Sarthe Habitat solves a shortage of 40 parking spaces thanks to Sharvy’s parking reservation and space-sharing solution.

Context of Sarthe Habitat

Sarthe Habitat is the leading social housing provider in the Sarthe region (France), managing a portfolio of 16,500 homes across 181 municipalities. For more than 70 years, the organisation has been committed to providing high-quality housing tailored to the needs and financial circumstances of all residents.

In October 2025, the head office relocated to new premises close to Le Mans (France) train station. However, as in many cities, parking around railway stations and city centres is becoming increasingly limited and difficult. The move therefore came with a reduction of 20 parking spaces. Yet even at the previous site, parking had already been a challenge. All spaces were individually assigned through a lottery system. Around twenty employees had no access to the car park and had to find parking elsewhere, while managing shared spaces through Excel spreadsheets whenever a space holder was absent proved cumbersome and inefficient. The reduction in available spaces therefore pointed to an estimated shortage of around 40 parking spaces and a growing risk of frustration without a suitable solution in place.

To address the issue and provide an initial response to employees’ concerns, Sarthe Habitat also decided to reimburse 100% of public transport costs for staff commuting by public transport, with the aim of reducing demand for parking spaces.

Faced with this situation, the IT department took ownership of the project and explored the solutions available on the market to optimise workplace parking management. Sharvy was identified and ultimately selected because it fully met the housing provider’s needs.

Setting up of Sharvy

After several discussions and demonstrations at the end of 2025, Sarthe Habitat chose Sharvy for the application’s ease of use and the breadth of its features. Supported by Sharvy’s customer success teams, the organisation was able to configure the platform precisely to suit its requirements.

Sarthe Habitat decided to remove individually assigned parking spaces and classify almost all employees as “space requesters”. From now on, anyone wishing to park must submit a request via the Sharvy application.

To optimise allocations, four priority levels were created according to user profiles. This allows priority to be given to certain groups, such as employees with reduced mobility, pregnant employees, or those using company vehicles. Sharvy’s fair allocation algorithm then takes over: based on these priorities and reservation history, it automatically assigns a suitable parking space to each type of vehicle (car, accessible parking, motorcycle, electric vehicle), maximising parking access for everyone.

To simplify access to the application, Single Sign-On (SSO) was also implemented. Employees can therefore log in directly using their professional credentials, without needing to create a separate password.

Finally, to secure and streamline access to the car park, an IoT module was connected to the barrier system. When an employee has a valid booking, an “Open Barrier” button appears in the application, allowing them to enter the car park without a badge or remote control. This also makes it much easier to welcome visitors and external contractors.

The deployment of the solution involved several internal departments: IT for the technical aspects, HR for user management, General Services for day-to-day operations, and Communications to support change management. This cross-functional collaboration contributed significantly to the project’s success.

Sarthe Habitat favourite features

Benefits noted

Before the relocation, parking was a major source of concern for employees. With fewer spaces available both on-site and nearby, the question of how parking would be organised became a significant issue.

Ultimately, despite some initial hesitation, the application was quickly adopted by all teams.

Sharvy enabled parking access to be opened up to all employees at headquarters, as well as the 150 external contractors regularly present on site. Even employees benefiting from 100% reimbursement for public transport can occasionally access the car park if needed. The solution therefore meets everyone’s needs, and situations where parking reaches full capacity remain very rare.

Do you need to optimise your company car park? Do you want to modernise its management and make it fairer?

Follow the lead of Sarthe Habitat and opt for Sharvy!