Skip to main content

Smart parking for a smarter city says Beecham Research

Smart Parking could relieve congestion, reduce driver frustration, improve health and give a vital boost to the future of our cities, says Dr Therese Cory, the principal author of a new report from Beecham Research. Cities are centres for business, government and culture, attracting high volumes of workers and visitors. But today, the use of modern communications and information technology is enabling City authorities to explore new ways to make their cities work better. The Beecham report examines a nu
March 28, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
Smart Parking could relieve congestion, reduce driver frustration, improve health and give a vital boost to the future of our cities, says Dr Therese Cory, the principal author of a new report from Beecham Research.

Cities are centres for business, government and culture, attracting high volumes of workers and visitors. But today, the use of modern communications and information technology is enabling City authorities to explore new ways to make their cities work better.  The Beecham report examines a number of ongoing smart parking trials in major cities from Birmingham to Moscow, using road mounted sensors in busy shopping or tourist centres.  Drivers use smartphone apps to access data collected from these sensors and analysed in central IT systems to produce a map of free spaces. In the near future, automotive manufacturers will make this feature available from their in-car telematics displays.

"Road systems provide the vital arteries for commercial and business activities but parking has become a major problem in all cities," says Dr Cory. "Early smart parking apps may appear to be a novelty, but they are just the start and alleviating parking congestion could deliver major benefits by helping to eliminate time wastage, cut petrol consumption and reduce harmful exhaust emissions. We can learn from these relatively circumscribed smart parking initiatives to shape future, larger scale smart city projects to drive further productivity and prosperity."
 
For the report, Beecham Research conducted interviews with a broad range of participants needed to deliver smart parking solutions, including sensor manufacturers, wireless network designers, mobile operators and IT system developers, integrators and analysts.  But in addition, Beecham also harnessed the views and experiences of city authorities, funding bodies, concession owners, building contractors and others; not forgetting the motorists who will use and pay for their parking spaces.  
 
The report highlights the dual challenges faced in: Fine tuning the machine to machine (M2M) value chain to work well at the lowest cost Enabling small companies with state-of-the-art technologies to engage with large traditional bodies such as City departments and public services providers, where specialised skills are often needed to enable these partners to work together. The report also looks at noteworthy results gained from trials so far and explains the stages and multidimensional factors needed to successfully deploy smart parking projects.

"For some cities, keeping traffic moving and providing hassle-free parking is the main aim; while for others, maximising revenues by matching parking fees to demand patterns and driver habits will be a key driver," says Therese Cory. "Lessons learned from smart parking initiatives should augment the understanding of how cities operate and how their citizens behave in order to move towards a truly smarter city."

Related Content

  • Erskine Bridge goes Bluetooth
    May 12, 2014
    The Erskine Bridge vehicle safety barrier replacement team introduced what is said to be a UK first in temporary traffic management on major trunk roads projects with the use of Bluetooth technology to monitor journey times and keep drivers updated on potential delays. Working on behalf of Transport Scotland, with Leeds-based Sky High Technology, contractor Highway Barrier Solutions and the Scotland TranServ project team introduced the origin-destination vehicle movement system to establish how long it w
  • ITS European Congress: safer and cleaner mobility
    August 6, 2019
    Smart mobility and the increasing digitalisation of transport were among the main themes of this year’s ITS European Congress in the Netherlands. Ben Spencer picks some highlights from conference sessions which considered possible future developments Navigating between the Evoluon conference centre - a former science museum that resembles a giant-sized UFO - and an automotive campus, there was a lot to see at the 13th ITS European Congress in Brainport, Eindhoven. Organised by Ertico – ITS Europe and th
  • The inside story of how traffic chaos was avoided after I-95 collapse
    August 23, 2023
    June’s collapse of major US roadway I-95 in Pennsylvania could have caused lengthy traffic chaos. But - relatively speaking at least - it didn’t and gridlock was avoided. Alan Dron finds out why
  • Study finds big differences in toll collection cases
    December 16, 2013
    Examination of Norway’s tolling companies finds much to praise, and some criticisms too, as Torill Eidsheim told delegates at the ASECAP conference. The cost of collecting tolls has a substantial effect on the profitability, or otherwise, of tolling companies and is within the company’s control to a far greater degree than, for instance, traffic volumes. And while it is easy to assume that all tolling companies incur similar collection costs, that is not always the case according to Torill Eidsheim, pres