- App auto-deducts parking fees through users’ credit cards linked to their car details.
- Enables smoother exits by eliminating stored-value card snags such as getting stuck at the exit due to insufficient value, card or IU errors and time taken up for scanning complimentary parking tickets
- At launch, 12 commercial car parks – including Downtown East, Far East Plaza, The Heeren, Wisma Atria, and more
- AXS targets to bring a total of 100 car parks on-board by the end of 2024; accounting for an estimated 12% market share of the target commercial car park segment
SINGAPORE, 17 July 2024 — AXS launches AXS Drive, a new motoring app that aims to resolve parking pains, such as stored-value card errors, getting stuck at the gantry due to insufficient funds, and the hassle of searching around frantically for a top-up machine.
AXS Drive links a driver’s credit card to their license plate and IU number to enable automatic deductions when the vehicle exits the car park. It uses License Plate Recognition (LPR) to record the entry and exit times of a vehicle, and processes payments after the driver leaves the car park. The AXS Drive is integrated with the existing Electronic Parking Systems (EPS), which detects the In-vehicle Unit (IU), making it easy for car park solutions providers and car park operators to implement island-wide, without the need for additional hardware.
As at the launch, AXS Drive can be used at 12 car parks, which include car parks at Downtown East, Far East Plaza, The Heeren, Wisma Atria and more. Currently, 55 commercial car parks are already on-board and will progressively come on live with AXS Drive. The target for AXS at the end of 2024 is to enable the Drive app at 100 car parks, garnering an estimated 12% market share of the commercial car park segment.
Group Chief Executive Officer of AXS, Mr Jeffery Goh, said, “AXS Drive is our first foray into the cardless payments space. This also marks the first new app AXS has launched in over a decade. It is a solution that we have built after identifying a strong need in the commercial parking segment for innovations that are similar to Parking.sg. AXS Drive, thus, brings similar auto-deduction features to commercial parking spaces.”
Drivers often experience frustrations when car park gantries remain shut as they attempt to exit car parks. This usually occurs when the EPS encounters problems trying to process the payment of car park fees. As an account-based payment processing system, AXS Drive aims to ease these frustrations that come from IU reading errors or cashcard errors. Drivers would no longer have to worry about being stuck at the exit gantries with a line of vehicles behind them.
Car park operator benefits
Other than drivers, the AXS Drive ecosystem benefits car park operators too in many practical ways, like reducing congestion, minimising debit errors, and enabling digitalised tickets and coupons.
AXS’ system allows for greater accuracy in recording vehicle details at exit. This helps to reduce congestion at exit gantries, as vehicles can exit as soon as the system has captured their vehicle license plates. At the same time, the account-based payment method that AXS Drive uses, deducts the car park fee at the backend. As such, debit errors can be significantly reduced, thus increasing revenue for car park operators. This also hampers drivers who tailgate other cars to avoid paying.
AXS Drive can be easily integrated with existing parking privilege programs, facilitating digitalised coupons like parking tickets and passes, streamlining processes and reducing administrative burdens and paper waste. In automating parking management, AXS Drive improves productivity by allowing facilities management staff to focus on more critical tasks.
AXS Drive can further support car park operators with value-added features that operators can make use of. These include real-time advertising of available parking spaces, which operators can use effectively to boost occupancy rates and increase revenue potential. This innovative feature is available at launch time.
Easy to set up for immediate use
The AXS Drive app for Android and iOS is free to use and user-friendly. All drivers need to do is to download the app from the respective store, input their car plate and In-Vehicle Unit (IU) number, and link a credit or debit card for payments.
For the first year, AXS Drive is partnering Mastercard exclusively to offer a seamless and secure payment experience, supported by Mastercard Gateway. AXS will expand to include other credit card payment options, supporting a broader range of card users.
Once registered, users can instantly use the app at all participating car parks. Multiple vehicles can be linked to one single credit card, thus simplifying car park payments for the family or the office. Users can also conveniently renew for season parking in-app.
Mr Quah Chun Han, CEO of AXS Payments, said, “Our aim at AXS is always to provide solutions to ease the pain points of everyday life. AXS Drive is a transformative solution that aims to eliminate common frustrations drivers face daily. By fully supporting current EPS and LPR infrastructures, we offer drivers and car park operators a new standard for seamless, cardless experience for faster, fuss-free parking.”
Deborah Heng, Country Manager, Singapore, Mastercard, said, “Mastercard is dedicated to collaborating with innovative bill payment solution providers like AXS to introduce new-to-market payment solutions. Mastercard Gateway offers a single, secured connection to enable AXS and its merchants including car park operators in accepting card payments and facilitates seamless transactions to provide cardholders greater convenience.”
Other features of AXS Drive
AXS Drive also offers complementary features to enhance the driving experience at launch. Users can check parking space availability through the app to minimise searching for parking lots and receive real-time updates on traffic conditions through integrated traffic camera updates.
The app also adds a convenient way to manage common motoring service payments, such as road tax renewals and fine payments. It maintains a detailed, per-transaction log of online receipts, making it easy for users to track expenses and file reimbursement claims.
What’s next?
On top of expanding AXS Drive to cover more car parks islandwide, AXS is also exploring opportunities to work with malls to enhance the shopping and parking experience by allowing users to earn and redeem rewards points directly through the app. This paperless system reduces clutter and is more environmentally friendly.
Launch referral campaign
At launch there will also be a referral campaign where users can get a $1 voucher towards their next parking payment for every referral that makes at least one parking payment through the app. Vouchers earned can be tracked under the Parking Privileges section and will automatically be utilised to deduct the parking charges. Any remaining balance parking fees will be deducted from the linked Mastercard cards.
About AXS
AXS Pte Ltd. was founded in 2000 on the notion of bridging the digital barrier between consumers and business organisations. With a remarkable 23-year track record in catering to the bill payment needs of both consumers and organisations on a multi-channel ubiquitous platform, AXS has emerged as the foremost payment solutions provider in Singapore. To date, they have processed over 650 million bills with total payment value exceeding $210 billion for Singapore residents. AXS is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Major Payment Institution and certified with Data Protection Trustmark. Its secured and trusted platform garnered over one million consumers every month, with access to AXS’ extensive range of over 800 bill payment services through a network of kiosks, mobile app and Internet portal. With the support of its majority stakeholder, Tower Capital Asia, AXS’ next step is to transform into a regional cloud-based payment solutions provider, delivering a more powerful and seamless payment experience to organisations and consumers regionally.
For more information, please log on to https://www.axs.com.sg
