Historic city looks to the future with new parking technology

The historic English cathedral city of Chester is the county town of Cheshire and was originally founded as a Roman fort town (Castrum) almost 2,000 years ago. It still retains its charming historic character and is one of the best preserved walled cities in the UK.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the city is a great favourite with tourists, attracting many thousands of visitors each year. It is also recognised as an exciting place in which to live, shop and work, a fact recognised by the local council and business organisations.

Cheshire West & Cheshire Council have been working closely with CH1ChesterBID to enhance the visitor experience. They share a passion for securing the current and future prosperity of the city, and recognise the importance of making Chester ‘..a retail, business and leisure destination of choice where people are proud to live, work and visit.’
The Council was quick to identify that user experience in parking plays a key role not only in attracting shoppers and other visitors into the city centre, but also in making the place a pleasant environment in which to work. It was also quick to recognise that the latest Pay on Foot parking technology from WPS – a leader in its field – would provide exactly the right foundation to improve user experience and integrate parking with the commercial and cultural pulse of the city.

WPS is now installing a total of nine of its proven and highly reliable Pay on Foot parking systems in the city centre during 2015 across a mix of surface and multi-storey schemes. Some are replacing existing out-dated Pay on Foot technologies from other suppliers, while others have been chosen in preference to current Pay & Display solutions.
Ken Prior, Parking Manager at Cheshire West & Chester Council, believes the new systems are an exciting step forward for parking in the city: “Our new Pay on Foot approach across the city centre will provide a far more relaxed experience for visitors and residents alike,” he says.

“Not only will this allow them to take their time to enjoy and make the most of our city but it will also help boost local commerce both now and in the future.”

About WPS Parking Systems

WPS Parking Systems, a member of the Imtech group, was founded in 1985. With over 300 professionals across the globe, WPS has established an install base that issues more than 7,500,000 parking tickets every day worldwide. This makes us one of the world’s leading providers of automated parking solutions.

WPS works for airports, hospitals, local governments, hotels, leisure, shopping malls and parking operators; providing WPS off street parking solutions, parking management and cloud based parking management solutions.