Thursday, October 25, 2012

Car park enforcement and the use of modern technology

car park
The rising number of car park comes as a direct result of the increasing use of the modern technologies that are used in car park enforcement. Some drivers have resisted the use of these technologies but from the perspective of the car park enforcement, it shows that the use of modern technologies enable greater level of car park enforcement than ever. Reputable companies do not use this new technology as a way of making extra profit. They use them as mean of ensuring that proper protocol is carried out in the parking area especially in those areas, which are too far to use manual methods of enforcement.
One example, which shows how modern technology is in form, is the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). This procedure was first put in place after the Scottish government abolished parking fees at the NHS hospitals. Although there was no parking fee, they required a system, which meant that patients, staff and visitors had a place to park their cars. The new system was introduced whereby patients and visitors had to access parking area for certain duration of time and therefore they implemented four-hour time limit.

In order to make this system effective an ANPR system was introduced to monitor the number of car coming in and out of the parking area. In case a car is parked for more than four hours the attendants is alerted and the necessary action is taken. The system has already proven itself effective and efficient way of controlling car park activity in places where parking is free but still a need controls, limitations and checks. In addition, there are other benefits of using this electronic system such as a report of the number of users of the parking, its peak time and frequent users. Therefore, it is possible to make adjustment and improvement to the current system to keep it efficient as possible.

Another example the introduction of CP plus car park management services at Darlington College in the county of Durham. A new campus at the college site came up with four hundred spaces for car park. The car park was only for student and college staff. The enforcement of the car park was challenged by the fact that the parking fee was required to be minimal as possible, until this point; there was no parking fee for student and staff. Nevertheless, it was important to introduce some fee to fund the security and maintenance of the car park to ensure secure and safe parking.

The installation of the parking enforcement device was to implement small parking fees of around fifty pence in a day for students, visitors and staff. The other issue that was required to be taken into account was the high demand for parking spaces. Therefore, the system was put in place for the institution to have control over the process of implementing the charges. The objective was to keep low charges by introducing staged tariff over a period of seven years. The demand for parking space was dealt with by introducing registration system and secure pass to ensure that only legitimate people use the park. These policies were created to deal with wide variety of enforcement issues.

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