When considering the challenges of urban mobility and the construction of a sustainable city, parking enforcement has great benefits. Improving the rate of spontaneous payment for parking, through more effective control, makes it possible to increase the availability and rotation of spaces. The new control tools that are further being deployed are also a source of innovation in new territories.
Reducing congestion and improving the impact on the environment
One of the major challenges facing local authorities is undoubtedly around concerns for the environment. According to INSEE studies, air pollution from automobile traffic can affect the respiratory health of those in urban populations in the very short term. Between 5% and10% of traffic is due to the search for a parking space. Indeed, in the Paris area, 1/4 person spends between 30 minutes and an hour each week looking for a parking space. Therefore by making traffic flow more easily, air pollution in the city can be reduced.
Parking management contributes to this objective. By improving the rate of spontaneous payment, the rotation of spaces is reinforced, which reduces the time needed to find a space, and the associated congestion that this brings with it.
Improve the spontaneous payment rate through effective enforcement
With a presence in more than 40 cities in Europe, Egis has a strong expertise in on-street parking management with iconic references such as Paris, Nice, Milton Keynes and Amsterdam.
There are a number of different parking enforcement solutions:
- Walking enforcement by officers - employed by the municipality or private companies - equipped with PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) connected to the city's parking information systems
- The use of vehicles equipped with ANPR (automated license plate reading) cameras, using either an on-board solution allowing in-vehicle enforcement or a remote enforcement solution linked to a technological solution interconnected with all the local authority's parking databases.
The ANPR system can be installed on different types of vehicles and adapted to different uses: electric cars (for downtown controls), scooters (for dense areas) or gyropods (for partially pedestrian areas).
The remote image review reduces negative behavior towards the ASVP or the municipal police, whilst also providing more detailed user information and security to agents.
Thanks to the cameras, a more efficient and securely controlled solution helps to improve the spontaneous payment rate and in turn generates more revenue for the authorities. For example, in Amsterdam where Egis has been managing on-street parking since 2015, there has been an increase in the spontaneous payment rate from 60% to over 85%.
The financial leverage offered by automated control is also a way to invest in other transport services and infrastructure for smoother mobility.
Innovation in the use of control tools
Egis has a systemic approach to urban mobility. As an operator and system integrator, we have the ability to integrate solutions with our existing technologies to best address our customers' challenges and meet their requirements.
Through parking management and the automatic reading of plates, a wealth of information is available. This information, reprocessed by appropriate software, allows a more precise management of certain services of the community.
The Geographic Information System (GIS) can be updated by using the ANPR system for geolocalized identification of parking spaces but also for monitoring urban mobility such as vehicle rotation.
Artificial intelligence also brings benefits by using pattern recognition to detect a change - deteriorated furniture, unauthorized dumping, disturbing vehicles are some examples. Detecting objects on the road allows communities to deal with safety and urban cleanliness issues.
Experiments have been successfully conducted on the quality control of street lighting, allowing information to be sent to the lighting maintenance department, contributing to safety in the cities.
New innovations are underway to map air quality and noise levels in the city, detailed street by street.
