Parking & Access Control

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) State Route (SR) 237 Express Lanes, for which TransCore serves as lead integrator, received the 2012 Transportation Project of the Year Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). VTA is implementing the Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program to provide congestion relief in one of its major Bay Area commuter corridors. As part of the program, the SR 237, US 101, SR 85 and parts of I-680 corridor will convert the existin

One of a number of recent improvements and developments that have been carried out in Wellingborough town centre as part of Northamptonshire County Council’s Highways initiative is the installation of an access control gate system that gives public transport vehicles sole access to a designated town centre route during peak times. The council hopes that the system, which uses long-range vehicle identification technology to allow only buses and taxis to enter the specified route between the hours of 0900 to

Finland’s capital city, Helsinki, has installed an intelligent vehicle access control system in an effort to increase road safety, reduce hazardous emissions and make the city centre more cyclist and pedestrian friendly. Developed by Dutch vehicle detection supplier Nedap, the system provides selective vehicle access control, enabling the city to regulate traffic move movements and reduce the volume of vehicles in the city centre, by allowing only vehicles with a valid permit to enter. The system offers a

San Diego North County’s Interstate 15 corridor is best known for its flood of freeway traffic, not its mass transit stations. This is due to change next year, when the Sabre Springs/Penasquitos transit station, just east of I-15 on Sabre Springs Parkway, is set to undergo a US$12.2 million face-lift that will include a four-storey parking garage, electric vehicle charging stations, electronic next bus signs and even some smart parking spaces. “This will be our flagship station,” said Frank Owsiany, who ov

Drivers using the Windsor-Detroit tunnel linking Canada with the US will shortly be able to pay electronically on both sides of the border. Until now, electronic payment has only been available on the US side. Tunnel president Neal Belitsky said, “It’s part of a plan to eventually phase out tunnel tokens after 2013. We’re going to be getting out of the token business. If you look throughout the US or Canada, you can count the number of transportation facilities that use tokens ... probably on one hand.” T

Swedish parking services provider Cale Access has expanded its product offering with the acquisition of parking enforcement company Mobiway, manufacturer of Smartpark and Nice, a complete solution for enforcement queries and permits. Cale Access says this acquisition, and the addition of Smartpark to the current product offering, is a further step in the group’s ongoing strategy to offer complete parking solutions. “This solution is exactly what the industry needs to connect all payment suppliers on the mar

Revcon Technology Group, US-based turnkey parking systems provider, has installed licence plate recognition (LPR) systems from Hi-Tech Solutions (HTS), in several parking garages in Chicago. The LPR systems are integrated into a new overall parking management and revenue control system provided by TIBA Parking Solutions. Revcon says the HTS LPR system assists the garage operators to increase revenues with more accurate processing, auditing, control and billing functionality, as well as reduce loses due t

Norwegian-headquartered tolling specialist Q-Free is to acquire 100 per cent of the shares of TCS International (TCS). Established more than ten years ago, TCS has fifteen employees, with offices in Boston, US, and a subsidiary in Toronto, Canada. The company provides advanced transportation management systems (ATMS), specialising in intelligent parking guidance and management systems. TCS offers consulting solutions and systems design for a wide range of clients including cities, transportation organisati

Finnish identification solutions provider Idesco is deploying its access control readers for the expansion of the City of Oulu’s access control system. City systems integrators Stanley Security and Capitis Control chose the readers to enable access by thousands of municipal employees across two distinctive systems, in almost one hundred buildings. Idesco says the City of Oulu’s expanding access control system will begin saving money through its ongoing deployment of the latest generation of eco20 energy-sa

A custom-built application, powered by ParkMe, enables drivers in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to instantly locate available parking at the touch of a finger with the introduction of parking operator Colonial Parking's new website location finder map and mobile app for iPhone. ParkMe allows the data from Colonial's 250 locations to be streamed to mobile apps, in-car navigation systems and GPS devices and provides drivers with parking information, such as rates, entrance points and even real-time oc