With plenty of skyscrapers and commercial areas, city centres are the main business hubs in many big cities. Although it seems to be natural that having an office in central districts can bring lots of benefits to the company, there are also several obstacles that their owners need to face. One of the biggest ones is an insufficient number of parking spaces. Is it therefore possible to have a thriving business without a parking lot? Let’s find out!
Office location is important
Imagine that you are about to rent or buy a new office and you have two options to choose from at a similar price. The first one is a big office with plenty of parking spaces located far from the city centre. The second option is a slightly smaller office with or without a limited number of parking spaces, but in a central location close to the city’s main attraction and many other businesses. Which one of them would you choose and why? Making such a decision is never easy and can affect the entire future of your company.
To make the right decision you should consider all the pros and cons of having both offices. If you want your customers to be aware of your existence, and your business is mostly aimed at those who spontaneously enter your office, choosing a central location can become a better solution.
No parking lot – no problem
Ironically, the lack of a parking lot can become an advantage. How is this possible? With no parking spaces, you don’t need to incur extra costs in order to hire or buy parking spaces. What is more, you don’t need to pay operational charges and care about the lot’s condition, cleaning and repairs, which can be a significant part of parking lot rental fees. Therefore, if you don’t have a parking lot, you don’t need to worry about any of this at all.
Can it work?
If you are about to hire an office without a parking lot, you are probably wondering what your employees will think about it. Before making your final decision, you need to check if it is possible for them to get to work differently, e.g., to use public transport to arrive at the office. Some employers offer public transport cards as an incentive – this way employees pay nothing for getting to work. You can also look for some parking lots in the neighbourhood. Maybe some of them are free-of-charge and can be used by your staff? If they are paid, talk to their staff. Maybe you will be able to negotiate a better price for your employees.
Renting several parking spaces
Another popular option chosen by office owners who don’t have parking spaces included in their rental fee is to rent several parking spaces outside the office building. This is popular mostly in locations which are located close to big, usually multi-levelled commercial parking lots. Many entrepreneurs also rent parking spaces from other companies. If you have this possibility, this can really work for you and your staff.
You have managed to book several parking spaces close to your office, but the number of employees is slightly bigger and you don’t know who should use them? There is no need to worry. You can use a parking space reservation system to provide your employees with equal parking opportunities. The application will allow your employees to book parking spaces under the first-come-first-served system, or allocate spaces fairly using the waiting list. Sounds fair? It certainly is!
Never heard of a parking space booking app? Want to learn more about its possibilities? We encourage you to discover Parkalot – our innovative solution for smooth parking management. Contact us to make car parking easy and frustration-free for your employees.
If you’d like to introduce Parkalot – our car park management app – in your company, please contact us at contact-us@parkalot.io or book an onboarding call.Start using Parkalot in an hour. Allow your colleagues to commute by car, and park on the parking spaces assigned to those who are working from home.