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 Automated Parking Meters and Tropos Deliver a Rapid Return on Investment
Chris Chettle, VP Marketing and Product Management, Digital Payment Technologies Corp. Parking is a multi-billion-dollar industry that represents a significant revenue source for municipalities across the country. Given its impact on municipal budgets, municipalities are continually looking for ways to maximize parking revenues and reduce operational costs through technologies now available. The introduction of electronic multi-space meters to replace the outdated single head meters is one of the biggest trends emerging in the North American parking industry to date. Cities are looking for ways to network these meters with wireless IP broadband communications technologies from companies such as Tropos Networks. Multi-space meters manufactured by companies such as Digital Payment Technologies (DPT) provide parkers with a better user experience, more payment options, multilingual interfaces, and real-time credit card data security. Municipalities are integrating these parking meters into their operations as they provide a higher level of physical and data security, reduce street clutter, increase user compliance, and provide more reports and real-time information to better manage their operations. To maximize the benefits of these meters, each meter is connected through Ethernet, cellular, or wireless IP broadband to a centralized server connected to the Internet and third-party devices and processors to provide advanced applications. The wireless applications include:
DPT and Tropos Networks have partnered on two projects in Houston, Texas and Redwood City, California: In Redwood City, located in San Mateo County and home to 75,000 residents, 42 multi-space meters connected by Tropos Networks’ MetroMesh 5320 wireless routers were deployed in the downtown core to address the challenge of congested streets. By charging higher parking rates on-street and delivering greater user convenience, positive results were seen almost immediately with a segment of parkers now shifting to park in the less expensive lots adjacent to the downtown core. The return on investment on the Tropos Networks equipment was approximately 9 months when compared to the costs of the alternative cellular technology service costs. The City of Houston replaced all of its on-street single head meters with 750 multi-space meters by DPT. All of the meters were connected through Tropos Networks equipment to provide many of the applications previously discussed. The benefits to the city from this partnership included a 52 percent increase in revenues, a rapid improvement in overall productivity with proactive maintenance alarming, $120,000 reduction in payroll costs due to the efficiencies provided by real-time information and less meters to manage, and a better allocation of resources with the ability to update all meter settings over the wireless network. Houston’s wireless IP broadband network was paid off in approximately 8 months when calculated against the alternative costs of cellular technology services and the savings provided by benefits such as the elimination of bad credit card debt. Parking often has a reputation of being slow to adopt advanced technology, but as demonstrated in cities such as Houston and Redwood City, the combination of Tropos Networks and DPT parking meters is changing this perception rapidly with increased revenues, reduced costs, and new services. Parking applications with DPT and Tropos Networks are reliable, secure, and fast, and can often justify the capital cost of the Tropos Networks equipment in less than one year. About Digital Payment Technologies Corp. More information about DPT may be found on its website at www.digitalpaytech.com or by sending an email to marketing@digitalpaytech.com
back to December 2008 newsletter
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Tropos Networks, 555 Del Rey Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085 |
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