first step towards an investment into a single MaaS program that would combine all transit options in the city and improve the overall mobility for both citizens and tourists.
The Modeshift Account Based Parking Solution
An account-based system was developed to provide a working solution to the city’s predicament. The system is highly reliable, including integration with the available payment processors, a modern mobile app, and high availability to citizens and tourists, delivered utilizing cloud technology. It is a great convenience for the administration since they can manage everything in the process themselves – tariff changes, users rights, and schedule.
Additionally, Modeshift’s software provided a strong system for control, fast and efficient training of the onboard staff, and a user-friendly back-end.
Return on investment, economic boost, and a better city
With Modeshift Parking, Varna’s transit authorities had 15% more revenue than planned through parking fare collection and a much faster investment recovery period. There was a positive influence on the economy as shop owners commented their revenue increased significantly because customers can find a parking space nearby. The general unloading of the traffic, optimization of parking zones, and improved process of finding a parking space easier and faster, contributed to a more pleasant city and calmer citizens.
We are pleased with the functionalities and the flexibility of the platform and highly recommend it to other cities that are planning to modernize its mobility and are focused on the end-user experience.
Mladen Ivanov, Director of Municipal Car Parks and Blue Zone
