The parking technology business APT Skidata and British parking operators CitiPark have agreed a partnership to make the parking experience "as hassle free as possible" and reward lower-emission vehicles when parking.
CitiPark has installed APT Skidata's emissions-based parking tariff technology at its Clipstone Street branch in Central London, on a trial basis. The installation is the first of its kind in the UK, which sets individual parking tariffs according to vehicles' CO2 emissions ' therefore incentivising city drivers towards low or zero emission vehicles.
The system at Clipstone Street uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to identify and record each vehicle as it enters a car park, and compares the plate to a database that includes details on CO2 emissions. Those details are subsequently taken into consideration on payment, with the correct tariff automatically calculated.
The companies say this closer cooperation builds on a successful relationship that has been build up over the last eight years. To date, CitiPark has installed APT Skidata's technology at 12 of its 15 sites, and this is set to be extended at additional Citipark branches this year.
Pete Brown, APT Skidata's Managing Director, says the partnership makes both business and technological sense, 'We have built a mutual relationship on trust and reliability,' he says. 'But CitiPark has also been helping us to develop and bring to market our latest and most innovative products. Parking operators, like CitiPark, are cutting edge and by keeping pace with the changes around us, that means their requirements are becoming increasingly more technological with a focus on software solutions. With our team of developers and our bank of innovative solutions we are able to provide the most up to date technologies that benefit the customer base of CitiPark.'
Ben Ziff, Managing Director of CitiPark, adds that APT Skidata helps it to provide quality services, 'APT Skidata has proven to be a key technology partner, providing us with equipment that is efficient, effective, and also aesthetically pleasing. But as our business grows we are adopting new approaches and APT Skidata has been able to help us beyond the provision of parking equipment. The introduction of emission-based tariffing is a perfect example of this,' he adds.
Brown adds that the technology has the potential to alter the way tariffs are calculated in all city centres, 'They are the places that typically have the highest levels of pollution, and emissions-based tariffs addresses this.
'With more people than ever aware of their environmental impact, and the drive towards decreasing urban emissions, we expect the take up of emissions-based tariff calculation to be exponential,' he concludes.
In CitiPark's case, cars emitting up to 75 grams of carbon dioxide per km, defined as an 'ultra low emission vehicle', qualify for a cheaper tariff with rates starting at 20% less than the regular cost.
