SKIDATA Case Study: Residential Parking Amsterdam (NL)

The harbor city of Amsterdam has more than 800,000 inhabitants and has numerous communal and private parking garages spread throughout the entire city. These parking garages are frequented by a variety of users such as shoppers, residents, office workers and tourists.

The situation for on-street residential parking in Amsterdam is challenging. Long waiting periods to obtain a permit due to their scarce availability and long times spent searching for a parking space are a daily occurrence. To relieve on-street parking, an initiative was taken by the city. In the interests of the environment and preserving the cityscape, residents can now park their vehicles in selected inner-city parking garages at night.

In order to realize this overall concept for on-street and off-street parking, the Dutch city is working together with SKIDATA. City parking garages such as Markenhoven, Piet Heijn, Stopera/Muziektheater and Willemspoort are now equipped with SKIDATA solutions and are available to residents for nighttime parking alongside conventional parking facilities.

From the streets to the parking garages

The initiative serves to reduce the number of residents parking their vehicles on the streets where instead they could park in one of these parking garages. Until now, there have generally been two options for residents: Resident either wait until an on-street parking space becomes available, or they park outside of the city in combination with using a public transportation ticket. Neither solution was ideal for either the resident or the city.

Together SKIDATA and the city found a solution by offering residents a defined time window during which they can park in the parking garages located in the city. So they can park in the existing urban parking garages within the permitted time at reasonable prices. In addition, the city has rented or bought parking spaces in private or commercial company parking garages in order to use the vacant space in the evening and thus be able to provide more parking. This way the parking spaces are used in an ideal manner.

Technically the system is based on a link server. This allows for automated authorization and payment in the garages. Entry can be granted via a payment service or, for example, by permit. The link server ensures that if a vehicle wants to obtain entry, the payment or authorization request is sent to the payment service provider - e.g. provider system, licensing system, webshop or ticket shop - in order to obtain permission for access.

Special features

• At the SKIDATA entrance column, drivers with a parking permit are issued with a special barcode door ticket to operate the automated personal access points in the parking garage.
• If parking times are exceeded, drivers can simply pay at the exit using the Dip & Go / Tap & Go methods (optional function

Project information

Car park operator: Parkeergebouwen Amsterdam

Date of installation: Q4/2012 (Markenhoven), Q1/2013 (Willemspoort, Stopera/Muziektheater, Piet Hein)

Number of parking garages: 4

Number of parking spaces: Markenhoven: 352, Willemspoort: 109, Stopera/Muziektheater: 400, Piet Hein: 588

Date carriers: Shortterm tickets, Mifare, LPR

About SKIDATA

SKIDATA is an international leader in the field of access solutions and their management. Almost 10,000 SKIDATA installations worldwide in ski resorts, shopping centers, major airports, municipalities, sports stadiums, trade shows, and amusement parks provide secure and reliable access and entry control for people and vehicles. SKIDATA places great value in providing solutions that are intuitive, easy to use, and secure. The integrated concepts of SKIDATA solutions help clients optimize performance and maximize profits. SKIDATA Group (www.skidata.com) belongs to the publicly traded Swiss Kudelski Group (www.nagra.com), a leading provider of digital security solutions.