City of Charles Sturt gets a boost with sensor and camera based smart parking
Starting 1 July 2019, local businesses and organisations with the City of Charles Sturt Council will be able to streamline and maintain operational efficiency with dramatically improved parking turnover.
An innovative smart system, developed by a local Adelaide technology company, is set to transform the way parking is done in the western suburbs.
The area’s traders had been expressing their dismay to Council at lack of foot traffic. Which they believed to be hampered by the lack of parking availability. It had been reported that people had been overstaying in car parks, creating quite the problem for convenience in the area. Traders found it to be a deterrent for potential and existing customers, affecting their bottom line.
This problem has only increased over time by visitors to the area that park their vehicles and then commute to the city. And has been a labour intensive task to manage and monitor without the appropriate outcome of improving vehicle turnover.
According to former Mayor Kirsten Alexander, ‘Traders were complaining that the one hour spots were being parked in for hours at a time and presumably by people catching the tram into town.’
With eSMART 21’s AutoFine technology, however, this is set to turn around and provide better turnover and increased patronage to local businesses. The innovative AutoFine system uses several advanced detection sensors and cameras to monitor car parks. With enforcement grade sensors and camera technologies, the captured data is then run through a specifically designed software that calculates the time each vehicle remains parked and photographs the number plates of vehicles that stay beyond the limit without the need for parking inspectors. Additionally, it manages all fines and overstays and automatically sends infringement notices to offenders by post.
After a successful previous trial in the City of Charles Sturt Council area— near the busy hot spot of the Entertainment Centre— the results of the trial proved outstanding, with an increase of 34 per cent in car turnover.
A significant benefit is the promise of reduced labour since the previous system of using officer patrols has been resource demanding. Especially considering the fact that the many public parking areas within the City of Charles Sturt are spread across the expansive Council area.
The new system also coincides with the Council’s strategic outcomes of building an economically thriving and competitive city whilst promoting and supporting local economic growth. And it will be rolled out across a busy part of Port Road, opposite the Hindmarsh Library.
This kind of solution makes Adelaide lead the way when it comes to technology answers for everyday problems that affect the community.
‘We are able to continue developing smart technologies for South Australia and beyond. What’s more, is that we are able to increase local job opportunities and continue growing the local economy as more and more organisations invest in our solution,’ Dr Jega Balakrishnan, Director and Founder, eSMART 21.
AutoFine is believed to be the first of its kind in the world and now that it’s being implemented into City of Charles Sturt, it may soon become a standard in public car parks across Australia. According to Dr Balakrishnan, ‘we haven’t seen anything similar in the world. There are other technologies but there are none that don’t require parking inspectors to do some form of monitoring. This process is completely electronic.’
About AutoFine
AutoFine is an automated car park tracking and citation system that will revolutionise the monitoring and management of car parking. This system was developed by one of Australia’s leading developer of sensor based smart parking technology solutions, based in Adelaide.
The system also generates accurate car park usage reports and in depth analytics automatically to give organisations a better understanding of how their parking spaces are being used. It delivers more accurate results than manual inspections and identifies more infringements, leading to an increase in car park turnover.
This helps businesses improve revenue while saving resources and manpower by tracking parking behaviour and issuing fines to motorists who overstay their parking quota based on local parking legislation.
eSMART 21 is currently in discussions with other councils about trialling the system.
Key facts
- Automated parking system
- Will roll out over City of Charles Sturt Council, opposite Hindmarsh Library, Port Road
- Incredibly successful trial completed
- 1 July 2019 for approximately four years
- Almost a 40% increase in vehicle turnover
- Key benefit is the increase in turnover and contribution to bettering local traders’ bottom line