EPA-Polis workshop: en route for standardised parking solutions!
These are the main conclusions from the workshop:
- There is need for an integrated quality framework for on-street parking. EPA is currently working on a quality standard for on-street parking service provision. This includes elements such as planning, enforcement, street operations etc. At the workshop, the Dutch quality standard was presented by CROW: a set of check-lists helps local authorities to assess the quality level in the on-street parking environment. Also the city of Madrid presented its integrated vision for a coherent parking policy, based upon high quality service provision and performance.
- The technological environment to allow for standardized solutions across an urban territory. High performance of parking operations coincides in the cases presented with a choice for license plate based digital parking environments. In the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands a scancar was purchased allowing for a reduction in parking management staff from 65 people to 15 people. In Madrid, the license plates enable a qualification of vehicles based upon their environmental performance. The cost of parking is linked to this ‘ecoscore’.
- There is the need to address the needs of specific target groups. The SIMON project is developing (on behalf of the European Commission) a new standard for the European disability parking card. The famous blue card is made smarter by means of an RFID tag, allowing for better identification and enforcement.
- Also short term parking for shopping is addressed: parking sensors made it possible in Kortrijk (Belgium) to develop a scheme of high rotation for an inner city shopping area, thus enabling a fair and effective system.
And who is in the driving seat to make all of this happen? The Dutch national authorities present explained the role of the Dutch centralized parking datawarehouse. The Dutch representative called upon larger cities present to take the lead and enter into a dialogue with the national government to initiate centralized data facilities for parking. The CEN/CENELEC representative emphasized the role of European standards, for instance for data-exchange, in order to overcome barriers and move away from the current situation where several valuable initiatives remain isolated.
EPA and Polis will continue to cooperate on the establishment of the on-street parking standard.
For more information: icre@polisnetwork.eu
All presentations are available here.