RingGo collaborates with first council outside London on implementing Net Zero Parking to encourage greener driving habits in the local area
London, UK: 1 April 2021 – RingGo, the UK’s leading cashless parking provider, today announced the implementation of Net Zero Parking across Maidstone. This is the first instance of a local authority outside of London offering RingGo’s Net Zero Parking. In Maidstone, motorists driving a battery electric vehicle will be able to park for free so long as they use RingGo.
The Council is introducing this scheme to encourage greater use of electric vehicles (EVs) in the run up to the 2030 ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles. Net Zero Parking is a green transport policy where environmentally friendly cars pay less for their parking. In this case, Maidstone is offering a full 100% discount for EVs.
By offering free parking for the lowest emissions vehicles, Maidstone Council is encouraging a speedier move to electric vehicles ahead of 2030. The collaboration with RingGo aims to improve air quality and reduce vehicle pollution in and around Maidstone.
Council decision makers used business intelligence dashboards to identify how many EVs were parking across the Borough, where and how often they parked, and for how long.
The financial calculations using RingGo’s data have enabled implementation of Net Zero Parking and encouraged greater ownership and usage of EVs in the local area. Over the last 12 months there has been increased interest from Councils outside of London about RingGo’s Net Zero parking.
Peter O’Driscoll, Managing Director, RingGo said: “We are very happy to work alongside Maidstone Council on this parking scheme transformation. Offering free parking for electric vehicles is sending a clear message to residents about the Council’s support for greener parking.
“Since the announcement of regulation around new sales of petrol and diesel fuelled cars from 2030, there has been a significant increase in the number of Councils outside of London expressing an interest in RingGo’s Net Zero Parking. We expect this to be the first of many local authorities across the UK to be implementing schemes like this over the next few months.”
Jeff Kitson, Parking Services Manager said “Offering free parking for electric vehicles is an example of what we are doing to improve the air quality around the town centre and across the Borough.
Electric vehicles eliminate exhaust emissions whilst driving and will help to improve air quality, especially at air quality hotspots. We know that air quality is a major heath concern to many of our residents and this is something we can do to encourage a change to electric.
“The money saved on parking fees by a daily user of our car parks will be a significant contribution to the higher cost of electric cars.
“Also, we currently have 18 Pod Point Charging bays found in various locations in the town centre car parks which use ticketless machines. Anyone charging their electric car will only need to pay for the electricity and still enjoy free parking.”
Maidstone Council is the seventh UK council to roll out RingGo’s award winning emissions-based parking tariffs with the aim of reducing emissions and driving the move to net zero.
EDITOR’S NOTES
RingGo’s Net Zero Parking solution in Maidstone goes live on the same day as the London Borough of Islington moves from its previous emissions-based scheme to a net zero variant, where motorists driving electric vehicles are offered a discount on their parking. In Islington, electric vehicle drivers pay just 20p for up to 4 hours. In Maidstone, the same drivers will receive their parking free.
RingGo’s Emissions Based Parking solution has been in operation in Central London since June 2017 and is now live in seven Councils. RingGo’s Emissions Based Parking solution won a European Parking Award in 2019 and a British Parking Award Green Award in 2010.