Introducing Urbiotica’s Solution for Managing Parking Spaces for People with Reduced Mobility

Urbiotica’s solution for parking space management provides operators and municipalities with exhaustive control over parking spaces reserved for people with reduced mobility, ensuring proper use and compliance with the established regulations.

Disabled parking spaces are allocated and reserved exclusively for people with reduced mobility (PRM) who are in possession of the correct parking permit/card. Parking spaces reserved for people with reduced mobility are granted to wheelchair users, people in need of two walking sticks, those with serious disabilities, or people who find it difficult to move around obstacles or use staircases.

City centers must have at least one out of every forty spaces reserved for PRM. They must be located as near as possible to the establishment doors or guarantee independent and safe access. They are arranged perpendicularly or diagonally to the pavement, are at least 5m long × 2.2m wide, and must also have a side approach zone equal in length to the space and with a minimum width of 1.5m.

But finding a disabled parking space in most cities today is no easy task, as they are regularly and repeatedly taken by unauthorized users using different methods of fraud. As Marc Torras, a PRM wheelchair user, tells us: “It can be frustrating to be looking for a place to park and to find all the PRM spaces occupied”. He continues, “There are times when I have had to get in the car through the passenger door. Other times I have simply had to wait for the owner of the vehicle to come and remove it”.

It is of vital importance to gain awareness and respect for the established regulations and this cannot be left to citizens’ individual responsibility. The key is to apply technology to the system to make it a much more efficient tool of control and management.

Urbiotica's PRM Solution

Urbiotica offers a comprehensive smart solution for managing and controlling the use of the parking spaces reserved for PRM by guiding authorized users to spaces that are free and at the same time alerting the surveillance services when unauthorized users take spaces, contrary to the regulations.

Cities can control parking infractions easily and efficiently through the alerts generated when the fraudulent use of reserved spaces occurs. The alert immediately draws the enforcement officer's attention to the infractions, whose efficiency and results are enormously enhanced. The system improves the efficiency of the service and reduces the costs of the control by optimizing linked resources, which are now able to focus on the most conflictive areas. At the same time, unauthorized users stop using the prohibited spaces.

In addition to ensuring compliance with regulations, the solution provides authorized users with real-time information on where to find free places. Knowing the location of nearby free spaces means that they do not have to drive around unnecessarily, which saves time, fuel, and polluting emissions.

Advances in the control and management of places for PRM are a sign of progress and greatly improve the quality of life and satisfaction of these people.

Watch the video of Urbiotica’s PMR solution to find out more:

And learn more about PRM cards, the misuse of individually reserved PRM parking spaces, and parking fines here.

About Urbiotica

Urbiotica was established in 2008 with a very clear foundational vision: technology based on wireless sensor networks will transform how we manage our cities.

Urbiotica leads the revolution of the Internet of Things applied to Smart Cities. The projects implemented in more than 20 countries position us as the leading technology company in the development of smart solutions based on sensor systems, designed to manage urban space more efficiently and sustainably.