We’ve all been there; driving around a congested area, thinking, “There has to be a better way to navigate my city, right?” Well, good news, there is.
Agencies traditionally turn to signal timing to reduce congestion, but a third of urban congestion is attributed to drivers looking for a place to park. So how do you alleviate this? Several cities, including San Jose, have opted to install wayfinding solutions to guide drivers to their final destination more efficiently in an effort to reduce congestion and harmful emissions.
Wayfinding 411
Wayfinding has been around for hundreds of years, helping people determine their location, plan and follow a route to their destination. Traditional signs are more dynamic than ever, leveraging variable message sign technology to display full-color text and images, which can be changed to reflect current traffic conditions, pricing and parking availability for garages, or events that may affect the downtown area. The same data can also be shared with websites or mobile apps that appeal to digital enthusiasts.
Bountiful Benefits
Wayfinding signs bring about a host of benefits, not only to drivers, but to city agencies and parking operators.
Curbside Management
With an increasing number of ridesharing vehicles on the road, managing curbside real estate has become a pain point for many cities. Manage curbside parking by directing drivers to available structures.
Reduce Emissions
Decrease congestion and carbon emissions by helping drivers locate available parking quicker and more efficiently. Not to mention, more informed drivers make better decisions which can improve road safety.
Maximized Utilization
Lead drivers to garages they might not have otherwise thought of or had time to search for by providing information on parking garage distance, pricing, and availability.
More Than Just Signs - A Solution
McCain's OPTIPARK™ Wayfinding goes above and beyond just placing a sign on the side of the road. Cities can broadcast messages to OPTIPARK Signs or bring those messages to the vehicle dashboards with OPTIPARK Zephyr central software. This on-premise or cloud-hosted software seamlessly integrates wayfinding data into city websites and map-based applications.
Based on an open architecture, OPTIPARK Wayfinding can pull parking occupancy data from multiple sources and vendors including PARCS, PGS, or valet systems.
Introducing OPTIPARK PGS
Wayfinding can do a lot to alleviate congestion, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. McCain's OPTIPARK PGS is an optics-based parking guidance system that provides highly-accurate vehicle detection at an affordable price. Fully compatible with OPTIPARK Wayfinding, it fills the gap between costly single-space applications and simple counting systems.
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