ANPR for Local Authority Car Parks:

Present & Future Benefits

Craig Ta

ANPR: The Future Benefit in Parking

Cornwall Council has always been at the forefront of parking innovation. For example, in 2018, the council implemented its Positive Parking Framework for Cornwall, which is now seen as something of a blueprint of parking principles. The framework seeks to ensure that the economic, environmental, and community benefits of good parking management are realised within the towns, villages & cities of Cornwall.

This is evident in the rollout of contactless payment methods, which will make paying for parking provision far more convenient for the majority of people especially when the popularity of this payment method as a whole is considered. Indeed, this could go a long way in encouraging initial visits and trips to town / city centres as making payment would not be problematic i.e. having to find the correct amount of change. It also supports the service in reducing cash management/vandalism.

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Craig Ta

ANPR: The Future Benefit in Parking

Reduced council costs, less cash in vulnerable machines and decreased pressure on busy enforcement teams

However, we believe that more can still be done to provide greater levels of frictionless parking experiences, all of which will benefit customers, the local economy, the environment and our communities. A lot of the next steps will require ANPR usage, but we understand that Central Government may still need some convincing to provide Local Authorities in England and Wales with the same tools that are afforded to private parking operators.

It is for this reason that we have produced this piece with which we hope to demonstrate how local authorities and their drivers:

1. are currently able to benefit from ANPR, such as by allowing drivers to pay for parking via an account-based, automated payment system.

2. could benefit further if central government relaxed restrictions on the current level of ANPR usage to allow local authorities to increase compliance and efficiency by being able to access vehicle keeper details for the purposes of non-compliance with parking restrictions within car parks.

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Craig Ta

ANPR: How Councils can Benefit now

What some councils are unaware of is that they can start to benefit from the use of ANPR now, without any change to the legislation. By utilising ANPR-based Autopay, councils can save significant sums and introduce the considerable benefits of ANPR, whether or not the ANPR-based Autopay is run as the only payment option or alongside other payment options.

The benefits of ANPR-based Autopay are varied and substantial. The following table, based on the example of running an ANPR-based Autopay payment system on its own, highlights the immediate, direct savings:

Item Yearly saving per car park Saving over 10 years

Cost of 2 x P&D machines (annualised based on replacements)

Software and maintenance of 2 x P&D machines

Cash collection and processing from 2 x P&D machines

10% Reduction in 1 x CEO’s patrol time

TOTAL £5,900 £59,000

£900

£1,400

£1,300

£2,300

£9,000

£14,000

£13,000

£23,000

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Craig Ta

Increased revenue generation using ANPRThe benefits of introducing ANPR immediately are further still. Using ANPR-based Autopay is proven to have increased compliance (meaning greater revenue generation). Furthermore, with stationary ANPR in off-street car parks patrols from CEOs can be sent out only if compliance drops below a certain level, meaning CEOs can be deployed to other areas.

Additionally, unlike with cash or pay-by-phone methods, an ANPR-based Autopay system is proven to increase duration of stay of motorists, leading to both increased parking revenue and increased expenditure in the local economy. Indeed, a study by Hart et al found that shoppers spend an additional £0.62 per extra 1 minute of stay. Hozah-registered drivers stay, on average, over 30 minutes longer per visit, presumably because they do not have to rush back to their vehicle to avoid a PCN.

Whilst ANPR to the extent currently allowed by law provides many benefits to local authorities, we are calling for a change in current legislation to allow councils to utilise ANPR for enforcement, allowing councils the same rights that private land operators exercise. Modern technology companies prove that the use of ANPR is a force for good and by combining ANPR-based Autopay systems with full, ANPR-based enforcement a fairer system is created......

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ANPR and the Positive Parking FrameworkFull use of ANPR would allow for the majority of enforcement operations to take place within an office environment, rather than with patrols, allowing for reduced emissions of CEOs patrolling as well as a reduction in patrols in general, providing substantial savings.

Furthermore, ANPR has been proven to increase compliance, both from the perspective of payments via systems like Autopay, but also via drivers becoming aware that they are no longer able to simply chance not paying.

The use of innovative technologies can lead to cost savings through the improved efficiency of car park and enforcement operations, as well as to improvements in traffic management and air quality in populated areas. Technology can also improve customer experience of using car parks. Having learnt from other local authorities and industry experts in car park technology, the following primary technology principle was developed for the Positive Parking Framework:

Contactless payment to be the norm

Pay on FootAutomatic payment technology

Car park sensors to be considered at prime sites

Online accounts to be available

Improve blue badge monitoring technologies

Paperless parking reimbursement

Integrate parking with an existing travel app

Utilise CCTV for safety and traffic

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ANPR: The Facts

ANPR enables charging based on Co2 emissions whilst simultaneously reducing the need for Co2 producing visits to car parks for cash collection, maintenance, CEO patrols and more

Remote enforcement, via ANPR will result in an improvement in safety and job quality of CEOs, who will no longer be subject to the daily abuse they receive

Previous studies indicate that compliance via ANPR-based Autopay is over 99%, whereas compliance from pay-by-phone and cash is 60%. Therefore, assuming an example revenue of £100k p/a, the introduction of ANPR-based Autopay would move that to £140k; increasing revenue by £40k per car park, per year

An example £100k car park would process circa 28,500 transactions per day. If each transaction were 30 minutes longer because they use ANPR-based Autopay, drivers would spend an additional £18.60 in the local community. That would equate to a vast £530,100 additional local spend.

Furthermore, an additional 30 mins of parking would equate to an additional £1 .50 in tariff revenue. Based on 28,500 transactions, this would equate to an additional £42,500 of revenue to the council, based on a £3 tariff.

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Summary table of benefits of ANPR

Increased spend in local villages, towns

& Cities

Greater revenue generation from parking for local

authorities

Reduction in Co2 emissions in and

around car parks

Greater optimisation of CEO patrolling in off-street car parks

Ability to offer account-based

automatic payments

Greater revenue generation from parking for local

authorities

Increased safety in ANPR car parks for

CEOs and drivers alike

Higher parking compliance rates compared to cash

and pay-by-phone

COVID proof ways of paying for parking that don’t rely on the use of a smartphone

Vast data sets on car park, inc occupancy, average length-of-stay, EV vehicles &

more

Parking management made digital & able to become ‘office based’

Greater driver satisfaction using

the car parks

Reduction of operational burden on council teams to

manage enforcement

Removes the need for expensive/high

maintenance barrier systems in car parks

Less need for P&D machines and

associated costs

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Summary of financial benefits of ANPR-based Autopay

Increased Compliance £40,000.00

Longer car park stay £42,500.00

Savings on P&D machines £5,900.00

Increased spend in local economy from longer parking sessions

£530,100.00

Extra cash made available to the council

Total amount gained for council and local economy

£88,400.00

£618,500.00

Per car park,

Per year.

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ANPR: Ripe for Local Authorities

It’s apparent that with an ethical approach, both drivers and local authorities alike can reap the benefits of introducing ANPR into their day-to-day parking operations. ANPR

is proven to be the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and accurate way to

manage car parking in 2020.

While it may take time for Local Authorities to be permitted to utilise ANPR to it’s fullest, there is nothing stopping councils from benefitting from the immediate benefits ANPR can provide today whilst simultaneously future-proofing their car parks to finally become smart car parks.

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