Skip to main content

Swarco parks up at Warwick University

Warwick needed to maximise available parking across 27 on-campus car parks
By David Arminas May 28, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
The entire site is managed by Swarco's web-based Zephyr solution

Swarco Traffic has installed a complete parking solution and management system for the UK’s Warwick University to help reduce congestion across the entire campus.
 
Warwick is working on its five-year plan to develop its campus and facilities and is targeting student population growth as much as 40% by 2030.

As part of the plan, the university needed to upgrade its transport systems and in particular, improve parking facilities and parking management across the campus.
 
One of the main issues it faced was coordinating its traffic flow management.

Drivers were struggling to find available parking spaces, causing congestion and at times a chaotic parking experience. Ultimately the university needed to find a solution that maximised the available parking spaces across 27 on-campus car parks.
 
Swarco's solution encompasses both hardware and management software.

The company says it quickly identified that a lack of parking spaces was not the problem; the challenge was in identifying where parking was available - and specifically signposting spaces that were vacant.
 
Swarco recommended a combination of different types of sign types across the campus and which clearly displayed space-availability arrows, featuring the number of free spaces in green or displaying ‘full’ in red.

This enables drivers to clearly see whether or not spaces are available from a distance and take a different route before entering a line of vehicles and adding to congestion.

These signs are complemented with full-colour variable messaging signs for providing parking and traffic flow information, site-wide safety announcements and to tell drivers and visitors of any events, maintenance works or road closures.
 
Intelligent data is sent to the signs by a series of car park counters and inductive loops that record all vehicles entering and exiting a car park. Data and status of the car parks are always up to date, enabling the university to better manage parking availability.
 
The entire site is managed by Swarco’s Zephyr, a web-based user interface solution.

Project manager Tony Gillings says this enables users to quickly and easily edit message and pictogram displays at the touch of a button, as well upload new text and graphics.

The platform can access data on traffic, speeds and volumes as well as set timetables, on/off times and provide key information such as power monitoring, LED monitoring and radar monitoring.

Related Content

  • Cost Benefit: Utah traffic light scheme pays dividends
    March 15, 2019
    A traffic signal control scheme in Utah is being taken up by other US authorities. David Crawford finds out how the Beehive State is leading the way in DoT and driver savings Growing numbers of US state departments of transportation (DoTs) and their road users are gaining real financial benefits from an advanced approach to traffic signal monitoring recently developed in Utah. Central to the system is its use of automated traffic signal performance measures (ATSPM) technology, brought in to improve th
  • Growth of smart parking initiatives
    April 25, 2013
    New initiatives in smart parking have been announced in the US and Europe in recent months. Is the age of smarter parking finally with us? Jon Masters investigates. Smart parking comes to Manchester, reads the headline to a story posted on the UK city’s website towards the end of March this year. Sensors will be fixed to parking spaces to give drivers and authorities information on parking availability via mobile phone apps and other software, the story goes on to explain. Lower down the page, Manchester Ci
  • Swarco Profectus monitors school signs
    August 9, 2017
    Swarco Traffic has launched Profectus, allowing local authorities to monitor and control the performance of school signs
  • How ITS helped Coachella get its groove back
    November 15, 2024
    California’s Coachella Valley attracts visitors to myriad music and sports events. But now an ambitious traffic management initiative aims to cut travel times and reduce emissions. Adam Hill talks to the engineers involved in the massive CV Sync project