APT Skidata and CitiPark partnership trialling greener parking technologies

The Swarco and Skidata parking technology joint venture APT Skidata has formed a partnership with leading UK parking operator CitiPark that is trialling new parking technologies to help reduce city vehicle emissions.

The closer cooperation between the two companies builds on a successful eight-year long relationship that has already seen CitiPark installing APT Skidata’s technology at 12 of its 15 sites, with this due to be extended at additional branches later this year. CitiPark installed APT Skidata’s emissions-based parking tariff technology at its Clipstone Street branch in central London, on a trial basis. The first of its kind in the UK, the installation sets individual parking tariffs according to vehicles’ CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions, incentivizing city drivers towards low or zero emission vehicles.

The system at Clipstone Street uses automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras to identify and record each vehicle as it enters a car park, and compares the license to a database that includes details on CO₂ emissions. Those details are subsequently taken into consideration on payment, with the correct tariff automatically calculated. In CitiPark’s case, cars emitting up to 75gms of CO₂/km, defined as an ‘ultra-low emission vehicle’ (ULEV), qualify for a cheaper tariff, with rates starting at 20% less than the regular cost.

“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,” explained CitiPark’s managing director Ben Ziff.

“The introduction of emission-based tariffing is a perfect example of this. We hope the emissions-based technology will improve air quality by encouraging motorists toward greener vehicles. We believe that the infrastructures supporting the automotive industry and governmental green agendas should also be adopting the same forward thinking approach.”

APT Skidata’s managing director, Pete Brown, commented, “CitiPark has been helping us to develop and bring to market our latest and most innovative products. Emissions-based technology has the potential to alter the way tariffs are calculated in all city centers. 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.”