The City of Oslo’s Agency for Urban Environment is considering implementing a pilot test to improve the parking situation for handicapped users in the city center through offering a system which shows vacant/occupied status of on-street handicap parking spaces in real time. In this context we request information about solutions and vendors available in the market, as well as a rough cost estimate.
Over the past few years the City of Oslo has sought to create a greener and more active city life. To achieve this goal, street parking has been removed to make room for other priorities and to provide additional handicap parking spaces. Approximately 130 handicap parking spaces have been established in the city center within the perimeter of Ring 1 in the form of on-street parking spaces. These spaces are included in the scope of the pilot. See attachment 1 for the location of these spaces.
In addition to technology for identifying vacant/occupied parking space, we also want a public-facing interface. This interface should help users to find available handicap parking space, thus reducing time and emissions searching for a spot. It should also give the users a total overview of handicap parking spaces in the city center. If the pilot is successful, there is potential for expanding both the geographic area and the user group.
In autumn 2016 a similar test was conducted with 300 on-street parking spaces in Oslo’s Grünerløkka neighborhood. The results of that test were not good enough for a further roll-out. Another test using ground sensors was started in August 2019, this time in the street Stortingsgata where there is an active tram line. The sensors will be removed at the end of the test period in spring 2020. Neither of these pilots has included user interfaces.
The solution needs to be able to function in a dense urban environment characterized by narrow streets, dense building development, and traffic including trams. The solution also must function through all seasons and have potential to be handed over to the city for daily operation. Additionally, the solution needs to adhere to our requirements for data security and privacy protection. We are interested in a practical test of a smart parking system which can offer real-time information about vacant/occupied street parking to the public.
See attached documents for further information about the RFI and specific questions.