For its innovative truck parking reservation platform “Park your truck”, Our parking space was the first startup ever to win the German Ideas Award. Denise Schuster's team developed their business idea into a full-fledged project during the 2013 Executive MBA in Innovation and Business Creation.
There is a shortage of over 30,000 truck parking spaces in Germany, the transit country par excellence – and even numerous new construction projects have so far failed to remedy the situation. The nighttime parking situation for truck drivers is catastrophic, with truck traffic expected to increase by 451,000 tons by 2020. At night, in order to comply with their legally prescribed driving times, trucks are often forced to park in unsecured parking spaces, at the entrances and exits of rest areas, or even dangerously on the hard shoulder in the middle of the motorway.
Save costs – protect the environment
Studies by UnserParkplatz have shown that a truck needs 4.2 attempts of 45 minutes each to find a parking space. This consumes 200 liters of fuel per 100 km, resulting in additional costs for haulage companies of €1,351 per month. Furthermore, haulage companies pay an average of €217 per truck per month for exceeding their driving time, as all parking spaces are occupied by 5 p.m. Furthermore, just searching for a parking space generates 6,000 tons of CO2 emissions per truck per year.
Through the truck parking reservation system Park your truck This should be avoided in the future. Freight companies and drivers can reserve their parking space for the night at over 50 truck stops. The beta version of this reservation option is currently being expanded to include currently unused truck parking spaces in supermarket parking lots in commercial areas and stadium parking lots outside of game times. In addition to a management system for freight companies to manage their reservations, UnserParkplatz is planning to expand secure parking spaces. These are particularly secure and can also be booked through the reservation system.
In 2016, the German Ideas Award introduced the “Best Startup Idea” category for the first time, which generated enormous interest among applicants.
