Overview

• University size: 70,000
• Single Sign-On with Monash Intranet
• Pay By Phone parking integration

In July, 2019 Liftango was approached by Monash University to deploy a solution to remove the ‘paper permit’, and work alongside Pay By Phone, to integrate seamlessly with their current payment system. As a result, Monash has obtained the greatest user uptake of all Liftango clients since inception. They have reached the largest number of users six (6) times faster than the closest client as a direct result of the smart parking integration and discounted parking.

The Problem

With a current program already in place, and congestion on all Monash campuses at an all-time high, the following issues had to be worked out:

• With a resource-heavy paper permit system—it was difficult to validate these carpools, how could they ensure they were actually occurring?
• Monash staff and students would need to log in using Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Their new solution would have to be able to integrate with their Pay By Phone parking system
• Ensure a high uptake of the carpooling system

The Solution

Finding a way to incentivise more shared trips was the driver of this innovation. What resulted was a unique campus solution reducing the need for physical parking permits and incentivising greater uptake of sustainable travel.

The main challenge was to create a framework that supported third-party parking solutions. This led to the creation of an event- driven elastic infrastructure, enabling smart parking integration.

After we developed a single sign-on feature for the Monash students and staff, to add ease of access, the next step was to integrate with partners Pay By Phone.

By providing a push API, parking partners have little to no development requirements. This means Liftango takes on all the heavy lifting. Creating a powerful carpooling incentive that utilised existing parking software to drive uptake for clients. Perfecting this provided three Monash campuses with new capabilities. Leveraging existing smart parking provider, Pay By Phone, Liftango enabled real- time discounts (free for launch) for validated carpool trips.

By doing so, Monash obtained the largest number of user signups - six (6) times faster than all other Liftango clients.

The Results

• Removal of all paper parking carpool permits
• 6x faster uptake of users than all other Liftango Clients:

• Free parking for validated carpoolers during launch period
• Integration between Pay by Phone (smart parking provider), Monash University (SSO integration), Liftango (carpool and parking validation)
  

Learnings

The success seen at Monash campuses is a combined result of technology and the people behind it. Committing to provide responsive and timely solution-oriented service is evident between both parties.

1. A big player in the adoption of Liftango at Monash was a new way to incentivise. Previously, users have been rewarded with guaranteed parking, discounted, or monthly vouchers, with discounted having the highest adoption rate previously. Using free parking for launch, we have had the highest adoption and retention rate.
2. It is important to have a “validation” system in place to ensure carpools are not fraudulent, and therefore taking advantage of the benefits with carpooling. The technology that Liftango has developed ensures tracking of “milestones” throughout a common carpool, to validate that this has actually happened.

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