Parking & Access Control

With drivers sometimes waiting up to several hours to cross the US-Mexico border, the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) is partnering with the city of El Paso to provide real-time traffic updates so drivers can plan accordingly and avoid long waits. Using Bluetooth and radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, wait times will be available to motorists and commercial shippers so they can modify travel plans as needed. As Bluetooth devices in passenger vehicles and RFID transponders in com

Xerox and Parkmobile have been selected to upgrade parking meter technology in the City of St Louis as part of an ongoing effort to modernise operations. The goal is to provide the city with a cost-effective on-street parking system that allows people to use cash, credit cards and mobile phones to pay for parking. Xerox will be responsible for upgrading parking meters and software technology, while Parkmobile will be responsible for launching a smartphone app to pay for parking. During a recent six month pa

Italy-based Hub Parking Technology, a business group of automated access systems supplier FAAC, has acquired Australian vehicle access control company Parking & Time Recording Services (PTRS). Based in the Sydney area, PTRS has already a long history story of mutual cooperation with the FAAC Group, being a local distributor of Zeag parking systems and installer of FAAC gate automation. According to Hub, the combination of the two companies will increase the value the company delivers to customers by

Car park equipment manufacturer APT Skidata has partnered with PayPal to become what is said to be first to market with a mobile phone app solution for paying for parking. The solution, which is being used for the first time at Westfield London, enables Users to simply download and open the PayPal app; they then select ‘Westfield London Parking’ from the ‘local’ section and receive a barcode for their stay. They take a ticket from the car parking entry terminal as normal, but when they come to pay they s

Q-Free has signed a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of Open Roads Consulting for a cash consideration of approximately US$6.2 million. Further consideration is dependent on future financial performance. The transaction is expected to be closed within the end of the third quarter 2014. The acquisition represents a milestone for Q-Free and is a strategically good match with other advanced traffic management systems (ATMS) and road user charging (RUC) activities within the group. It will

In a contract worth US$1.4 million Q-Free TCS is to supply the City of Montgomery in the US with an advanced transportation management system (ATMS). The contract is for a parking guidance system which will begin in July and delivered by the end of 2014. Q-Free TCS has previously delivered two parking guidance systems to the same customer. “Q-Free is the market leader within parking guidance solutions in North America. This contract confirms the attractiveness of our offering in this market,” says Q-F

UK-based parking specialist Parkeon is to install 43 Parkeon Strada Rapide terminals in Birmingham, on behalf of Birmingham City Council. The terminals are all mains powered, coin-only meters, with the added benefit of being fitted with 3G modems enabling connection to the Parkfolio centralised management system, an easy to use flexible, web-based system that will enable the council to control parking by live monitoring live of financial and terminal status across the parking zones. All the new termi

Q-Free is to supply advanced transportation management systems (ATMS) to Ljubljana City (Ljubljanska Parkirisca and Trznice) in Slovenia, in a contract worth US$875,000. The contract, which runs for three years, includes seven new parking systems, maintenance and support of the parking systems and upgrading of the existing central system. Implementation begins this month. “Q-Free is the market leader in road user charging and ATMS solutions in Slovenia. This contract confirms the attractiveness of o

Polis and the European Parking Association have arranged a joint workshop in Lisbon on the final day of the Iberian Parking Congress, 19 September, focused on standardised solutions for on-street parking, including technologies to support parking management. The workshop will provide attendees with information: New planning and tendering approaches to integrate parking management better in urban transport policy; and technologies for on-street parking management and enforcement (sensors, ANPR, integrat

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