WPS, JustPark and Cornwall Council nominated for British Parking Award

Integrating technologies to provide optimum customer experience

WPS, one of the UK’s leading parking equipment providers, JustPark and Cornwall Council have been nominated for a British Parking Award – in the Parking Technology category.

The nomination is in recognition of a new solution that combines the benefits of WPS’ ParkAdvance pay-on-foot parking system with JustPark’s payment app technology to enhance the customer experience at 12 Cornwall Council car parks.

Already fully operational in six car parks, with the remaining six due for completion by April 2020, the goal is to provide a seamless parking experience, where the customer gains all the significant benefits of the switch from Pay & Display to Pay on Foot combined with the extended benefits from integration with Cornwall Council’s existing county-wide JustPark payment / advance ticketing platform.

The advanced, real-time integration between WPS and JustPark technology includes a ‘Pay Station in their Pocket’ app and instant ANPR recognition of Multi-Use Tickets, Seasonal Tickets and Rover Tickets now usable in both P&D and Pay on Foot car parks.

With Cornwall a highly popular tourist destination, the range of car park users include residents, local businesses, one-off tourists, and regular, return tourists (those who own holiday homes, etc).

The major investment was a key part of Cornwall’s commitment to its Positive Parking Agenda. Craig Taylor, the Strategic Parking Manager at Cornwall Council says the detailed deployment, communication and testing strategy of the three organisations was successful in achieving project timescales and a seamless experience: “Success was down to genuine collaboration, a partnership approach and clear communication. The project provides an excellent example of integration that means a parking authority does not have to work with one provider to create the best solution.”

The change from P&D to Pay on Foot means the introduction of barriers, where customers receive a “ticket” (either paper or virtual) on entering a car park and pay at the end of their parking session, either at the WPS ParkAdvance pay station or via the JustPark app. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) recognises customers in possession of advance tickets, grants access and also enables the system to calculate how long a customer has stayed and therefore whether their parking is within their paid-for allowance.

Creating this seamless experience required a three-way live integration of WPS’ ParkID software, JustPark’s platform and Cornwall Council’s car park tariff data.

Simon Jarvis, Managing Director in the UK says the Cornwall Council parking system demonstrates how advanced parking technologies can now be integrated to create a flexible, future-proofed and user-friendly parking network for the benefit of the Council, local residents and car park users: “ParkID has been developed for straightforward cross-platform integration, providing Cornwall Council with the flexibility to accommodate a number of different parking needs, for regular visitors or holidaymakers coming for the day. It also allows for all 12 car parks to sit under one system, with the ability to add new sites in a matter of minutes.

“We are delighted the project has been recognised for its technology credentials and as an example of a leading edge parking solution providers collaborating to deliver an optimum customer experience.”

Antonia Hobden, Head of Sector, Local Authorities at JustPark says: “For us, this project was about bringing the benefits of the JustPark app to a pay-on-foot system. These benefits include not only cashless parking – needing nothing more than your mobile phone to pay for parking – but also the straightforward real-time collation of all parking receipts and documentation.”

The total capacity within the 12 car parks are over 4,600 spaces.

For more information visit www.wpsparking.com, www.justpark.com or www.britishparkingawards.co.uk

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