Solving Parking Problems in Apartment Buildings using Parking Bollards

Parking problems in apartment buildings can be a real headache. They cause frustration for residents and make building management more challenging. One effective solution is the use of parking bollards. These barriers can enhance the parking experience in your residential building. In this blog, we’ll explore how bollards can solve parking issues, improve safety, and enhance property value.

Understanding the Parking Problem in Apartment Buildings

Parking issues in residential buildings often stem from several common problems. Unauthorised parking, reserved spots being taken, and inefficient use of space are just a few. No wonder that when you live in a building with limited parking, you’re going to face the challenge of people parking in someone else’s spot, especially in the visitors parking if your building has it.

As a property manager or building manager, addressing these problems is crucial for maintaining a harmonious living environment.

Unauthorised Parking

Unauthorised parking is one of the most common issues in residential buildings. Visitors, delivery vehicles, or even residents without assigned spots often park where they shouldn’t. This not only causes inconvenience but can also block emergency access or essential services.

Reserved Spots

Another significant problem is the unauthorised use of reserved spots. Residents pay for the privilege of having a reserved parking spot, and when others use them without permission, it can lead to disputes and dissatisfaction.

Inefficient Use of Space

Many residential buildings suffer from inefficient use of parking space. Without clear boundaries or controls, cars may park haphazardly, wasting valuable space and reducing the number of available spots.

How Parking Bollards Can Solve Parking Problems

1. Secure Your Own Designated Parking Spot

Let’s start with the scenario where you have your own parking spot, and you’ll often find someone else has decided to park in it. Frustrating for sure!

By installing a parking bollard in your own parking spot, you can secure it and guarantee that no one else can use it. Your designated parking spot is available for you to use, and if you decide to share it, just those people. By installing a parking bollard, you’re creating a physical barrier and deterrent to stop unauthorized drivers from parking in your spot. This means you don’t have to drop notes on their windscreen or get the building manager to do it for you. The parking bollard does it all on its own to stop unauthorized drivers dead in their tracks from parking their car in your spot. The simplicity and convenience of this solution make your life easier, happier, and give you peace of mind that your designated parking spot in your apartment building will always be available for you when you need it!

• Prevents authorised drivers parking in your parking spot
• Ensures your parking spot is always available
• Enhances resident satisfaction and peace of mind

2. Shared and Visitor Parking – Keeping it organised and fair

Fair and Organised Parking 

For parking areas that are shared, such as visitor parking, it’s important to keep it organized and smooth. Our research surveying over 85 building managers of large apartment buildings over 2 years concluded that handling parking complaints takes up on average 10-15% of a building manager’s time! That’s a lot of wasted time, stress, and money that parking bollards can easily resolve. So where you have apartment parking, including visitor parking, it’s important to organize that parking allocation in a simple and fair way.

Parking bollards provide a key benefit in visitor parking in strata as they are able to do this easily and seamlessly. By installing parking bollards into visitor parking bays, you can ensure that they are used for true visitors. And the building manager doesn’t have to run around madly chasing the drivers of illegally parked cars, whether they are residents or not. This provides a sense of order to the parking arrangements and also makes the building manager’s life a lot easier.

Success Story: Solving Visitor Parking Challenges in The Hub Apartments

The Hub Apartments, located in Melbourne’s vibrant suburb of Richmond, is a residential strata apartment complex constructed in 2015. With 170 residences, it has 170 dedicated resident parking spots and 13 visitor parking bays. However, like so many apartment complexes in high-density areas, The Hub faced significant challenges around visitor parking.

The Owners’ Corporation at The Hub asked the building managers to find a solution. That’s when we stepped in to solve the parking challenges at The Hub Apartments with our ThatsMySpot smart parking bollard solution. All of The Hub’s visitor parking bays are located in the underground parking basement where there is no mobile connectivity or Wi-Fi access. The building had specific requirements about minimal impact on the building floor slabs.

We installed extra-tall smartphone parking bollards with auto-close sensors in each of the 13 visitor parking bays easily and efficiently. Each smartphone bollard is surface-mounted and is battery-operated. With fixings that are BCA compliant, no slab scan was required, and there was minimal impact and penetration to the slab.

By installing this system, the building manager can now monitor and control access to visitor parking bays for true visitors. Visitors to the building use our free app to register for the site, and the building manager remotely gives that visitor access to a visitor parking bay fitted with a smartphone bollard in accordance with their stay.

The Benefits of Using Parking Bollards

Prevent Parking Problem and Disputes

For whatever reason, people become very emotional and triggered about parking, whether it’s in their apartment building or on the street. Just think of the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza almost has a brawl with another guy who he alleges was “stealing his spot”! Parking disputes also come up in the communal living scenario of apartment and strata buildings. Parking bollards can resolve even starting arguments among people who live in communal spaces all vying for the same parking spots. For example, those who try to use the visitor parking bays for their own personal parking, even when they have an existing parking spot but have a second car. By installing parking bollards in these spaces, the argument doesn’t even happen because the physical barrier of a sturdy parking bollard just stops this behavior dead in its tracks.

Parking bollards reduce the potential for conflicts over parking. By clearly demarcating parking spaces for use by certain people only, parking bollards prevent unauthorized parking. This fosters a much more harmonious living environment and positive resident relationships in communal buildings. So in summary, parking bollards:

• Clearly designate parking bays for authorised drivers only
• Reduces parking disputes
• Promotes harmonious living and positive relationships

Enhance Security and Peace of Mind

Parking bollards provide added security. They act as physical barriers, preventing unauthorised access to your designated parking areas. This protection ensures your vehicle’s safety and contributes to overall peace of mind.

• Acts as a physical barrier against unauthorised access
• Ensures vehicle safety
• Increases overall peace of mind

Ease the Stress of Parking

Finding a spot in crowded strata buildings can be stressful. Parking bollards alleviate this stress by designating specific spots and preventing unauthorised parking. This ensures you always have a space, eliminating the frustration of searching for an available spot.

• Alleviates stress of finding a parking spot
• Ensures a designated spot is always available
• Eliminates frustration and saves time

Improve Parking Management

Parking bollards improve your buildings parking management. Clear markings help residents park in the right places, reducing congestion and optimising space use. This benefits everyone and improves traffic flow within the premises.

• Enhances parking management
• Reduces congestion
• Optimises use of parking spaces

Protect Parking Infrastructure

Both smart parking bollards and manual parking bollards protect your building’s parking infrastructure from accidental damage. They safeguard vulnerable areas like gates, entryways, lift wells, and pipes, preventing costly repairs and ensuring the longevity of the infrastructure. Bollards:

• Protect against accidental damage
• Safeguard gates, entryways, lift wells, and pipes
• Prevent costly repairs and prolongs infrastructure life

Parking bollards offer numerous benefits when it comes to resolving parking stress in strata buildings in Australia. From creating a fair and organised parking system to ensuring the availability of designated parking spots, preventing disputes, and providing security and peace of mind, parking bollards are a valuable addition to any strata building. By alleviating the stress of finding a parking space, improving parking management, and preventing damage to parking infrastructure, these bollards provide a practical and effective solution to the common parking challenges faced by residents. So, why not consider installing parking bollards in your strata building today?

For more information on implementing effective parking strategies and the benefits of smart parking bollards, visit That’s My Spot and start optimising your apartment building today.