Belgian travelers enjoy the convenience of a solution that combines private transportation and public transit. B-Parking, a subsidiary of NMBS Holding, operates Park&Ride sites in many cities that entitle customers to discounted rail travel.
Dieter Reynaert, NMBS-holding
Thanks to the very close cooperation between SKIDATA and NMBS-holding it became possible to develop a fully centralized software architecture. This concept ensures that human interventions in the car parks across Belgium, are limited to a minimum.
High-speed trains provide fast and safe connections between cities. To make rail travel more attractive to commuters, NMBS Holding has established a modern Park&Ride system in more than 30 train stations: Travelers who park their cars in these areas and travel on by train receive tickets at reduced price. This is a win-win solution for both rail company and travelers. For technical implementation of access control, ticketing and the central management of all P&R sites, NMBS Holding and B-Parking engaged SKIDATA Group.
Park & Ride Benefits for Railway and Customers
NMBS Holding is part of the Belgian railway, founded in 1926. In 2008, the Belgian railway transported 207 million passengers on a network of 3,536 kilometers for a total of 8,676 billion passenger kilometers. More than 30 of its Park&Ride sites with more than 12,000 parking spaces throughout Belgium were equipped with a remote controlled access management system.For these activities, SKIDATA combined its Hosted Business Services in an attractive solution. Customers pay via ticket vending machines or use their NMBS Holding cards with RFID chip for uncomplicated, hands-free access. Employees of the company are provided access simply through their corporate ID.
Three multilingual call centers provide support 24/7 for more than 30 Park&Ride sites. SKIDATA Operator. Services monitors remotely and automatically the entire technical installation. If a technical error occurs at a gate or ticket machine, it is detected in real-time and fixed in the shortest possible time.
SKIDATA also took on the storage and management of the large volumes of data generated. Data in the form of detailed reports flows to and from management via Management.Services.
The successful collaboration between NMBS Holding and SKIDATA is being further expanded. In the future, SKIDATA Sales.Services will support the railway in marketing its tickets.
Special Features
- Centralization and Virtualization The more than 30 P&R sites have 58 entries, 56 exits, 109 gates, and 39 vending machines. These are managed and monitored by three call centers and 24 virtualized servers.
- Remote Monitoring of All P&R Sites With SKIDATA Operator. Services the entire technical solution for all P&R sites, with all its gates, vending machines and equipment, is monitored continuously online. In the event of malfunctions, technicians are alerted automatically.
- Easy Access Innovative gates make it easy to use different forms of access and payment. From ticket and automated vending machine to RFID customer cards with employee IDs.
- Overview for Management All data is stored securely in the SKIDATA warehouse and analyzed with SKIDATA Management.Services. The management of NMBS Holding thus always has access to the latest data on usage and the performance of services.
