Green Center: Save Nature and Expenses - Paperless Age is Here

Digitization has been an important topic for the last 30 years or so. Books can be purchased online, you don't need to fill out a paper with a pen for your tax return. On the other hand, every time we enter a paid parking lot, we need to print out a parking ticket. Or do we? 

Cameras save the environment

The time when you had to stick highway vignettes on your windshield and labouriously scrape them down after a year is long gone. And parking can work in the same way. Thanks to license plate recognition systems, the barrier will automatically let you in after reading your registration plate. No need to reach for the button and keep a paper ticket behind the sun visor. At the pay station, you enter your plate number and the barrier will let you out again. But what if the cameras can't read your plate?

Paper as a last resort

There is a reason why parking tickets still exist. When license plate recognition fails and there is nobody at the gatehouse, you just won't get in without a ticket. For this reason, most parking operators get printers integrated into entry terminals. When it comes to large commercial parking lots, it seems they have no choice. However, there are actually multiple solutions that allow you to completely cut out paper.

A parking ticket doesn't have to be paper

Instead of a printer, a credit card reader can be integrated in the entry terminal. Through the process of tokenization, tapping your card converts it into a parking ticket which substitutes a paper ticket at the pay station and at the exit terminal. Creating a token protects sensitive data, so your card cannot be defrauded by the parking operator. However, some people are afraid that their card will be charged right away, which is why this method has not seen much success yet.

Apps for malls. Cards or codes for companies.

Just like credit cards, parking tickets too can be fully replaced by mobile phones. When it comes to shopping malls, one possibility is to generate a QR code or activate the NFC chip in an app of your own, making any smartphone a parking ticket. You can then use your app to allow visitors to pay parking fees or offer them rewards in a loyalty programme.

When it comes to company or residential parking, where there is a stable base of regular visitors, the plate recognition system can be substituted by RFID cards or a PIN code. In a long-term ticketless parking lot, visitors can however still only be allowed in through a gatehouse or tokenization.

About GREEN Center 

GREEN Center is a producer and a developer of the smart parking technologies, parking systems, automatic barriers, license plate recognition technologies and parking guidance systems, verified by hundreds of parking systems installations worldwide and almost 30 years of experience. GREEN Center is also focusing on new trends in smart software solutions.