We recently caught up with Sean Cody, Growth and Revenue Manager at GoCar, to talk about this collaboration. GoCar operates in multiple locations throughout Ireland, such as Dublin, Galway and Cork, with several based inside Q-Park Mobility Hubs.
Q-Park is well known for developing sustainable Mobility Hubs across its network of city-centre parking facilities. These hubs are brought to life through strong partnerships with on-site providers, delivering a variety of services within one integrated space. We recently caught up with Sean Cody, Growth and Revenue Manager at GoCar, to talk about this collaboration. GoCar operates in multiple locations throughout Ireland, such as Dublin, Galway and Cork, with several based inside Q-Park Mobility Hubs.
Why did you choose Q-Park?
I suppose there’s a couple of different reasons, firstly, strategic locations is top of that list, city centre, middle of communal hubs, everything like that. And then alongside that, CSR or ambitions, brand alignment, it all just kind of made sense.
What do you like about working with Q-Park?
There’s a couple of different elements that have made working with Q-Park really easy. First and foremost, the day-to-day activities of customer service and interactions, all the way down to its customer service orientation. We found it easy to plan, implement, and operate on a day-to-day basis with Q-Park.
When you’re looking to locate into a mobility hub, what are you looking for?
There’s probably three things that any location GoCar looks at, firstly it’s safety, site, and security, and then on top of that accessibility. So centralised locations for Q-Park just made complete sense.
How would you define a Mobility Hub?
So, a Mobility Hub to me is a centralised location, or a centralised pick-up point where different providers of mobility solutions, whether that be bikes, cars, car rental or car sharing all operate within one area. Alongside that, as I said previously a secure location where everybody can operate as one ecosystem.
How do you find working with other mobility providers within a Mobility Hub?
Mobility Hubs are by their very nature an ecosystem of mobility solutions, which means that each one relies on the other. So, whether that be bikes providers, whether that be car sharing, we all rely on one another. So with an ecosystem like Q-Park and like the Mobility Hubs within Q-Park, we find it really beneficial for everybody.
Is the Mobility Hub concept scalable to new cities?
Yes, even if you look within the Q-Park ecosystem of what we have and the scalability, we started in Dublin expanded out to Wicklow, Galway and Cork and we’re hoping to grow even more.
Why are Mobility Hubs great for car sharing locations?
It’s very much a case of creating an ecosystem within it. So having your bike solutions, having your centralised locations, having car rental, car sharing on-site, it gives people options, and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to do with car rental is to give people alternative options to private car ownership.
What does car sharing bring to a Mobility Hubs?
It gives flexibility, that’s at the heart of what car sharing is meant to be. It’s, I suppose different to traditional car rental, we offer flexible options whether that be hourly or daily, and within that offer small to midsize cars, all the way to EVs, vans, etc.
What do you think the main benefit of this partnership with Q-Park is for GoCar?
Two main things come to mind straight away, one as I said before is centralised locations, and strategic areas within city centres. So, alongside the centralised locations: ease of accessibility and safety within the sites are the main factors behind it.
To find out more about Q-Park Mobility Hubs click here.
About Q-Park
Q-Park is a leading off-street parking infrastructure owner and operator with well-managed commercial parking facilities across seven western European countries. We operate off-street parking spaces we own, have under concession or with long-term lease contracts from public and private landlords. We focus on off-street purpose-built parking facilities at strategic locations. We operate more than 5,300 parking facilities comprising over 1 million parking spaces in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Based on publicly available industry data for our competitors, we estimate that we are a top three player, based on the estimated off-street revenues, in all the countries in which we operate. Q-Park also has numerous mobility hubs which provide access to a variety of mobility solutions. We house and support a range of activities from last mile logistics, electric vehicle charging, micromobility and car sharing services which help support urban accessibility, sustainability and liveability.
