the user buys parking the level of charge levied varies according to the vehicle’s details. What the Borough has actually done is to raise all park-


ing charges by 25%to set a newstandard charge.The system then allows drivers of mid-range vehicles to get a 25% dis- count by using the card, effectively taking them back to the old status quo and for people with super clean cars, i.e. with emission levels below 120g/km there is a further discount of 50%off the old charge. So in principle everyone could pay a lotmore but the “good guys” with less polluting cars can get a hefty discount. Looking at the way the system operates I can see some


issues which could get drivers into difficulties. The card is issued to a driver with the vehicle licence plate and emission level encoded, so far so good but the card does not appear to have this information printed in a human readable form. Therefore the chances of picking up the wrong card in


house withmultiple vehicle ownersmust be an issue. Unfor- tunately the card will cause the vehicle registration plate to be printed on the ticket so if a driver uses thewrong card and pays themoney is lost. Next the card can have money added by either putting


the card in a pay and display and then paying cash into the machine or returning the card to the council who will top it up and return it “within seven working days”. Both these options for keeping the systemworking seem


unnecessarily clumsy.At a pay and display machine a card can only topped upwith coins and I cannot see toomany peo- ple stand at the machine and feeding in up to £25 in coins to add credit to the card, just so it can be taken off again to pay for parking. Fortunately the card can be used simply as a vehicle identifier and payments made by cash or credit card; I think that this is likely to be themost commonway of using the card The seven day “top up and return” option just seems a


non-starter. If you are parking in Richmond often enough to get the card and themaximumvalue that you can add is £25, this represents less than ten hours parking in Richmond town centre. It could be a case of “use it for one day, lose it for sev- en” hardly customer friendly. There are a number of other technical issues which could prove to be something or noth- ing time alone will tell. The system has only just gone live and it is early days,


certainly too soon to either judgewhether some of the opera- tional issues that I see will be more than a minor irritant. Unlike the annual vehicle tax and annual resident permit charge this charge will be more noticeable because it is a marginal charge that is incurred every time the vehicle is used and basic economic theory suggests that this should have greater effect than a one off annual fee. However, I am left with the same question that I posed


at the start; will a driver who has made a status/lifestyle choice to drive say a Porsche really be influenced to change that choice by a charging regime like this? Every little bit helps and this is a well intentioned initiative but I can’t help but feel that this is just too little tomatter.


Peter Guest is PW’s roving reporter – he can be reached at Peter@parkingworld.com


PW


DCA Announces PinForce Updates


Database ConsultantsAustralia has announced updates to its


PinForce product. Newly released version 4.1 contains RFID scan- ning capabilities, advanced barcode scanning and the ability to reclaimunused PIN range numbers. Version 4.2 which is due for release in July 2010, goes even


further withMapInfo GPS integration allowing Pinforce to popu- late streets and suburbs. In addition to these newfeatures on Pinforce,DCAhas recent-


ly released their Pinforce Images Online module. This new facility will allow the public to view images taken at the time of PIN issuance by entering their registration and PIN number into the councils web portal. Pittwater Coty Council is the first to go live with the new feature. ComplianceManager Jeff Lofts said that Council expected to


recoup the costs of the module within weeks. “The advantage of the system is that it will free up officer’s time which is currently spent on phone calls discussing fines withmembers of the public,” he said. “From the public’s point of view, they can go online and within a fewmoments get instant verification ofwhether a fine has been correctly issued.”


Further information can be found at www.data.com.au


NCP replaces FastPark with RingGo


NCP, the UK’s largest car park provider, has replaced its own


pay by phone service, Fastpark, with RingGo in car parks across the country. The switchmeans thatmotorists can nowpay for their parking in over 100 off-street car parks owned by NCP, as well as another 80 car parksmanaged by NCP for the three train operating companies Arriva Trains, National Express East Anglia and Transpennine Express. This transfer of servicemeans that ten separate train operating


companies across the UK will offer the RingGo service, enabling rail to register once and then use the same system to pay for their parking by phone, instead of with coins. NCP Commercial Director Jo Cooper commented: “Last


October, we transferred the pay by phone service offered at First Capital Connect stations to RingGo. Since the transfer, calls to our call centre about phone parking have reduced dramatically and usage has risen significantly. We’ve now decided to offer the serv- ice at themajority of the other sites we own ormanage.” The transition between the two systems is being carefully


managed to minimise disruption. Further information will be pro- vided on the NCP website.


JUNE 2010 • PARKING WORLD • www.parkingworld.com 15


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