Could Parkfind be the answer to traffic congestion in African cities? [Sponsored]

Poor road networks and infrastructure, a growing urban population and lack of foresight by African urban planners. These are all factors widely cited by experts to be behind the growing number of traffic jams African motorists today face.

But Zunade Loghdey, the CEO of Street Parking Solutions (SPS) claims his Cape Town-based parking management company has come up with a solution to the problem.

He believes there is a more important factor which plays an even bigger role — parking, and says there is a “simple solution” to this. “It’s reducing time spent searching for parking, ” he says. Loghdey claims his company’s parking app Parkfind does just that.

The app allows users to search for, navigate to and pay for parking anywhere in Cape Town’s city centre, all in real time.

Cape Town was last month ranked the 28th most congested city on the planet by the Inrix Global Traffic Scoreboard.

The report states that Capetonians spend 49.1 hours in traffic jams each year (peak hours spent in congestion) compared to the 46.8 hours motorists in Johannesburg spend in gridlock.

“Parkfind is the answer to Africa’s CBD parking congestion and we intend to export this outside of South Africa,” says Loghdey.

Parkfind can currently be used in Cape Town, but the company behind it is eyeing East African markets

He cites work carried out by US-based researcher Jin Cao. “When people drive around searching for parking it causes higher traffic density. In addition on-street parking has been shown to cause additional delays, as people try to manoeuvre into parking bays. Combined, the two can lead to more traffic congestion and lower travel speeds on road networks,” said Loghdey.

“Parkfind is aiding motorists to find parking, easily guide them to a parking space and easily pay for their parking space, all while saving in time and reducing CO2 emissions and traffic congestion.”

Although the app, which is available on Google Play and App Store, is currently only active in Cape Town, Loghdey has hinted at expansion in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Featured image: Street Parking Solutions CEO and founder Zunade Loghdey