The German city of Dresden has introduced a new parking assistance system which guides coach drivers and tourists to the nearest available parking space.
Within the award-winning parking project, Nedap’s SENSIT sensors are integrated with dynamic signs along the city’s main routes to inform motorists in real-time about the number of available parking spaces. The solution was integrated by Swarco Traffic Systems (STS).
Dresden, capital of the eastern German state of Saxony, attracts more than 12 million visitors each year. More than 10% of the tourists visit the city by coach or bus.
About 100 coaches visit Dresden on an average day during the main season from May to September. This number can increase to more than 800 coaches during the popular Christmas market in December.
The real-time information provided by the city’s ‘parking and guidance system’ aims to save drivers from time-consuming searching for available parking spaces, along with unnecessary detours and navigation. It is hoped that as a side effect it will also reduce traffic congestion and emissions of CO2 and fine dust.
The dynamic street signs allow the coach drivers to orientate themselves and easily find their nearest available parking area. At the same time, the signs help the tourists to return to the correct pick-up points without getting lost in the city.
The coach parking and stopping areas are being expanded at the most popular tourist locations in Dresden and the services for coach tourists are being improved. In October 2015, Dresden was awarded the Smart Move City Trophy for the second time by the International Road Union (IRU) for continuously updating its dynamic and flexible coach parking and guidance system.
Most of the coach parking areas in Dresden are open-air, where traditional roof-mounted parking sensors are not applicable. The system instead uses wireless in-ground parking sensors.
The SENSIT sensors support both magnetic as infra-red detection. The double-detection technology makes Nedap’s parking sensors also applicable for detection of larger vehicles like coaches and trucks.
