New Home for Parkex
May 22nd was the first day of a newly combined exhibition bringing together Traffex, Parkex, Cold Comfort and Evex, at its new home at the CBS Arena in Coventry.
The biggest parking event in the UK and supported by the BPA (British Parking Association) the single biggest parking organisation in the world fronts the development and innovation in the world of parking.
In alternative years it joins with Traffex covering highways, but with new additions of Cold Comfort which focuses on winter maintenance and road management in winter conditions experienced in Central Europe and last but not least Evex which explores the new technologies of Electrical Vehicle charging from kit, infrastructure and intelligent data gathering.
Over the two days the ISO exhibition will display their systems and products to an expectant audience and coupled with the 5 theatres explore a number of topics of the day many in the CPD accredited content.
The exhibition was opened by current BPA President Stuart Harrison with opening address by Anthony Browne Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the department of transport.
“What is immediately obvious is the quality and scale of the stands, companies have invested large sums and are vying for recognition. Long gone are the simple pull up exhibition stands with backdrop frames. The inclusion of the digital age has meant that video content, café hubs and networking areas are the preferred experience with the odd stayed product.
The fact that exhibitors are from a number of fields has generated more interest than Parkex alone. The overriding flavour is data capture, digital payment methods, debt collection and management and ANPR, which perhaps reflects the types of visitors to the exhibition. The stands this year are highly impressive wherever you look but how do you dress up a pay machine…”
Simon Lamb, MD
From queues waiting to enter the arena it’s clear that this new format is attracting new visitors and with easy motorway links the first impressions have been positive.
As a BPA member we are keen to understand the work of the association which is at the forefront of lobbying of parliament and influence the private parking bill as well as developing the National Payment Platform which will sit behind many of the parking payment apps on the market.
The BPAs mission to make parking easier for the driver through innovation, legislation and community, as the Under Secretary stated “the car is here to stay, how it interacts with us, our communities and city centres will be a constant change, we need to ensure that new challenges are considered and with the help and support of the BPA we will continue to move the parking forum forward.”
“It’s been interesting to catch up with key providers within the parking sector and get their perspectives on market perspectives, looking at the exhibition there is a positive vibe within certain sectors, but it still remains a challenging industry.”
Simon Lamb, MD.