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Control of the reserved areas of regulated parking in Vic-en-Bigorre to revitalize downtown commerce.

Country: France
Project of: Payment control per seat
Main products: U-Spot
The challenge

Improve the control and management of the parking lot in Vic-en-Bigorre and boost commerce by increasing vehicle turnover.

This small French town with a surface area of 32 km² and a population of around 5,500 inhabitants suffered from a lack of parking spaces in the town center.
The few parking spaces in the vicinity of the commercial area, coupled with a large number of cars occupying these spaces for long periods of time, caused problems for the local merchants and discomfort for the citizens.
Although there were already regulated parking areas, control was difficult and ineffective.
The main challenge was to reverse this situation: to avoid the occupation of parking spaces for long periods of time and to implement a system to comply with the established regulations.

The solution

In the project deployed in Vic-en-Bigorre, 114 sensors have been installed in addition to a complete parking management system.

The proposal implemented in Vic-en-Bigorre consisted of limiting parking time in the spaces located in the city center to two hours. If this period was exceeded, the vehicle’s owner was fined (with a fine set at €17).
To successfully implement the free shared parking system, the use of parking spaces had to be regulated. To do so, U-Spot parking sensors were installed in 114 parking spaces, which came with a comprehensive parking management system and a mobile app to alert officers of infractions in real time and guide them to these vehicles.

Benefits of implementing this solution
  • Increased parking lot turnover and occupancy
  • Increased guard productivity.
    Thanks to the alerts, vehicle-to-vehicle control is avoided and violations are dealt with directly.
  • Reduction of traffic caused by the search for parking
  • Stimulation of local commerce
  • Improving environmental quality
In the past, the guard had to check one by one the status of each square, whereas today he receives an alert regarding the infractions, making his work much more productive. "On my phone I have the space number that is posted (violation alert) (...) so I go directly to the space where the car is in violation," explains Jean-François Latryte municipal police officer of Vic-en-Bigorre. "I am very satisfied because customers can park very easily", this was not the case before, assures Régine Grangé, a shopkeeper in the area: "before, the parking spaces were always occupied and now it is much easier". The mayor of the city Clément Menet explained that the aim of the project implemented was to avoid having vehicles parked in the same place all day long. "It was a real problem: you couldn't park in the center of Vic," he hones in. "When a mayor wants to invigorate the city center he is referring especially to trade, so that the stores in the center are not at a disadvantage compared to the shopping centers. Now you can come and shop in Vic, you can park," says Menet in an interview for France 3 Midi-Pyrénées. Watch video.
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