OTI’s contactless parking payment solution catches on in France
04 April, 2011
category: Contactless, Transit
On Track Innovations has announced that its contactless parking payment solution, EasyPark, has been adopted by 13 French municipalities since the beginning of the year.
EasyPark, known as Piaf in France, is designed to enable drivers to pay for the exact period of time parked, while simplifying fee collection and eliminating the need for cash. The solution comprises an in-vehicle electronic parking meter housed in a contactless unit, which the user places in the driver’s side window.
The unit, which must be preloaded with credit to pay for parking fees, contains a visual display that allows the end user or enforcement officer to clearly see the parking details, such as zones, time, credit and more. The unit can be recharged with credit at various point-of-sale terminals, or at home via the EasyPark Web site.
Once parked, the driver simply turns on the unit to run the meter. Upon returning to his car, the driver turns the device off, ensuring he is charged only for the amount of time actually parked, rather than a flat hourly fee. The solution can be used for both on-street parking payments and for parking lots, and is able to support multiple rates, cities and tariffs.
OTI says the project is expected to begin generating “meaningful” revenues in the second half of 2011. France represents one of the largest markets for parking payment in Europe with about 460 million Euros in annual turnaround and 3 million parking spaces, according to OTI.
EasyPark system is the largest field tested in-vehicle parking meter implementation of its kind, with more than 30 cities and 700,000 users around Israel. OTI is conducting additional EasyPark projects in Italy and Bermuda.