How the hated RingGo parking app made you a ‘cash cow’ for Britain’s councils
How the RingGo parking app conquered Britain's councils
Drivers looking for a parking space in Britain are having to trade one frustrating habit for another.
Instead of rummaging between the seats for spare change, millions of motorists are having to use their smartphones to pay for the privilege of parking.
However, securing a bay in town is no easy feat, as local councils up and down the country roll out an array of apps.
Chief among these is RingGo.
While the cashless service has been around for years, its popularity has exploded of late as towns and cities stick up signs to encourage drivers to download the app. As a result, RingGo is in operation across 17,000 locations in the UK and has 19 million users who pay by text or app.
It also processes 30pc of all local government parking fees, with a spokesman claiming it has a presence in more than 600 towns and cities.
However, the rise of digital parking has not been without controversy, as many claim smartphone apps are exacerbating digital exclusion. In some cases, digital parking has replaced payment meters in locations with patchy or no phone signal at all, wreaking havoc for swathes of drivers.
Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, wrote to council chiefs last year warning that high street parking should not be “solely available for those who have access to a mobile phone”.
The apps have also attracted the ire of users, who complain about errors or unexpected fees.
RingGo currently boasts just one star out of five on Trustpilot and 3.9 out of five on Google’s Android store.
A survey from Autocar earlier this year found that four in five drivers would prefer to use either a contactless card or cash to pay to park, rather than downloading an app.
The RAC, meanwhile, reported that a fifth of local councils were planning to scrap local parking machines in favour of paying by smartphone. Worryingly, research shows that motorists often have more than 30 apps to choose from when parking in local areas.
Rod Dennis, senior policy officer at the RAC, says: “Paying to park a car should be one of the simplest things any driver does, but there’s no doubt things have got much more complicated.
“For instance, we’re aware of some councils scrapping parking payment machines in favour of forcing drivers to download and use a mobile app, and our research shows it’s a distinctly unpopular move.”
Caroline Abrahams, charity director of AgeUK, adds: “The end of pay and display parking is disastrous for anyone without a smartphone.
“It would be completely unfair to exclude swathes of our older population from being able to park by requiring everyone to use an app.”
Peter O’Driscoll, RingGo’s managing director, says: “We recognise that some motorists still prefer not to use an app, which is why we also offer SMS and phone line payment options at RingGo sites.”
Parking is big business, with the AA calling the fees a “cash cow” for debt-laden local authorities.
Local authorities are expected to make £1.8bn in fees from on and off-street parking in 2023, according to the RAC, alongside profits of £923m.
Crucially, the rise of digital payments has offered councils a way to cut costs and boost their parking profits, removing the need for physical cash collections by relying on app providers to process payments.
Westminster Council told The Telegraph last year that £6m was lost every year to criminals breaking into traditional coin-operated machines or skimming cards.
Adding mobile payments prompted an instant boost in revenues of £100,000 in the first five weeks.
Councils have eagerly adopted the technology. In some areas, they have even made it more expensive to use parking machines – and cheaper for users of digital apps.
A 2017 blog post from Reigate Council details how the local authority launched a marketing campaign across its car park and held “RingGo explainer days”.
It also bought adverts on social media and “experimented in nudge theory” by deliberately saying their machines were not in service to encourage downloads.
Procurement documents show that RingGo helps to cover a council’s costs when switching to its technology – with the company then charging a “convenience fee” of around 20p for transactions.
It also offers free trials to entice council contractors and offers sweeteners such as free signage when replacing meters.
“Our go-to-market was we won’t charge you as a provider – we will make money from the end user”, O’Driscoll told the That Tech Show podcast.
In some cases, part of its fee has been absorbed by the council, but most local authorities choose to pass these costs on to drivers.
Launched in 2005, RingGo’s revenues in the UK hit £25.8m in 2022, up from £17.8m in 2019, with profits of £4.1m.
The procurement documents claim RingGo is now processing £400m in payments in the UK each year.
Previously part of BMW, RingGo is now owned by European parking technology business EasyPark, which boasted sales of €252m (£213m) in 2022, up from €162m the year before, according to accounts filed for its parent company.
It has since snapped up rivals across the Continent, with the business owned by private equity firms Verdane and Vitruvian Partners.
EasyPark’s rivals include PayByPhone, which until November was owned by Germany’s Porsche dynasty before being snapped up by US payments business Fleetcor, and JustPark, which recently merged with a US rival.
Last August, in a submission to MPs, RingGo said it processed roughly 250m UK transactions per year, adding that it soon expected this figure to “dramatically increase”.
That growth is being fuelled by a decision by mobile networks to shut down their current ageing 3G technology around the UK by the end of 2025.
Cash machines replaced
Minutes from Bromley Council show that “all of the pay-and-display machines in operation across the borough had a 3G Sim card within them”, which would have left “no way of knowing if a machine was out of order, the cash box was full or needed a new ticket roll”.
As a result, the council decided to remove all cash machines and replace them with RingGo pay stations.
A spokesman for the Local Government Association said councils have been forced to “adapt to changing consumer trends and the impact of the 3G network switch-off on parking machines” while adding “parking apps can bring additional benefits, such as the ability to extend your stay without going back to the payment machine and be reminded of when your parking session is about to expire”.
Yet the switch to digital also comes with new risks. Local authorities have been forced to warn drivers of malicious QR codes being placed on RingGo signs, with fraudsters attempting to trick users into scanning the barcode.
While drivers may be frustrated by having to download a different app every time they park, that could be about to change.
The Government has been working on a National Parking Platform, which should allow multiple apps to work in any council car park – while also including penalty notices and electric vehicle charging apps.
It is a move RingGo says it welcomes: “It will empower the driver, who will be able to choose a provider based on their individual preferences.”
That choice, however, is unlikely to include cash for much longer.
Play The Telegraph’s brilliant range of Puzzles - and feel brighter every day. Train your brain and boost your mood with PlusWord, the Mini Crossword, the fearsome Killer Sudoku and even the classic Cryptic Crossword.