MUNICIPALITIES: 124 PRACTICES
The Municipality of Rethymno was composed in 2011 from the merge of the municipality of Arkadi, Lappaion, Nikiforou Foka and Rethymno with approximately 62.000 population.
Read more: www.rethymno.gr
The Municipality of Rethymno is a pioneer and has proceeded with the installation of the biggest and most integrated smart parking management system in the framework of the European project CIVITAS DESTINATIONS. This is an important urban mobility project which provides drivers with real-time information on the available parking spaces. The innovation of this system is that it serves different users of the road network separating the parking spaces into general, spaces for people with disabilities and spaces at loading bays. There is also real-time information of the available parking spaces of the city's parking lots in the application and also through Variable Message Signs located at the three entrances of the city.
The project is an integrated smart parking management system and tackles the traffic congestion of the city, upgrades and enhances the services offered to the drivers. Through CIVITAS DESTINATIONS, the Municipality of Rethymno prepares the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, incorporating the needs of locals and tourists, from which the need for a "smart" parking management system of the controlled parking area has arisen as a measure to enhance sustainable mobility.
The target audience of the project are the residents of the city of Rethymno, and therefore the citizens of the entire Municipality as well as the visitors. This is an intervention that has been implemented in a public space, has been attributed to the public to achieve increased toggle parking in the controlled parking area as well as the reduction of unnecessary movements to find parking space. The permanent population of the Municipality of Rethymno ιis about 62,000 inhabitants and this number doubles during the summer months with the visitors to the city or the suburbs.
The duration of this project started at the beginning of 2019 identifiying the specifications and the system that the Municipality of Rethymno wanted to implement and was completed with the completion of the Contractor's contract.
The Municipality of Rethymno is a pioneer and has proceeded with the installation of the biggestt and most integrated smart parking management system in the framework of the European project CIVITAS DESTINATIONS. This is an important urban mobility project which provides drivers with real-time information on the available parking spaces. The innovation of this system is that it serves different users of the road network separating the parking spaces into general, for people with disabilities and parking spaces at loading bays. There is also real-time information of the available parking spaces of the city's parking lots in the application and also through Variable Message Signs located at the three entrances of the city.
More specifically, in order to implement the smart parking management system, the Municipality of Rethymno proceeded with the procurement and installation of:
-a smart parking management system with 593 sensors for all the parking spaces of the controlled parking area, sensors for special parking spaces - 28 sensors at disabled parking spaces and 28 sensors at loading bays. The sensors for the special parking spaces are accompanied with bluetooth portable cards. Mobile application with real-time information of the availabe parking spaces to the users.
-Payment system through an application of the general controlled parking spaces for the convenience of users as well as payment system through third parties (ventors)
-a management system of the city's 7 parking lots with informative signs at the entrances and exits, in order to decongest the traffic of the city and to serve users with real-time information of the available spaces of the parking lots.
-Connection Equipment and Software on a smart city platform for event management and connection with other systems of the "smart city" such as e.g. Street lighting.
-Installation of Variable Message Signs at the entrances of the city in which the real time information of the available parking spaces at the 7 city's parking lots are displayed.
- Policying System: Ability to detect and report violations from non-payments of the parking spaces or excessive parking, with the use of sensors and their management system.
-Help Desk Services for users' support.
One of the main challenges to be clarified was the management of permanent residents who park for free in the controlled parking area and how this could be attributed to the parking management system. This new system demonstrated the need for the preparation of a new Regulatory Framework for the Municipality of Rethymno as well as the need to find further policing mechanisms to optimize the use of parking spaces.
This project has a budget of about 460,000 euros and its pilot implementation has already started in order to operate fully by the middle of 2021.
The results and benefits to locals and visitors of the city of Rethymno as users of the smart parking management system are:
-The municipality provides services that improve the quality of life for all including people with disabilities, since the special parking spaces are policed electronically and remotely.
-The real-time information provided to the drivers for the available parking spaces helps avoiding the hassle of unnecessary searching around the city for parking spaces.
-Reduction of fuel consumption, since drivers looking for parking spaces reduce their trips, provided with real-time information of the available parking spaces.
-Policying and control of the special parking spaces (disabled, loading bays) immediately inform about the violations.
-The reduction of the car use, mainly due to the speed of detection the illegal parking and the enforcement of the corresponding fine.
-Improving drivers' quality of life , who need less time to pay for the parking fees with the mobile app or through third-party vendors.
At the same time, the benefits to the businesses are:
The existence of available parking spaces in the area where the project has been implemented, making easier the operation of the commercial area of Rethymno and the fast access to the stores. Also, the control of the loading bays enhances the loading and unloading and therefore traffic congestion is reduced .
This parking management system is a dynamic system and depending on the city's needs, it will be adapted and expanded in conjunction with the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of the Municipality of Rethymno.
The location of the project has been the city of Rethymno. The informative signs of the availabe parking spaces in the parking lots are located at the three entrances to the city. The sensors at the disabled parking spaces and the loading bays are located all around the city and provide information in the application.
The International Tender procurement for the smart parking management system nominated the Telecommunications Organization of Greece SA.as the Contractor. Extensive meetings were followed in order to define the best solutions for all the challenges encountered during the implementation of the project with the common goal of maximum ease of use and the most efficient implementation of the system.
The smart parking management system developed by the Municipality of Rethymno is the largest and most integrated system that has been developed in Greece. The development of this system from the early stages of the procurement required specialized know-how, thorough deap research of good practices of relevant systems worldwide, as well as extensive communication with the different departments of the Municipality of Rethymno.
Τhe benefits of the project for the Municipality of Rethymno are:
-Increased efficiency of the municipal officers. It is a system that immediately informs/ creates alerts about the illegal parking and directs the employee to the exact location of the violation, making the controls more targeted and more productive.
-Constant monitoring drivers' behavior for the implementation of the project so that the required actions - interventions can be taken.
-Increase in revenues from the controlled parking zone by confirming all the illegal parking.
