City of Fort Lauderdale automates parking enforcement
The City of Fort Lauderdale is a popular tourist destination in Florida, United States. The City chose the AutoVu automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) system to enhance its ability to identify scofflaws and parking violators, while improving customer service.
The company
Located on the Atlantic Coast of Florida, just 23 miles north of Miami, the City of Fort Lauderdale is a popular tourist destination. Welcoming over 12 million visitors annually, Fort Lauderdale offers a vast amount of parking services including permitted, time-limited and transient parking in all kinds of locations, providing 15,000 parking spaces spread on streets, within 39 lots, and in 5 garages.
The challenge
Enforcing these parking regulations across the entire city was complex and time-consuming: “Our previous process was manual, so our enforcement officers would walk around with handhelds, pull up the lists for permits or regulations they were enforcing, and visually verify if any vehicles were in violation,” said Bryan Greene, Parking Enforcement Supervisor at the Transportation and Mobility Department, City of Fort Lauderdale.
The solution
Multiple permit enforcement
The AutoVu system helps the City simultaneously enforce long-term parking permits, transient parking from pay stations and a pay-by-phone app, time-limited regulations, and a scofflaw list.
Improved customer service
Payment has been simplified for transient parking customers who simply need to enter their license plate number into the Global Parking Solutions Metro pay stations.
Better city planning
The City regularly reviews zones occupancy reports from the system to see how well specific lots, garages or areas are doing to accommodate parking demands.
Optimized route efficiency
Using ALPR data, the team knows what zones will be busier before and after 5pm or on the weekend, ensuring officers are being as efficient as possible in their enforcement efforts.
“In comparison to the old, manual system, the numbers speak for themselves. We are far more efficient at covering more ground, and our customer service continues to be enhanced.”
Bryan Greene, Parking Enforcement Supervisor, Transportation and Mobility Department, City of Fort Lauderdale
Results
The City of Fort Lauderdale has a total of four ALPR systems which help simultaneously enforce different regulations. Within the first eight months of installing its first AutoVu ALPR system, the City of Fort Lauderdale was able to boot over 600 scofflaw vehicles and collect over $200,000 in unpaid fines. Because of a sharp 1400% increase in scofflaw identification, the City recouped its investment on the ALPR system after only two months.
“Very soon after installation, we really began to understand and appreciate the capabilities of the ALPR system,” said Greene. “The system automates everything for us. Our officers drive in and out of parking lots and areas, selecting the zones to enforce, and the AutoVu™ SharpX ALPR cameras scan the license plates, and alert us to infractions. Our enforcement officers are covering more ground in less time because the process has been simplified.”