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Case Study

Stockport PGI System

Tools Involved

• Common Database;
• Data collection and Monitoring;
• Parking Management;
• Variable Message Signs.

Communications between car parks, signs and the central server are provided using a public GPRS network.

Site Description

Stockport identified a need for a PGI system to be installed around the Stockport Town Centre area.  This is in part due to the large volume of parking available (with approximately 2,000 spaces in the immediate vicinity of the town centre and a further 3,000 spaces within reasonable distance from the town centre). 

Potentially 10 Full Function Variable Message Signs (FFVMS) will be installed at locations on the periphery of Stockport Town Centre which will convey parking information and / or other traffic advisory information.

Site Problems

It was considered that some of the car parks were not being fully utilised whereas others were suffering from congestion due to over demand.  In addition, Stockport Council was keen to explore the benefits that technology may offer them in assisting traffic flows around the town centre.

Scheme Description

Initially it was planned to install a stand alone system that would be controlled from Stockport Council offices. However, discussions were then held with Greater Manchester UTC (GMUTC) about GMUTC providing a centralised car park guidance control function for the PGI system.  It was considered that this would maximise the utilisation of existing control room operations staff already based at GMUTC, and allowing future expansion of the system to include other local authorities within the Greater Manchester area.  At the same time, this system offered Stockport Council the flexibility to remotely monitor the operation of the PGI system. 

The system implemented was UTMC compliant. The software, used in other urban ITS systems, has been remodelled to make it suitable for Stockport PGI and the main controls located in the GMUTC control room.  The system offers the potential for controlling broader ITS services to the Greater Manchester district in the future; fitting well with the aspirations of Stockport Council to develop full function VMS to notify drivers of road disruptions, events and providing safety information.

The equipment includes monitoring loops sited at all 13 car park entrances / exits and 23 on street VMS units.   The system communicates via a GPRS network.  This method was chosen due to the significant savings in communications costs that GPRS offers over such a large system.  Initially the communications costs were estimated to be £70K per annum using a conventional telecom network, but have been reduced to £20K per annum due to the GPRS communications.

Due to the extensive coverage of the system within Stockport, an approach has been adopted to group car parks into key zones, e.g. “Historic Market Areas”, “Shopping Areas”, “Leisure / Rail”.  This allows information about availability of spaces in a parking zone (which will include a number of car parks) allowing drivers to head towards that area of Stockport.  As they approach the area, including those coming from the approaches from the adjacent motorway network M60, the signs will show the availability of specific car parks and guide them to the desired areas of Stockport.  This approach has allowed maximum information dissemination without over provision of information.

Scheme Objectives

The key objectives of the system were to:

• Provide a base ITS provision on which to build further ITS applications, providing a greater level of information to drivers entering the Stockport area and helping manage traffic in the urban area.  This would include full function VMS on the approaches into Stockport which could display information about events happening in the town and accident / road safety information.

Improvements

It is anticipated that the system will:

• Reduce the search times for parking spaces around Stockport and hence reduce the circulating traffic around the town centre.
• Improve utilisation and turnover of car parks, spreading and balancing demand between available provision;
• Improve the image of the town centre; and
• Offer safety benefits by guiding drivers to an available parking space.

Integrated Systems

With the system being controlled by GMUTC, it is possible for other Local Authorities to install ITS systems that can also be controlled from the same location.  There would be instation development costs

Costs

Capital costs: £660k including provision of 06-Aug-2009k per year for maintenance and communications

Benefits

Benefits are shown in the table below.

Actual benefits reported
Impact Assessment	Environment	Reduced vehicle emissions; The reduction in circulating traffic (see below under Efficiency and Economy) and excessive queues at car parks, should reduce vehicle emissions within the town centre
	Accessibility	Improved utilisation of the off-street long stay car parks may improve the accessibility to short stay on-street parking areas
	Safety	Improved parking information could lead to safer driving behaviour within the town centre, as drivers are guided straight to an available space
	Efficiency and Economy	Reduction in the search time for off-street parking, which could have significant time savings for road users.  Case studies have shown up to a 30% reduction in search time in major cities Case studies have shown a 10 to 15 percent increase in patronage of underutilised car parks with the introduction of a PGI system.  This improved utilisation of off-street car parks could also free up existing road space used for on-street parking at present.
	Integration	No benefits expected or reported.
Technical Performance		Following system set up and addressing the initial issues, no technical problems reported.
User Acceptance		Improved parking information could improve the public’s image of shopping within the town centre, which would lead to improved revenue generation within the town centre
Working relationships and potential future development		The close partnership working of the two bodies, Stockport Council and GMUTC working together to deliver the system, providing greater opportunities for future development, achieving significant value for money improvements and effective utilisation of resources within the Greater Manchester area. This partnership also included AECOM, Mott MacDonald, VMS Limited and IDT all working together to deliver the system. The end result offers a real chance for the system to grow and for other local authority areas to tie in, allowing shared costs, more coherent data collection and a common approach to parking guidance provision. Support was also obtained from the local businesses, some who contributed to the funding of the scheme recognising the higher profile PGI systems can produce in an urban environment.  Installing a UTMC compliant system also allows for greater potential expansion and links to other ITS systems operating in the area, again offering the chance to maximise benefits.

No attempt has been made to validate the results reported. Users of the guidance are encouraged to assess the robustness of the results presented and the likely transferability of the case study to their own local environment.

More Information

James Newell, Stockport Council, Hygarth House