North Ayrshire Council has awarded a new contract to leading parking solutions provider APT SKIDATA to upgrade its Largs Seafront Car Park. The parking system upgrade will give customers more payment options, including pay on exit and pay by phone, and the vehicle management software upgrade will give the Council better remote visibility and management of the car park.

While North Ayrshire Council has already been using the Parking.Logic from APT.SKIDATA, it will benefit from the very latest Version. 15 of the management software to improve its operations and provide higher levels of IT security with automated software updates. APT SKIDATA will also be introducing INS reports to provide real-time data to address the Council’s in-depth reporting requirements. bringing on board PATH as an intelligent pay by phone option.

In terms of onsite parking technology, APT SKIDATA will be replacing legacy equipment that it installed 12 years ago and the new system on site will include the latest generation pay on foot machine – Skiosk.Smart – which is a cashless payment kiosk with multiple payment options, supporting both barcode and RFID reading technologies. It has a large interactive touchscreen display in full HD colour providing customers with clear and simple information and operating instructions.

Seamless entry and exit of the car park will be managed via automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, and the new barriers and columns will include payment on exit to support anyone who has failed to pay before returning to their car and to prevent any hold-ups at the exit. Customers will also be able to pay by phone with the introduction of APT SKIDATA’s parking app PATH, which was developed by its digital team and launched earlier this year.

The parking technology on site will also be fully supported and maintained by APT SKIDATA’s team of local engineers. This is part of a new service contract which will ultimately give car park users a better parking experience as any hardware faults can be identified and fixed much more quickly.

Rachel Jennings, APT SKIDATA’s Key Account Manager, says users will see a significant improvement in the car park experience once all the work is completed:

“Largs Seafront is one of the main car parks for the amenities in the local area including the ferry terminal, the high street and beach front,” she explains.

“So with a modern parking system in place, which improves useability and lets people choose how they want to pay for their parking, North Ayrshire Council will be delivering an improved customer experience and continuing to provide a car park which supports and the local community.

“We look forward to delivering this upgrade and setting North Aryshire Council with a central management platform for additional sites to be added in the future.”