Can you tell us what is increasing in Bahrain on day to day basis? Yes, you’ve guessed it right! Well, maybe you did, maybe not. But it’s cars, specifically cars that seem to mushroom in multiple proportions every day! Due to everyone’s need of being mobile and able to drive, parking problems are turning into a nightmare that we cannot escape. Being it a shopping mall, or any popular public area, with limited spaces, we’d purposely stay away from them —especially on weekends— just to avoid the pain of finding a parking spot.
Heeding to this, entrepreneur Omar Al-Khan had first introduced valet parking to Bahrain a decade ago as ParkPoint Parking Solutions. ParkPoint has since then been offering 5-star valet parking service as well as parking management to a number of parking lots. ParkPoint provides its service to a number of popular locations on the Island including Bahrain City Centre, Seef Mall, and Adliya’s Block 338, in addition to numerous hotels and restaurants.
By the end of 2017, all the company’s operations will be fully automated, integrating and cataloging parking locations through a centralized system. “In the future”, Al-Khan says, “all parking transactions will be smart, and we want to be ahead of the game”.
To save your life and help you overcome your parking anxiety, ParkPoint Solutions made life easier by creating an app called ParkPass that is bound to take this much-required parking service to the next level.
ParkPass app will be launched in the first quarter of 2018 and is not just limited to valet parking. The app will be available for paid, valet, and free parking; so the benefit of finding a spot will not be limited to those who want to pay for a parking. Members will be enabled to navigate and pay for their parking while saving money through using the service. Al-Khan adds, “We want the app to be useful to everyone, and we want every driver to download our app”.
As he also explains, “You often see cars parked at the front of a shop, blocking the road and not being aware that there’s a perfectly good car park available at the rear. The app will allow all users, whether they are ParkPass members or not, to access information about available parking areas – that’s got to be a good thing in terms of easing traffic congestion and solving parking issues.”
Al-Khan is now in the process of discussing the app with banks to see their interest in making ParkPass available to their cardholders. He is also optimistic that credit card companies, airlines, real estate developers, car dealers, telecoms and other corporations will find it beneficial for their own staff and as part of future customer packages and benefits.
As ParkPass is all set to sweep Bahrain’s parking problems away, we wish Omar Al-Khan all the very best with his parking ventures!
