Hammersmith & Fulham Council chose Parkmobile

The initial launch in the middle of November will introduce the electronic permit to a number of selected zones. The plan is to expand this scheme to further zones in the borough early next year, along with the introduction of cashless GSM parking.

The basis of Parkmobile’s innovative parking solutions is the RFID transponder card which eliminates any form of permit fraud or ticket misuse. The paper permit is simply replaced with the transponder card which is issued only once and stays active as long the resident is eligible to have a permit. Enforcement is easy and efficient; hand-held computers with RFID scanner and GPRS connection check - in real time - the status of the permit or virtual parking ticket. The RFID permit or virtual parking ticket is immediately cancelled and de-activated when it is lost or stolen.

The Parkmobile solution will mean a significant service improvement for the residents of Hammermsith & Fulham, who no longer have to go to Parking Shops for their renewal or change of the resident permit. The Parkmobile solution will also save the council significant costs in combination with a more effective and efficient enforcement.

Parkmobile is Europe’s largest developer and provider of innovative parking solutions with offices throughout Europe. In February this year, its solution was successfully launched in the UK for the first time in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with South West Trains following in April introducing this system in Andover and Fleet.

Parkmobile is the market leader in the Netherlands, where the systems are used in most big cities (e.g. The Hague, Rotterdam, Deventer and Groningen). Its systems are also under implementation in France and Spain.

Parkmobile is also the recent winner of the 2004 CNET Networks Awards’ Mobile Product or Initiative of the year - it offers motorists the luxury of parking without searching for coins, or hunting for working pay and display machines, and also ends overpaying and therefore wasting money or getting parking fines or wheel clamps as a result of underpaying. It only takes a short call to activate and deactivate parking transactions from the comfort of a car, office or home, even on the train and there are no extra costs for the motorists. The system has also proven to improve services and generate more income for councils.