Higher occupancy of parking spaces and improved parking experience in Split with Nedap’s SENSIT
In 2017 the city of Split in Croatia selected Nedap to reduce search traffic and optimize the parking capacity in its city center. A total of 1,500 parking spaces divided over three paid parking zones were equipped with Nedap’s SENSIT sensors. Four years later, the occupancy of parking spaces in certain locations in Split has increased by more than 50%, operating revenues has increased and traffic congestion, CO2 emissions and fuel consumption have been reduced. These positive results contribute to the development of the city of Split as a smart city. To further reduce traffic congestion, new parking locations in the city will soon also be equipped with Nedap’s SENSIT. In this project, Nedap closely cooperates with the Croatian companies Ericsson Nikola Tesa, Profico and Infoart.
Split Parking Croatia
Split is the second-largest city of Croatia, located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and a popular tourists destination. On- and off-street parking in Split is managed by the public entity Split Parking. Split is the first Croatian city to introduce an integral solution for smart parking in Croatia. The Smart Parking Split project represents a big step forward in the field of mobility in smart cities in Croatia and is awarded with the ‘Smart Mobility Award 2017’.
Need to improve the parking experience in Split
In 2017, the city of Split was looking for a solution to improve the overall parking experiences for citizens and tourists and to make the city more attractive. With 7,000 parking spaces combined with 92,000 registered vehicles and being a tourist hub, there was a lot of search traffic in the city and finding an available parking space takes a lot of time. A smart approach for both on- and off-street parking was important to reduce traffic congestion in the city center. Therefore, Split Parking was looking for a solution to control and manage parking capacity.
Optimize parking capacity with real-time parking data
1,500 parking spaces were provided with Nedap’s smart parking sensors SENSIT. Nedap’s SENSIT delivered a parking bay occupancy detection platform that utilizes robust, accurate and cost-effective IoT based in-ground parking sensors. These sensors were implemented by Nedap’s business partner Ericsson Nikola Tesla, an associated company of the Ericsson Group and responsible for the city wide implementation of the ICT solution for smart parking. The real-time parking data from SENSIT is integrated in the free mobile application Smart Split Parking. Through this own application, each user of the application can see in real time all available free parking spaces in all locations that we manage.
The centralized software was developed by the Split-based company Profico. Infoart is the leading provider of mobile payment solutions in Croatia. The application was made available for all mobile platforms and integrates new and existing systems for on- and off-street parking from Split Parking.
Increased occupancy of parking spaces and revenue
For almost four years now, the added value of SENSIT has proven itself for the city of Split. Marko Bartulić, director of Split Parking: “Since we introduced Nedap’s SENSIT parking bay detection platform, it is much easier for us to control and manage our capacities. Our occupancy of parking locations, which were less known to the local population and tourists, has increased in certain locations by more than 50%. This better load distribution led to a 7% increase in revenue.”
In addition, the smart parking sensors have yielded even more for the city of Split:
- Improved parking experience for citizens: it is easier for the local population to find a free parking space and the need for physical visits to locations where the population would otherwise look for free spaces has reduced.
- Reduction in traffic congestion, CO2 emissions and lower fuel consumptions.
- More attractive city for visitors and tourists: it is interesting for tourists to see new technologies and their functioning in reality functioning.
- Better service to specific user groups, such as disabled people and tourist coaches: the sensors provided easier insight in to the needs of disabled people with disabilities in certain locations. In locations with increased occupancy of parking spaces, the number of spaces for disabled people with disabilities was subsequently increased.
- Manage, analyze and control the usage of single parking spaces in real-time: better insight into the current and past load of parking spaces and organized billing control.
Expansion of parking spaces with Nedap’s SENSIT
With almost 25,000 parking spaces combined with 100.000 registered vehicles in 2021, the city of Split will also optimize the existing parking capacity of new parking locations in the city with Nedap’s SENSIT.
“We are very satisfied with the parking sensors and intend to continue expanding the sensor system to all new parking spaces that we manage. Also with the help of the sensor system, our parking controllers got easier control over the payment of parking spaces. The data gained by SENSIT’s parking sensors are valuable for us to plan our future activities in the parking system of the city and adjust to the needs of the citizens in each of the neighborhoods. This system is the basis for the development of the concept of Split as a smart city, and parking sensors system is an integral part of this.” Marko Bartulić, director of Split Parking
