Hot Topics Subscribe to Newsletter Tell a Friend Print this Page 07/17/2008 Carrot Versus Stick: Two Big-City Wireless Parking-Meter Solutions Compared Over the past year, Westminster City Council and integrator Vertex have been trialing CCTV cameras to monitor parking infringements across Soho and the West End. The cameras detect and fine vehicles that are parked or moving illegally and causing obstructions to other drivers. Drivers receiving a violation in the mail can enter the number online and view footage before paying for or appealing a ticket. Britain's Traffic Management Act, passed in April, further gives local authorities the option to change the name of parking attendants to "Civil Enforcement Officers" who are able to gather information that may be used as evidence for “Anti-Social Behaviour Orders,” as well as issuing parking fines. "The use of wireless CCTV cameras for parking is yet another enlightened parking measure and will improve traffic flows in the heart of London," says Westminster Councillor Danny Chalkley, Council Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Transport, in a Vertex press release. In San Francisco, through a program called SFpark, the city and partner Streetline are adhering wireless sensors at the edges of 6,000 parking spaces to feed information back to multi-space meters and a central database that will allow drivers to look for open parking spaces online. Pricing of available spaces will rise and fall on the basis of total occupancy at any given time. “This program is trying to test the idea that demand pricing can reduce congestion,” Judson True, a spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency told The New York Times. “We will address the meter prices gradually. We’re looking at changing rates up or down 25 cents as often as every month.” While reducing congestion is a primary project driver in both London and San Francisco, it will be interesting to compare the two approaches in the coming months. An article in The Guardian points to the anger that video enforcement creates in UK drivers, and in Westminster, additional benefits of the CCTV solution includes "increased confidence of Parking Attendants regarding their personal safety and increased driver awareness that can be picked up on camera for PA abuse. We therefore anticipate a reduction in reported attacks on PAs." Will peak-hour pricing and cell-phone reminders soften the experience for drivers and attendants in San Francisco while achieving the overall goal of reducing congestion? Only time will tell. When SFpark is comes online this fall, drivers will be able look at maps of available spaces on street signs and potentially on their handheld devices, as well as receive alerts inviting them to add more credit through their PDA without going back to the meter. If only John and Paul hadn't set a precedent of propositioning the parking attendant, maybe Londoners wouldn't need to be so fixated on enforcement! Lovely Rita meter maid May I inquire discreetly (Lovely Rita) When are you free to take some tea with me? (Lovely Rita, maid, ah) Rita! back Related Items: • Molfetta, Italy • Wi-Fi on Greyhound Buses in Northeast Corridor • Can Sweden Reach Consensus on Congestion Charging? • Government Processes Reengineering Roundtable: Summary Comments No records were found. Post new comment: Only registered users can add comments. Please Log-in

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