How ALPR solved parking challenges at the Montreal Heart Institute
For the 2000 employees at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) who used to drive their car to work every day, finding a parking spot was time-consuming and stressful. The institute isn’t well serviced by public transit and the waitlist to get a parking permit is almost eight years. That’s why the institute called on the City of Montreal, Genetec, and Netlift — a planned transportation company—to create a carpool system that solved their parking challenges.
Keep reading to find out how the institute did it.
A lack of parking space
Employees of the Montreal Heart Institute had long complained about the limited parking available to them. They could park on the street, in the institute’s private lot that has a 500-vehicle capacity, or in a nearby private lot they shared with a public elementary school — but it wasn’t enough. When the institute lost access to that shared lot and major construction began, occupying street space, they knew they had to find a better solution.
The institute considered different options, like giving employees financial incentives to use public transportation or to bike to work, without much success. When looking into carpooling, they were surprised to learn that employees were happy to sign up if it meant free parking.
Occupancy data is key
The Montreal Heart Institute approached city administrators with their carpool idea. But before the city committed to reserved street parking spaces, they wanted occupancy data to prove that the project could be a success.
Netlift was tasked with collecting occupancy data on the total number of street parking spaces within a five-minute walking distance of the institute. They reported that the occupancy of nearby street parking was 50%. This was dispersed between construction work and other vehicles. After reviewing the data, city administrators approved the institute's request for reserved street parking.
Collaborating with the City of Montreal
Montreal city administrators were happy to get on board once they received the data that proved carpooling was a viable solution. Nearly 10 collaborators helped bring the project to life: the institute, Genetec, Netlift, and multiple agencies within the City of Montreal, including borough administrators, parking enforcement, and Montreal police.
The carpool project prompted the city to explore the idea further, as a new form of shared mobility that could solve parking challenges in boroughs around the city. City officials gave residents the chance to share their thoughts on the project and how it impacted them.
They worked with Netlift to create a web platform where citizens could submit any comments or questions to the city. The institute, city officials, and Netlift provided each vehicle with a blue sticker to identify them as part of the carpool system.
Using ALPR to manage carpool vehicles
The Montreal Heart Institute needed to find a way to efficiently manage carpool vehicles once enough parking spaces were reserved. That’s when they looked to AutoVu™, the Genetec automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) solution, for help.
The ALPR solution automates license plate reading and identification, making it easier to locate registered carpooling vehicles and enforce parking restrictions. Designed for both fixed and mobile installations, the AutoVu system is ideal for a variety of applications.
Each vehicle plate number was registered in the carpool system, so that when a vehicle parks in the reserved street space, AutoVu cross-references the parking spot against the list of registered license plates. When a non-registered vehicle is parked in a reserved space, Montreal parking enforcement agents are notified.
As for the institute’s parking lot, AutoVu cameras are used at the entry and exit gates to monitor each vehicle’s plate number and allow registered vehicles in and out.
The MHI carpool solution is a hit
The institute’s carpool project continues to be a success with no employees complaining about lack of parking. It’s also served Montreal city administrators with proof that carpooling has the potential to solve mobility issues in other scenarios.
Some minor changes were added to the project to respect COVID-19 social distancing rules: there can only be two people per vehicle, the driver and one passenger, and both must be wearing face masks. This allows the employees to continue carpooling while protecting their health.
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