Driving social impact and efficiency through innovative parking control management.

Working in collaboration to drive efficiencies and improve residents’ experiences.

The Challenge In Watford, 6,500 resident parking permits & 18,000 visitor permits are issued every year. Additionally, 500,000 taxi journeys are taken annually. This is all managed by 15 civil enforcement officers (CEOs).

In early 2018 Watford Borough Council set out to find a way of obtaining reports on unauthorised use of resident parking and taxi bays and the real-time status of parking spaces and taxi rank queues. The solution had to meet specific criteria - be simple to deploy and integrate with existing enforcement systems.

PROJECT METHODOLOGY Watford’s use case differs from traditional parking solutions that typically only provide drivers / CEOs with information on occupied / vacant parking spaces.

Watford and IoTSG have worked closely together to develop and refine this model to bring together a range of data sets that provide CEOs with information about where there is a potentially illegally parked vehicle.

The project is being delivered through multiple proof of concepts:

1. Prove the technology
2. CPZ trial
3. Limited Wait bays

Technology The battery powered parking sensors use LPWAN to send information back to a centralised software dashboard and provide alerts to CEOs on infringements. The system integrates data from RingGo with visitor permit information.

Benefits The project promises to deliver significant financial / efficiency benefits by transforming the enforcement approach, as CEOs will have information to target where they operate based on a knowledge of potential contraventions.

Additionally, through the provision of information to those driving in Watford about the availability of vacant spaces, this is expected to deliver a number of social benefits – less wasted time for drivers looking for spaces, reduced congestion and emissions, economic benefits through easier access to parking in small High Streets, potentially reduced parking contraventions, due to the more efficient enforcement model being a deterrent.

Value Chain IoT projects comprise multiple components; sensing devices, data processing, connectivity, cloud storage, analytics and machine intelligence. Often IoT projects fail as these elements are procured independently without the ability to control integration.

IoTSG was chosen as WBC’s partner due to their ability to deliver the whole value chain – ensuring integration and reducing the costs of deployment.

The Importance of Partnership The key to the success of the programme of work rests on the relationship between WBC and IoTSG. Such deployments vary from town to town, so close collaboration and consultation between the parties has been imperative, with input required across departments to ensure success.