Summary of our market study
The French parking market is estimated at over €1 billion.
The global parking market, valued at over $5 billion, is expected to grow at an annual rate of 12%.
The market is growing in line with the increase in the global car fleet, which is expected to reach 2 billion vehicles by 2040.
The French parking lot market is highly concentrated and dominated by heavyweights such as Indigo, which accounts for almost half of the country's parking lot market share.
85% of households own a car in France, a figure that remains stable. The car ownership rate is higher in suburban and rural areas than in urban areas, and lower among the elderly and young.
The French car fleet exceeds 45 million vehicles.
The French parking market is traditionally based on the concession model, with public ownership and private management.
The private parking segment concerns off-street parking.
There are different types of parking lots: surface, underground and multi-storey. The construction costs of these parking infrastructures are high, particularly for underground facilities.
Players in the private parking lot market
- The Indigo Group is the market leader in France and is also present on the international scene. Indigo has absorbed the parking activities of Covivio and Transdev.
- Q-Park is another heavyweight.
- The Keolis group, through its subsidiary Effia, takes a global approach to public transport management, integrating parking solutions into a broader package of mobility services.
- Interparking operates throughout Europe.
- APCOA is the dominant force in Europe, with operations spanning a dozen countries.
- French entities such as SAEMES and Metpark contribute to the national landscape
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Introduction and definition of the private parking lot market
The need for parking lots arose with the democratization of the automobile in Europe and the United States, and the need to solve the first problems of urban congestion. In 1962, the first GTM parking lot was built on Place des Invalides. The private parking lot market is a segment of the regulated parking market, involving the payment of a fee for a limited parking time. Parking lots can be on-street (along the public highway) or off-street (underground or in enclosed reserved spaces).
There are different types of parking lots in France:
- private parking lots, managed by a private individual, company or organization;
- private parking lots for public use, such as supermarket parking lots with free access;
- public parking lots, managed by the State and owned by local authorities (roadside, underground and above-ground).
The global parking market is doing well. estimated at $4.38 billion in 2022, it should grow at a CAGR of 12.1% until 2030. This market is strongly correlated with the automobile market, which is booming, with 2 billion cars expected by 2040.
The French market, equally divided between on- and off-street facilities, is also doing well.parking lot management is a highly profitable business, dominated by a handful of players, including Indigo, the undisputed market leader in France. Two factors have profoundly altered the sector: the end of concessions for parking lots built between the 1960s and 1980s, and the policies implemented in recent years, which have largely reduced the number of on-street spaces.
Municipalities are the main buyers of parking lots. They are increasingly turning to private parking operators (more than half of the total parking lot market in France), often from the construction industry. The latter build and then operate the parking lots. SEMs (semi-public companies) are another possible form of management, and a minority of towns and cities choose to manage this activity directly with a régie. new entrants (freeway concessionaires, airport managers) are taking an interest in this buoyant market, which is not very sensitive to the economic climate, thus significantly altering the structure of the private parking lot market in France.
1.2 A global parking market dominated by the United States
Estimated at $*.** billion in ****, the global parking market is expected to grow at a CAGR of **.*% to ****.
Sales growth projections for the global parking management market World, **** - ****, in $ billions Source: ****
Growth in the parking management market is driven by the increasing number of vehicles, demand for efficient traffic management solutions and ever-faster urbanization. The number of cars worldwide is estimated to reach *.*** billion in **** and * billion in ****[***]. The region with the most cars is Asia, ahead of Europe and North America.
Geographical breakdown of the global car fleet World, ****, in millions Source: ****
The increase in the number of cars is of course a mainstay of growth in the parking market. However, the COVID-** pandemic has slowed this growth slightly due to the strict restrictions imposed by many countries. Governments invested heavily in their healthcare systems to combat the spread of the virus, imposing restrictions such as bans on gatherings at public transport stations and in vehicles, which temporarily hampered growth in parking management.
It's important to note that the intelligent parking market represents a buoyant and forward-looking segment for the sector. Indeed, more and more parking lots are using the cloud to manage their parking spaces, reflecting the market's quest ...
1.3 A growing French market
According to the Fédération Nationale du Marché du Stationnement (***), in *,*** parking lots. The industry generates sales of *.* billion euros and employs *,*** people[***]. The French parking lot management market is highly concentrated, dominated by Indigo, Effia and Q-Park.
Market share of different groups by number of car parks France, ****, in Source: ****
This concentration is due in part to municipal tenders, which call for a wide range of services, including preliminary studies, engineering and construction, as well as operation and maintenance. These requirements favor the major players in the market, capable of making the necessary investments and integrating the entire value chain. Furthermore, these leaders have adopted external growth strategies, as demonstrated by Indigo 's acquisition of Covivio and Transdev 's parking facilities and activities in June ****.
The sector benefits from infrastructures that have already been partially amortized, and has a largely positive net income ratio. This enables it to invest in modernizing its car parks, including initiatives such as LED lighting and automation, despite rising interest rates in **** and ****.
In November ****, Troopy, an operator of free-floating electric scooters, chose Saemes, whose majority shareholder is Paris City Council, to install electric charging spaces in its parking lots. The implementation of related ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Rising motorization of French households
Despite a sharp drop in new vehicle sales in recent years, the household car ownership rate has remained relatively stable, reaching **.*% in ****[***].
Share of motorized households France, ****-****, in Source: ****
Over the long term, there has even been a slight increase in this rate, which was closer to **% in the early ****s.
Disparities according to household characteristics
While the rate of motorized households has risen overall, there are nevertheless disparities between equipment rates according to the age of the head of household or area of residence. Household motorization rates are much higher in suburban and rural areas (***).
Motorization by place of residence France, ****-****, in Source: ****
Similarly, households made up of the elderly (***) are less motorized than other age categories. However, there has been a sharp rise in car ownership among these age groups. Indeed, the motorization rate for the under-**s has risen from **.*% in **** to **% in ****, and for the over-**s from **.*% to **.*%.
Motorization by age of head of household France, ****-****, in
2.2 Passenger car fleet in France
A car spends more than **% of its life in a car park, and the evolution of the French car fleet is therefore naturally the primary determinant of parking demand[***]. The size of the French car fleet has generally been on the rise since the beginning of the century, driving the need for, and therefore the demand for, parking. However, growth in the size of the fleet is tending to slow down. Indeed, the fleet expanded by *.*% between **** and ****, but only by *.*% between **** and ****, from **.*** million vehicles in **** to **.*** million in ****.
Evolution of the French car fleet France, ****-****, in millions of vehicles Source: ****
The graph above lists all types of vehicle (***). For the purposes of this study, it is more interesting to focus on personal vehicles, whose fleet size is shown in the following graph.
change in fleet size for private vehicles France, **** - ****, in millions of vehicles Source: ****
The size of the French personal vehicle fleet is also on the rise, amounting to **.*** million personal vehicles in ****.
Regional disparities
However, the vehicle fleet is not evenly distributed across the country. The regions with the most cars in France areÎle-de-France (***).
Vehicle fleet by region France, ****, in number of vehicles Source: ...
2.3 The low popularity of parking lots
Generally speaking, city dwellers are not satisfied with the parking facilities on offer. Indeed, according to an Odoxa survey conducted for France Bleu in ****, parking spaces were among the measures taken by municipalities with which urbanites were least satisfied, with only **% of respondents declaring themselves satisfied.
Urbanites' level of satisfaction with the following measures France, ****, in Source: ****
The satisfaction rate even drops to **% among residents of major cities. What's more, according to a Harris Interactive survey conducted in March ****, **% of urbanites surveyed felt that there were not enough parking spaces for cars in their city.
For **% of French people, parking is becoming increasingly expensive, especially in Paris where this result reaches **%, according to a YouGov survey relayed by Seton in ****. Parking lots are indeed considered too expensive, as confirmed by the study conducted by Harris Interactive in August **** on airport parking lots. According to this study, the word "expensive" is by far the first word cited by the French when asked what they think of airport parking lots.
Generally speaking, would you say that airport parking lots are very expensive, rather expensive, rather not expensive, not at all expensive? France, ****, in % Source: ****
Indeed, **% of respondents to this survey consider the prices ...
2.4 New rules for parking motorized two-wheelers in Paris
Since the introduction of paid parking for thermal motorized two-wheelers in Paris and the Île-de-France region on *ᵉʳ September ****, a majority of drivers are considering changing their travel habits. According to an OpinionWay survey for mobility app Freenow, **% of drivers affected by the measure are considering changing their mode of transport, and **% even want to switch to carbon-neutral modes.
Paris is the first major city in France to introduce a payment system for parking thermal scooters and motorcycles. The capital has some **,*** parking spaces dedicated to these motorized two-wheelers. The table below shows the rates applied:
Source: ****
Scooter and motorcycle users are considering several alternatives in response to this new measure. They plan to use their scooters less, giving priority to public transport (***).
What alternatives do you prefer to scooter use? France, ****, in Source: ****
One in five respondents said they would use their private car more in response to this new pricing system. This could contribute to existing traffic problems in the city, and would have undesirable environmental consequences.
3 Market structure
3.1 The French parking market and the concession model
As already mentioned, there are different types of parking lots (***). Thus, the parking market encompasses only regulated on-street and off-street parking, characterized by the payment of a fee and a limited parking time. For example, the parking market does not include garages and private parking spaces[***].
Here, the private parking market corresponds to off-street parking, in a dedicated space (***). This does not include on-street pay parking, which is controlled exclusively by local authorities[***].
Distribution of parking spaces in France:
Parking spaces can fall into several different categories:
free off-street ; free on-street ; paid off-street ; pay on-street.
As mentioned in *.*, France currently has*,***,*** parking spacesincluding ***,*** on-street spaces (***), spread across*,*** parking lots.
The predominance of the concession model
In addition to the distinction between free and paid parking, and off-street and on-street parking, we also need to consider the parking space ownership model. In fact, most parking spaces are publicly owned (***).
Parking by type of ownership France, ****, in % of total Source: ****
The French parking system is thus dominated by theconcession modelunder which the public authorities that own the parking spaces hand over their management to private companies.Concessions account for **% of all parking spaces. [***]
Parking by model type France, ****, in % of total Source: ****
Concessions ...
3.2 Indigo, the undisputed market leader
Among the private players specializing in parking, the main companies are Indigo, QPark, Effia, Interparking and APCOA. While APCOA dominates the European market, Indigo is the French market leader, with a **.**% share of French car parks (***).formed in **** from the merger of Sogeparc and Parcs GTM, and originally named Vinci Park, Indigo currently owns *** car parks in France, with ***,*** spaces, in *** towns and cities. The group employs *,*** people in France[***].
Indigo is a world leader in the parking and personal mobility sector. It is present in * countries and over *** cities worldwide.
Source: ****
Already a market leader by a wide margin, Indigo continues to expand its presence with the acquisition of Spie Batignolles' parking division in ****. This buyout added around thirty new parking lots to Indigo's already extensive portfolio[***]. Indigo also acquired the parking facilities and activities of Covivio and Transdev in June **** (***).
3.3 Focus on medium-sized players
Although operators such as Indigo and Q-Park largely dominate the sector, there are also many local players, which we present in this section. The following table lists a number of smaller operators operating on a more local scale in France.
Source: ****
Many of these parking lots, although fee-paying, are not entirely private. In fact, some of them are owned in part or in majority by the cities in which the players operate. For example, the city of Paris owns **.**% of the operator Saemes[***].
4 Offer analysis
4.1 The different types of parking lot
As mentioned above, there are several types of parking lot, depending on whether they are multi-storey or not. To give you a more detailed idea, we can distinguish between the following types of parking lot[***] :
Surface parking lots
Above-ground parking lots are parking facilities on the ground level, usually delimited by an enclosure, barriers, etc. This type of parking lot can be off-street or on-street. The main advantage of this type of parking lot is ease of access, as well as safety (***). Nevertheless, it requires a substantial investment in terms of land purchase costs, and encourages urban sprawl.
Underground parking lots
Underground parking lots are located beneath buildings, in the city or on the outskirts (***). They are often multi-storey, enabling considerable savings on land investment. Nevertheless, construction costs are often much higher, and underground parking lots are subject to a large number of regulatory requirements.
Multi-storey parking lots
Above-ground multi-storey parking lots are very similar to underground parking lots, the fundamental difference being that the levels do not sink below ground level, thus saving on heavy excavation work and costs.
4.2 Activity costs and pricing
According to Turner & Townsend, the cost of building a parking lot in Paris in **** was €*,***/m* for underground parking lots and €***/m* for surface parking lots. Prices rose by *.*% between **** and ****.
Construction costs for parking lots in Paris France, ****-****, in €/m* Source: ****
In addition, Evo-park, a company specializing in parking lot construction, provides indicative costs for the construction of different types of parking lot[***] :
For an above-ground parking lot, the average construction cost is €*,*** excl. tax/space (***). For an underground structure, the average construction cost is between €**,*** and €**,*** per space. This cost can rise to as much as €**,*** excl. tax/space in the case of particularly complex excavation work, for example if the site is located close to a water table, or if the ground is more seismically sensitive. This cost does not include the cost of the land, which represents a separate investment.
Parking rates
Parking rates have been rising steadily since the early ****s: in fact, it is estimated that rates for underground parking rose by **% between **** and ****.
This sharp rise is due in particular to the high cost of building a multi-storey parking lot, which is much more expensive than an on-street parking lot, but also to ...
4.3 The gradual disappearance of on-street parking in favor of multi-storey car parks
As a result of the interaction of many factors, including urban planning concerns and measures to limit cars in city centers, on-street parking spaces are becoming increasingly scarce in France. In ****, **% of cities reported having removed a significant number of on-street parking spaces over the past five years.
The city of Paris is planning to remove half of its ***,*** surface parking spaces by ****, raising questions at a time of economic and health crisis. Currently, these parking spaces generate an annual income of *** million euros for the municipality. At the same time, it is a cause for concern for local businesses, which expect to lose footfall if parking spaces disappear in their area. However, a study by the Centre d'Etudes et d'Expertise sur les Risques, l'Environnement, la Mobilité et l'Aménagement (***) reveals that only **% of the population of large urban areas use their car to get to the shops in the city center.the pedestrianization of the Place des Héros in Arras and the Grand-Place in Lille has led to an increase in footfall on shopping streets, indicating that the elimination of parking and the pedestrianization of public spaces can coexist with flourishing economic activity. This suggests that reducing parking spaces ...
4.4 Parking in cities: towards connected, multi-modal spaces
The axes of intermodality:
in France today, **% of home-work journeys are monomodal. There is therefore a real opportunity for better fragmentation of the journey, which is a key issue in the energy transition. Here are just some of the areas under study in the parking sector:
car-sharing; parking facilities for two-wheelers (***) ; charging stations for electric cars.
Parking lot operators are still a minor player in the installation of electric car recharging systems in France. Indeed, local authorities are responsible for almost all the installation of charging stations in France. Parking lot operators offer just *** charging stations nationwide, even though they have huge amounts of space at their disposal.
Number of charging stations per developer France, ****, in number of charging stations Source: ****
The parking lot: towards a space for connected services?
According to several studies, the search for a parking space is responsible for more than **% of urban traffic. These same studies reveal that even when **% of parking spaces are available in a city, motorists have difficulty locating them and therefore spend a lot of time looking for them. physicists at the CNRS have used the laws of statistical physics and graph theory to model the traffic problem around Lyon's **,*** public parking ...
5 Regulations
5.1 Parking space regulations
Dimensions:
Parking spaces are subject to dimensional regulations concerning pavement markings, depending on the type of storage:
Source: ****
These dimensions are governed by standard NF P**-***.
Disabled and PRM parking spaces:
Since ****, it has been mandatory to have at least *% of the number of spaces adapted for PRM. The spaces must be close to the building entrance (***).
They must also be signposted, with paint on the ground and a sign in front of the space. The minimum width must be *.** m wide and * m long. Finally, the slope must be less than *%[***].
5.2 Car park construction standards
Construction standards for parking lots vary according to a number of factors:
Type: public or private Construction method and land: underground, surface, overhead, etc. Capacity: number of spaces Traffic flow within the parking lot: one-way or two-way Etc...
Based on these criteria, the main elements concerned by the regulations are as follows:
Spacedimensions (***) Trafficlanes Pedestrian walkways Signage Fire-fighting standards Storm water drainage
For details of standards in each category, visit https://normalisation.afnor.org/thematiques/parcs-de-stationnement/.
6 Positioning the players
6. Segmentation
- Effia (Keolis Groupe)
- Q-Park
- Indigo Parking Group
- Interparking France
- APCOA Parking France
- Edeis
- Ector Parking
- Parclick
- SAEMES
- Transdev Stationnement - Urbis Park (Trandev Groupe)
- Zenpark
- Keolis
- Metpark
- Interparking
- Flowbird Parkeon
- Linkview
- Camping-car Park
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the private parking market | France
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