Parking guidance to reduce congestion in Monza
Monza has implemented a new system that directs people to available parking spots, thereby reducing congestion and pollution in the city centre.
Most of the parking areas in Monza are located close to the historical centre but not all parking lots are equally used. The result is congestion from cars looking for available parking space. The main aim of this measure is to design and implement a real-time parking guidance system that informs drivers of the occupancy rates of parking lots in the city centre. The implementation of the Infoparking system, which has been tested since 26 March 2012, directs people reaching Monza by car to available parking space and minimises the time people spent looking for a place to park their car. It reduces congestion and pollution. In the coming weeks, data from all the parking lots will be connected and the system will be fully operational. That is when Monza will start to see the real benefits of the new scheme. Before the system could be implemented, the parking areas to be included in the scheme had to be identified and the road network and traffic flows were analysed. Based on this, municipal experts proposed the location for static and dynamic sign posts. Four VMS displays have been installed that provide dynamic information about mobility, road works, and initiatives in the city. These four panels are located on the four main roads leading into the city centre. The infoparking system is managed from a central server by a software that processes data from different parking areas and feeds the panels with information for drivers on the available number of parking spots in real time. The server (HP Proliant ML110 G7) and the software (SGP) have been provided by the Solari company from Udine, Italy.
Author: Simonetta Vittoria
