Cheshire West and Chester Council’s new concessionary parking system, designed and installed by WPS, a UK parking systems provider, has been nominated for the Intelligent Parking Award at the British Parking Awards.
That award recognises smarter approaches to the planning and management of parking. Shortlisted projects show ‘joined-up’ or lateral thinking that deliver solutions to parking problems or needs. The council wanted a Pay-on-Foot car park in the city that serves the general public and patients and visitors of five medical practices.
The challenge was to ensure that customer service was optimised by clearly informing visitors whether they qualified for a concession, and that they then correctly got the available concession. The solution now in place is a bespoke management system centred around a custom-built Ticket Entry Terminal, designed exclusively for the council by WPS.
A single, twin-moded terminal is installed in each entry lane, enabling visitors to choose between surgery parking and public parking. If a surgery ticket is chosen the system automatically analyses the parking status and provides the visitor with a ‘concession parking available’ ticket (to be validated in the surgeries or clinic before exit), or informs them that concessions have reached the available limits and requires them to take a ‘standard’ public ticket.
Simon Jarvis Managing Director of WPS in the UK, says as the WPS, ParkAdvance system is fully IP based, validation is straightforward: “Each surgery is provided with their own internet Validation Web Page which requires no special software other than a standard web browser.”
Ken Prior of Cheshire West and Chester Council adds they are very pleased the project has been recognised for successfully delivering a solution to a complex parking challenge. He says: “Since the system was installed, it has met with overwhelming approval from all parties. It provides the highest level of customer service and visitor convenience while giving the very best security levels.”
The winners are announced on March 9 in London.
