APT Skidata builds on its history with Castle Quay Shopping Centre

Leading parking specialist APT Skidata has returned to refresh and substantially upgrade the parking technology at Castle Quay Shopping Centre in Banbury, Oxfordshire, more than 12 years after it originally installed the centre’s parking systems.

Castle Quay has over 80 retail units and two visitor car parks, offering a total of 820 spaces to the 700,000 shoppers that park at the centre each year.

In order to enhance the shoppers’ parking experience and make operating the car parks easier for the centre’s management team, APT Skidata installed four new entry and three new exit columns; updated the main computer system in the control room; and upgraded the Parking.Logic software platform from version 18 to 21.

The pay stations on site were essentially in good working order but now benefit from new coders allowing easy access and servicing for the car park team, according to Rozanne Ahier, Asset Account Manager at APT Skidata: “The stations are modular in design so upgrades such as this are very effective and we expect a significant reduction in the number of incidents following the introduction of the new coders.

“In developing all of our parking system components,” says Rozanne, “we are looking to achieve improved reliability, simpler utility, and better value for money, and that is exactly what the new coders will deliver to Castle Quay.”

The APT 460 coder unit features single-slot processing of tickets in varying formats and paper types, and with a double ticket feed the need to replenish ticket stocks is reduced by up to 50%. The new system also enables Castle Quay to issue retailers with discounted parking season tickets on RFID cards.

Nick James, Operations Manager at Castle Quay Shopping Centre, says that the car parks are an essential part of the shopping centre’s offering: “It is very important to us that the car parks at Castle Quay remain open to customers every day of the year, and APT is careful to ensure that this is always the case – even whilst it is carrying out upgrade work.

“The recent upgrade programme of installations went smoothly with no major problems, thanks to APT’s planning, and the system is now noticeably more reliable and efficient to use and operate,” he continues. “Our parking systems has served us well for the past 12 years, and we now hope to remain trouble-free for many more years to come.”

Rozanne adds that APT is proud to have such a long-standing relationship with Castle Quay, previously voted the best shopping centre in Oxfordshire: “It has been a pleasure to return to Castle Quay and introduce even greater improvements and benefits to the parking system there, and hopefully we will continue to meet the centre’s needs moving forward.”