Integrated Technology Solutions (ITS) which holds 90 percent share of the New Zealand on-street parking meter market is integrating ground sensors from Frogparking to Palmerston North’s 200 Metro ‘Pay and Display’ meters which are being modified to function as ‘Pay by Space’ parking meters.

4,000 solar powered sensors are being installed on-street at each of the city’s parking spaces enabling parking officers to know which spaces have had vehicles in them beyond their time limits and exactly for how long.

Using GPS technology the system operates in real-time delivering a bird’s eye view of every parking space to a central management system then back to the Parking Officers’ handhelds with all of the necessary information displayed.

“And because the ground sensors are fully integrated to their parking meters the officers can see on their handhelds which culprits have underpaid; or not paid at all,” says ITS Technical Director, Mark Oliver.

“The Metro ‘Pay by Space’ meters can be programmed to zero out any unexpired time when vehicles depart and there is no lost revenue like there is with the older multi-bay meters,” says Oliver.

“You can pay at any ‘Pay by Space’ Meter, whereas multi-bays have dedicated parking spaces which means lost revenue when one is out of order.”

Oliver says that a boost in parking revenue can also be expected as more motorists will comply with the parking regulations because the sensors alert the Parking Officers in real-time. “Palmerston North will be the largest test case we know of for a parking bay sensor system integrated to ‘Pay by Space’ meters. Councils around the world are running trials and looking closely at the technology. The race is now on to get the technology and the solution right.”

“It’s quite staggering the information that’s already coming out of the Palmerston North installation, but once all 4,000 sensors are in place and after six months we will be able to present a really convincing business case.“

Oliver says that Councils will realise how sensor-based management can improve parking availability and deliver better traffic management.

“Many processes around parking management are still done manually so an automated approach is valuable to them. If we can show the benefits from the Palmerston North City experience it will prove our case beyond question. The public will certainly like it as they no longer have to go back to their cars to display a ticket. They can just pay and walk away.”

ITS believes that Palmerston North will prove that the transition from ‘pay and display’ to ‘pay by space’ really works.

“The benefits are numerous,” says Oliver. “Parking Officers will be able to direct traffic to available parking spaces as this information will be displayed on their handhelds.”

This live occupancy data will enable Councils and private parking operators to better manage their parking spaces with flexible fee structures and time limits.

ITS plans to offer the meter and ground sensor combination to clients across Australasia, United Kingdom, Canada and USA.

“Because we are the manufacturer we can easily integrate our meters to any approved third party enforcement system.” says Oliver.

“We have 1,000 Metro ‘Pay by Plate’ meters now operating in Brisbane and if this Council decides to introduce licence plate recognition cameras we will be ready for the integration.”

ITS is also integrating ground sensors from MeterEye with Metro ‘Pay by Space’ meters operating in Liverpool, England.

ITS has service offices in all major centres throughout Australia and New Zealand. For more information: Integrated Technology Solutions Technical Director: Mark Oliver Tel: +64 9 448 0200 Email: Mark_Oliver@ITSLONLINE.COM Web: ITSLONLINE.COM