Traffic and navigation app Waze has launched a new trip planning feature to streamline travel around venues.
Through its integration with parking experiences platform Arrive, the company has introduced ‘GamePlan’ so that anyone who purchases event parking through an Arrive-powered venue can add the trip directly to Planned Drives in their Waze app.
Fans will get an alert when they should depart, and receive directions directly to the venue parking garage entrance, taking into account road closures around the venue.
The collaboration was piloted with Arrive’s partner, venue operator Olympia Development, in advance of a concert at the 22,000-capacity Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The companies reported “strong” results from the pilot, highlighting the fact that more than half of fans who booked parking through Arrive for the concert opened an email suggesting they add the trip to the app’s trip planner, and nearly 20 per cent asked Waze to help “Plan Their Drive.”
Waze and Arrive will continue to test GamePlan with select venues starting in June and expect to scale it broadly across North America by the end of the summer.
Paulo Cabral, head of Waze global events partner programme, said: “Every day, multiple times a day, tens of thousands of people travel to a venue or stadium at exactly the same time to listen to a concert or cheer on their favourite team. That creates an incredible amount of congestion in a short period of time – and often in city centres that are already quite busy.
“Our company’s mission is to reduce traffic and the GamePlan feature does just that – it makes it easier for people to get to where they need to go on time.”
Arrive is a parking experience platform that uses apps, voice command and in-dash delivery. Its fully integrated platform allows companies and brands to offer parking as a solution for drivers, fleets and connected vehicles.
Dan Roarty, president and chief operating officer of Arrive, added: “Parking and congestion are consistently cited as the two biggest pain points for fans attending games or events, so we understand that the fan experience starts well before anyone sets foot in a venue. We’re excited to work with Waze and our hundreds of venue partners to make the journey as seamless as possible for their customers.
“We look forward to further collaboration, as we make the GamePlan integration more robust and extend the service beyond venues to airports and others destinations where time is of the essence.”
Image: Waze
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