Parking systems business APT Skidata has completed a major new contract to provide Cambridge City Council with a wide range of parking, car park management and people access management technologies after what it calls a lengthy and complex tender process.
APT Skidata will provide both the parking facility hardware - which includes its proven, state-of-the-art barriers and payment stations - and all of the associated software that enables parking facilities to integrate directly with retailers' promotions and maximise city events and other initiatives.
The initial provision is for the Grand Arcade multi-storey car park, where ten payment machines and 12 barriers have been installed. The next stages of the project could include Cambridge's other four multi-storey car parks, which when installation is complete, will provide a single networked and centralised car park management solution.
Sean Cleary, Commercial Operations Manager, Parking Services at Cambridge City Council says the tender design process took the best part of three years to complete: 'The reason for the complexity of the project is that we wanted to take full advantage of all available integration technology that would enable us to work in partnerships with retailers, businesses and event organisers in Cambridge,' he says. 'It needed to be future proof.'
APT Skidata says its technology enables consumers to book and pay for their parking and Sean says the Council is interested in its full capabilities: 'We are keen to investigate how the APT Skidata system can incorporate purchases of refreshments, booking of hotel stays or securing tickets for city events and all within the same process of when paying for parking. ANPR technology, bar code and QR to mobile phone data are areas we really want to interrogate and use so that visitors can pre-book activities and have the option of either printing tickets at home or saving these directly to electronic devices, whilst maintaining an efficient access system.'
