LED display increases payment moral for parking fees

Can visualisation technology support visitors and at the same time the operator of a cable car experience world in parking? LED displays and licence plate recognition result in a smart parking system in the Harz Mountains that does completely without barriers.

Line-oriented displays communicate with visitors

The cable car experience world Thale is a hotspot for tourists as well as locals: Sledging, bike park, hiking and much more invite to (local) recreation. To ensure that the recreation begins and ends as carefree as possible, the operator facilitates parking for its visitors with a parking system that is as well thought-out as it is intuitive. The project planning and implementation on site was carried out by uniserve GmbH in cooperation with stadtraum GmbH, which provided the parking ticket machines. Meanwhile, the centrepiece for visitors is formed by a total of three line-oriented LED displays from the system electronics provider microSYST - as welcome or exit displays, depending on the direction of driving. An integrated number plate recognition even reminds the visitor to pay the parking fee if necessary.

Entrance with number plate scan

At the barrier-free entrance, the system scans the number plates of the entering vehicles and stores them in the system of the parking machines. The welcome display welcomes visitors with a personalised display of the licence plate number and a "Welcome" inscription. In addition to the greeting, the visitor thus receives direct feedback that his number plate has actually been read. Alternatively, the operator can also play current advertising offers or other information for the visitors.

Payment process: Exit without barrier and ticket

After their stay, visitors pay their parking fee, which is stored in the parking machine according to the number plate. When leaving the car park, the system scans the number plate again and shows a message in the exit display depending on the payment status, e.g. "DE MO 123 - thank you and have a good trip" in green letters if the fee has been paid. If payment has not yet been made for the scanned number plate, the display lights up in red: "DE MO 123 - please buy a parking ticket!” If the parking fee is not paid despite a request to do so, the vehicle owner will automatically receive a notification of the penalty.

Advertising messages when the system is idle

The operator uses a software media player to operate the system, on which the displays can be controlled and texts and formats can be entered individually. If no number plate is currently being scanned, advertising texts and other information can be played on the display - for example, for visitors who are waiting when there are large numbers of people.

Since the smart parking system went into service, the operator has seen a significant increase in the willingness of visitors to pay for parking: the LED technology ensures acceptance and increases payment moral - despite the lack of barriers.