07 March 2016
"We can say since this week that it works 98 percent, as we had set up as a requirement beforehand," says Mirjam Jahnke, head of Safety & Security at TU/e. Before that, certainly until a software update on Dec. 8, a lot was still going wrong with the system, which is supposed to alert motorists to how many parking spaces are still free.
The company IP Parking was responsible for building the infrastructure and implementing the referral system. Sales manager Gerwin Nent: "We were awarded the contract in early 2015, also for the paid parking, and we focused on the latter first - that had to work properly right from the beginning of April. So did the referral system, but in doing so we soon noticed that there were more deviations than we had intended."
The company already had experience with such a system, but the situation on the Eindhoven campus turned out to be slightly different on elementary points. Nent: "At the Amsterdam Rai, for example, we also realized this system, but that involved an indoor parking garage. Outside you have to deal with other aspects. Motorists have to drive straight in for the license plate recognition and some curves on the TU/e site turned out to be too tight. At the Auditorium, for example, we solved this by placing bollards, allowing motorists to turn right a bit later. So architecturally, we did have to make some concessions."
What also made it difficult was that vehicles were driving against traffic on certain stretches. Signs were placed for that. Nent: "Another thing we had to find a solution for is that cars with a trailer in front and behind do not always have the same license plate number."
Where IP Parking has also invested a lot of time and energy is in "a system that cleans itself. "Before, TU/e employees had to check weekly if the numbers were still correct, now they don't have to. The system resets itself." Jahnke says that the ever-changing number of parking spaces on campus didn't help either. "But now little changes."
The Executive Board, also on the advice of IP Parking, opted for a system based on license plate recognition rather than detection loops. "With such systems, you run a higher risk of anomalies," Nent states. "Cars driving behind each other are then counted as one car, for example. And the count cannot be corrected automatically either."
Choosing between two evils
Even though it didn't work optimally for a long time, the referral system was left on all that time. Nent: "It was a choice between two evils, but by leaving the system on, we were able to see where things were going right or wrong."
Meanwhile, the required operation of 98 percent has been achieved. The fact that some cars are still not registered is difficult to remedy. Jahnke: "Dirty license plates, for example, are difficult to read and some license plates are slightly bent, those are also less easily registered."
Source: Cursor TU/e