MUMBAI :

Dhananjaya Bhardwaj, CEO & Co-Founder, of Moradabad-based startup, ParkMate, an app-based Autotech, on all that has gone into developing it, and using a hybrid system that employs both, tech and manpower, in an unorganized sector to ease parking woes. Read on…

TOS: How is ParkMate different from the other Pay & Park services that we have been using over the years?

DB: ParkMate offers its DaSH (Drop and Shop) service, which ensures instant, guaranteed, and safe parking to its users. Through its DaSH app (Available free on Android and iOS), all customers need to do is simply enter their destination. Upon reaching their destination, customers find an attendant from ParkMatepresent to park their cars for them, eliminating the need to either search or even visit a designated parking area. 

TOS: How did you zero in on the technology for ParkMate and what did it entail in terms of getting the system to work with the car owner’s FASTag?

DB: Before developing ParkMate’s suite of offerings, we studied the best systems being used across the world. We carefully analyzed the existing technologies and after detailed research, we understood the strong as well as weak points of each technology. We wanted our systems to be manless, paperless and sticker-less. Even India’s FASTag technology, when used alone for parking management, was aggravating the parking problem rather than easing it. Our tech team decided to create a hybrid system which incorporated the FASTag tech and we took it two steps further. That is how Trishool, Kavach and Kavach+ were also developed.

TOS: What kind of professional training is imparted to drivers who pick up customers’ cars from the destination and what safety features does ParkMate boast of which assures customers of their cars being in safe hands?

DB:  All our drivers go through a rigorous training program. The training includes traffic rules, driving all type of cars, grooming, dressing up, maintaining high standards of hygiene. The ParkMate app has multiple interlocks which ensures that drivers cannot divert from their set route, and cannot bypass any process. On top of this, ParkMate’s insurance covers the cars for safety against almost all possible damages.  

TOS:  What has the reception to ParkMate been like so far?

DB: ParkMate crossed the ‘1 lakh’ user base recently. We have already crossed our projected figures on sales of Kavach and Kavach+ system (For 2023-24) within 2 months of the system launch.

TOS:  What was the most challenging aspect in starting ParkMate? What was the most difficult issue that you had to grapple with?

DB: The biggest challenge was to understand the parking industry. An industry which is over 90% unorganized, and the dynamics change with each location, finding out the system loopholes and how they can be plugged, was a big challenge. Thankfully, our (Founders) backgrounds helped in understanding this market well. 

TOS: What are your expansion plans and how do you propose to make this accessible in other cities?

DB: ParkMate is currently focusing on three major areas – Delhi-NCR, Lucknow and Mumbai. ParkMate will expand to other cities only after 2024 Q4.