City 'smart parking' trial to begin
Electronic parking wardens are coming to a street near you. But Hamilton City Council is warning motorists not to change their behaviour while it puts their parking habits under the microscope.
The council will next week begin a survey of parking behaviour as part of its plans to re-energise the central city. Over the next two months a "Smart Parking Trial", mixing two technology systems, will collect information on where vehicles park and help council identify areas of highest demand, understand how long vehicles are parked and show at what times of the day visitor numbers to the city centre are at their highest.
Thirty temporary sensors will be placed in city parking bays, for one or two days at a time, which will reveal when cars arrive and leave from a parking space. Alternately, a branded council vehicle, armed with an infra red camera, will also do loops of city streets recording details of cars and comparing images from trip to trip to see whether vehicles have moved and how frequently occupancy of parking spaces is changing.
Council spokesman Philip King said motorists were encouraged to park as they normally would during the survey. "Parking bay sensors and survey cars are for data collection only and no extra tickets will be issued," he said.
Only numbers of vehicles and vehicle stay times were being stored and no personal information would be gathered.
"Parking availability has been highlighted as one of the challenges facing vitality in the city heart. In Hamilton we have enough parking spaces but we are not using them well," he said.
The survey data is due to be presented to the council's transport committee on June 15. Some $25,000 has been budgeted to run the trial and look at what regulations might be needed.
"We are committed to looking at ways to increase the viability and vitality of the city centre." Mr King said.
Thirty temporary sensors will be placed in city parking bays, for one or two days at a time, which will reveal when cars arrive and leave from a parking space. Alternately, a branded council vehicle, armed with an infra red camera, will also do loops of city streets recording details of cars and comparing images from trip to trip to see whether vehicles have moved and how frequently occupancy of parking spaces is changing.
Council spokesman Philip King said motorists were encouraged to park as they normally would during the survey. "Parking bay sensors and survey cars are for data collection only and no extra tickets will be issued," he said.
Only numbers of vehicles and vehicle stay times were being stored and no personal information would be gathered.
"Parking availability has been highlighted as one of the challenges facing vitality in the city heart. In Hamilton we have enough parking spaces but we are not using them well," he said.
The survey data is due to be presented to the council's transport committee on June 15. Some $25,000 has been budgeted to run the trial and look at what regulations might be needed.
"We are committed to looking at ways to increase the viability and vitality of the city centre." Mr King said.
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