Smart Parking has concluded negotiations with Wellington City Council and has been awarded the $1.4 million 5 year contract for the provision of 3,000 parking sensors in the Wellington CBD street parking areas.
The parking solution will also include Smart Parking’s SmartApp which will allow motorists to identify and be directed to streets with available bays avoiding driving around searching for a spot on roads which are already full.
This project follows a successful Smart Parking trial of 72 V2sensors carried out earlier in the year in Allen Street, with the Council also trialing Palmerston North based Frog Parking.
Speaking about the contract win, Paul Gillespie, Smart Parking CEO said: “This contract is excellent news for Smart Parking and Wellington City Council. It is a positive endorsement of proven technology we have already installed in cities across the globe. It will add significant value to the Council and members of the Wellington community.”
“The SmartPark solution will now make it easier for drivers to find a parking space, which means also reducing congestion and cutting vehicle emissions.”
By providing motorists with real-time parking availability at their fingertips Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Milford said the new technology will encourage more shoppers into the central city because they would know people aren’t “hogging all the parks”.
“We’re all time-poor, so any technology that makes us less time-poor is a good thing. Having to drive around the city for an hour trying to find a park is not a good look for Wellington.”
Equipped with this real-time information Warden’s will also have more time to guide and provide advice to motorists, by helping to direct customers looking for parking to nearby available casual parking places.
Andy Foster, the council’s transport and urban development committee chairman, said he expects wardens will be issuing less tickets with the new technology in place, given there would be greater compliance.
He added “There could also be the opportunity for “dynamic parking”, by which the price would drop as more parks became available. The sensor information could eventually allow the council to have different parking rates in different parts of the city, or extending free parking periods if the two hours offered on weekends was found to be not long enough.”
Background to smart parking technology
Smart Parking’s SmartPark solution comprises of flush mounted, anti-slip profile RFID-equipped SmartEye sensors, which use advanced sensing technology to detect when a vehicle has occupied a parking space.
SmartRep backoffice software collates and analyses the live information on how parking space is being used. Accurate vehicle-by-vehicle, minute-by-minute data on actual usage of the city’s facilities gives the council the leading edge in day-to-day management and future planning.
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