“The New Shape of Parking in Thailand,” Promoting Parking Lot Utilization in Smart Cities with Big Data
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NEW
CHALLENGE
Nippon Koei has invested in Jowit Global Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, “Jowit Global”), a smart parking platform business in Thailand, and has begun full-scale operation of a smart parking platform with the aim of promoting DX in Thailand’s transportation field, as well as a data insight business that utilizes big data on parking lot utilization.
Signing Ceremony on January 19, 2024
Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, has experienced rapid growth. While it only covers about 0.3% of the country’s land area, it is a densely populated city. The number of automobiles is also on the continuous rise, and the environmental burden caused by traffic congestion and exhaust gas is recognized as a social issue.
The Thailand Climate Change Master Plan (2015-2050) outlines policy initiatives to change vehicle usage behavior. The plan is also centered on the use of parking lots, from a perspective of implementing parking fee policies and promoting park-and-ride programs that combine public transportation with parking lots. In order to relieve traffic congestion caused by on-street parking, waiting for and searching for parking spaces, new and innovative ways to use parking lots are required. The Thai government is also supporting the production and popularization of electric vehicles, and the percentage of EVs in new vehicle sales in Thailand has risen to 16%. Since most EV charging stations will be installed in parking lots, the parking lots themselves are expected to become more sophisticated and multipurpose.
SOLUTION
Jowit Global’s Platform x Nippon Koei’s Data Analysis Algorithm
Jowit Global is a startup company founded in 2017 under the InStep Group, a group of IoT companies started in Thailand. The company is a hardware and software developer focused on the operation of parking facilities in Thailand. As of January 2024, it operates 29 parking facilities in the Bangkok metropolitan area. Unlike typical parking management and operation methods in Thailand, they are actively introducing cutting-edge systems to save manpower and increase efficiency, such as developing an electronic parking payment system (parking QR code payment) and e-Stamps (the first in Thailand), which improves the efficiency of money collection operations and enhances collaboration with partner stores.
The two companies are currently building a cloud-based real-time linkage system for data on actual parking lot usage. By utilizing data insights based on big data on parking lot users, Nippon Koei aims to improve parking lot occupancy conditions and increase the profitability of the business. Meanwhile, Jowit Global is working on advancing the payment systems at parking sites, by taking advantage of the company's technological capability to flexibly develop and modify hardware and software for parking management. The collaboration between the two companies is expected to contribute to alleviating the severe traffic congestion in Bangkok by providing real-time information to users through user applications and by introducing dynamic pricing to coordinate and promote the use of parking spaces.
Future business development
In Bangkok, where the economic sphere has been expanding from the central area to the suburbs and development areas have become more decentralized, the nature of parking lots as urban facilities themselves is likely to change significantly in the future in line with changes in people’s behavior patterns, such as the promotion of remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jowit Global sees this trend as an opportunity and, working together with business partners, has already developed an F&B business that provides cafes and snacks, a car wash business, a laundry service business, and more in parking areas. Moving forward, the company plans to promote Parking Oriented Development (POD), wherein parking lots will function as hubs for each suburban community.
Image of Jowit Global’s POD Business
Nippon Koei is accumulating insights through the use of mobility data to alleviate traffic congestion both in Japan and overseas. In Thailand, we plan to actively participate in smart city-related projects and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) projects led by the Thai government, local governments, universities, etc., in collaboration with Jowit Global, which has extensive digital technology.
We will continue to contribute to sustainable urban development in Thailand and other Asian cities by promoting high-level infrastructure and urban development through the use of digital technology.
