Cities are currently facing and will in the future face a series of challenges related to mobility and coexistence among all users: from the circulation of all types of vehicles, including personal mobility vehicles (PMV), to pedestrians, including the use of parking spots in streets and parking lots. Within this, solutions to monitor and manage parking spots for people with reduced mobility (PRM) must be found.
If one looks around and analyses carefully, cities are not fully accessible for people with reduced mobility or some type of functional diversity; getting around urban centers is difficult for blind people or wheelchair users. Therefore, attention must be paid in this latter case to drivers who have parking cards for people with reduced mobility and to their rights.
This is especially true when finding a parking spot in cities is difficult due to the limited number of spots and the fact that reserved spots are often repeatedly taken by unauthorized users, despite the fines. Because fraud is committed in the improper use of reserved spots, effective monitoring is needed to avoid seriously jeopardizing the day-to-day lives of vulnerable groups.
The most effective way to do this is by applying technologies and solutions developed by companies such as Urbiotica, like the Fastpark solutions that direct authorized users to free spots and alert parking surveillance services when unauthorized users are parked in them.
What parking spots for people with reduced mobility are like
Parking spots reserved for people with reduced mobility are granted to wheelchair users, people in need of two walking sticks, those with serious intellectual disabilities, or people who find it difficult to get around obstacles or use staircases.
For this reason, these reserved spots play a key role for these people and are specifically sized so they can use them easily and independently. They must be located as close as possible to entrances to establishments such as shopping centers or offices. They are arranged perpendicularly or diagonally to the sidewalk and are at least 5 meters long by 2.2 meters wide.
These people are entitled to apply for a reserved parking spot near their home, workplace, or place of study. These are public road occupancy permits exclusively reserved for individual vehicle parking, and they can only be used in association with a particular license plate.
PRM cards: what are they and what are they for?
To use these exclusive parking spots, people who fall within this group can apply for the PRM card, a personal and non-transferable identification card that allows them unrestricted parking in the areas reserved for people with reduced mobility in Spain and other European Union countries.
The use of PRM cards is allowed in any vehicle in which the holder is traveling, but they must always be present when used. Nonetheless, there is the problem of forgeries of these cards for fraudulent use.
ParkCTRL, solution TO MANAGE PRM parking spots
With this in mind, at Urbiotica we have developed a smart solution to manage and monitor parking spots reserved for PRM, a necessary development due not only to misuse by unauthorized users but also to the invasion of some of these parking spots by other vehicles when parking.
How does Fastprk work? This solution provides exhaustive monitoring of the use of the PRM parking spots, ensuring proper use and compliance with the established regulations. When a spot is occupied by an unauthorized user, an alert is sent to the parking attendants through the ParkCTRL app. They are therefore immediately aware of violations, which lowers the costs associated with monitoring parking spots and increases their availability.
Use of U-Spot sensors and communication networks
This 360º solution uses U-Spot sensors, buried magnetic sensors or detection software using cameras and artificial intelligence which detect the arrival, presence and departure of vehicles in each parking spot. This benefits the management and monitoring of PRM spots by directing people with reduced mobility to free parking spots close to their location, which prevents them from driving around unnecessarily. Robust vehicle detection technology is highly reliable and provides PRM card users with real-time information.
In other words, Fastprk improves efficiency in parking services and reduces control costs by optimizing the associated resources. These solutions also serve as a deterrent to unauthorized users, since improved monitoring stops them from using others’ reserved parking spots.
In short, it prevents them from breaking the rules and harming people with reduced mobility. At the same time, it serves as a deterrent to unauthorized users; because they know monitoring is more strict, they no longer take others’ parking spots and cause serious harm to people with reduced mobility.
Persons with Reduced Mobility
The future of PRM parking spot control
Throughout this article, we have discussed what parking spots for people with reduced mobility are, the PRM cards that allow them to use these spots and how to monitor them to prevent the fraudulent use of spots by unauthorized drivers. We provide technological solutions that prevent these problems and allow peaceful coexistence among vehicle users by respecting the rights of the most vulnerable groups.
Because at Urbiotica, we not only develop technological innovations that facilitate mobility in cities; we also make them to promote peaceful coexistence and freedom of mobility for everyone, including respect for people with functional diversity or reduced mobility who, if they can drive, must do so with respect for other drivers and with the facilities appropriate to their needs.
Therefore, we believe in and defend the democratic use of technology to serve society, leaving no one behind and promoting healthy coexistence. The future of mobility in cities and coexistence among all vehicle users in all their actions, including the use of public or private parking spots, must be based on a combination of technology and drivers’ individual responsibility.
Our comprehensive, 360º solutions aimed at managing and monitoring parking spots for people with reduced mobility are proof of our mission of ensuring that technology allows for a better use of all resources.
