When automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology was introduced in the 1990’s it was initially adopted by public safety departments to enhance their enforcement and investigative capabilities. Today, you’ll find the technology in toll plazas, airport parking structures and, increasingly, on school grounds and college campuses as leaders look for ways to enhance security, add value, create efficiencies and improve the customer experience.
Add value.
ALPR can positively impact your bottom line two ways: By cutting costs and by generating revenue. ALPR can help you save labor and materials costs associated with parking administration. Instead of issuing paper permits to employees, students, staff or contractors, your parking patrons can buy permits online based on their license plate number. One university saved $30,000 in administrative labor and materials in its first year of ALPR implementation.
On that same campus, ALPR is also helping administrators generate new revenue. Because it tracks exact parking capacity, the college is able to issue and sell more parking permits than it previously thought possible: 200 more permits in its first year, increasing revenue by 10 percent.
ALPR also helps to deliver an improved customer experience because it enables organizations to establish ‘gateless’ parking lots and structures. These lots use fixed ALPR cameras at entrances to capture vehicle identification as a driver pulls in. Patrons then pay for parking at a pay station—typically set up near a building entrance or stairwell—before returning to their car, which allows them to avoid potential delays at the exit gate. On the back end, the system reconciles the payment information from the pay station with ALPR data, and issues citations for vehicles that underpaid or failed to pay.
Learn more about ALPR on our website or call us at 800-726-5426.