Skip to main content

New Zealand trials parking bay sensor technology

Wellington City Council in New Zealand has begun to trial Smart Parking’s bay sensor technology with the installation of an initial 72 sensors. On completion of a successful trial, which is scheduled to run to the end of April, the council plans a US$1.05 million rollout of 4,000 sensors across the inner city streets. The parking solution will also include Smart Parking’s SmartApp which will allow motorists to identify streets with available bays and avoid driving around searching for a spot on roads which
February 19, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSWellington City Council in New Zealand has begun to trial Smart Parking’s bay sensor technology with the installation of an initial 72 sensors.  On completion of a successful trial, which is scheduled to run to the end of April, the council plans a US$1.05 million rollout of 4,000 sensors across the inner city streets.

The parking solution will also include Smart Parking’s SmartApp which will allow motorists to identify streets with available bays and avoid driving around searching for a spot on roads which are already full.

The move will allow parking wardens to get real-time information about where people are overstaying. Equipped with this information, they will have more time to guide and provide advice to motorists by helping to direct customers looking for parking to nearby available casual parking places.

The system could also provide an opportunity for ‘dynamic parking, where the price would drop as more parking spaces became available.

“Early data from the trial suggest it is very successful” council spokesman Richard MacLean said. “Sensors have already been used in New Plymouth but technology has moved on considerably, and the equipment proposed for Wellington can do much more”.

Larry Eade, Smart Parking’s New Zealand head of Operations commented “The move will make finding a parking space easier whilst reducing congestion and improving motorist satisfaction in the process”.

Related Content

  • Smarter parking project kicks off in Pisa
    June 25, 2014
    The search for a free parking spot will soon be a thing of the past in the Italian city of Pisa thanks to the launch of a smart city pilot project to test an intelligent parking system and analyse historical traffic data via a big data services. The system will help motorists in Pisa to find a vacant parking space more easily, as well as pay for it via their smart phone. The city has joined forces with Deutsche Telekom and its partner firm Kiunsys to install the new smart city service. Sensors on the f
  • Creative finance enables parking progress in LA
    March 15, 2016
    David Crawford investigates an innovative public/private partnership. Los Angeles entered the second decade of the 21st century facing major challenges to its parking operations. With a population of 3.8 million, and its car-oriented culture still predominant, the city's parking meters were technically outdated - with most only accepting coins and many regularly out of service - resulting in a substantial loss of revenue. This coincided with a number of Californian cities looking to parking income to boost
  • UK town to use traffic lights to tackle speeding
    April 25, 2012
    Swindon in the UK is set to trial smart traffic lights which turn to red if approaching drivers are breaking the speed limit. Sensors will detect speeding vehicles and if they are above a preset limit then the signals ahead will turn to red. If congestion builds up then the traffic light phasing will change automatically to allow more traffic through the junction. ANPR systems will detect emergency vehicles and ensure they are not inhibited by the system.
  • New technologies enable increased collaboration, cooperation
    July 17, 2012
    The continued expansion of IP camera networks increases the availability of useful information. At the same time, the opportunity exists to increase inter-agency collaboration. This makes information management all the more necessary in the control room environment. But the transportation sector could do a lot to help itself by gaining a better idea up front of what and how it wants to do things, says Electrosonic's Karl Johnson.