News Alert |

The City of Ballarat has entered into a contract with Australian company CellOPark Pty Ltd, trading as Smarter City Solutions, for the Smarter Parking infrastructure provision.

The contract includes: •    146 new parking meters to replace the current 200 ageing meters •    Licence plate recognition cameras that will be affixed to new vehicles specifically bought for this purpose and driven by existing Council staff trained in the technology •    The CellOPark smart phone app  •    Associated technology to support this infrastructure

Established in 2008, CellOPark was the first company to bring a pay-by-phone system to Australia. CellOPark also uses all Australian providers for hosting, billing and support.

Ten companies tendered for the City of Ballarat contract, with CellOPark considered the most cost effective option while also offering a fully integrated system that will integrate with Council’s current software to provide the best customer experience. The new technology will also bring benefits including transparent parking fine management, better payment options, e-permits, and data management and monitoring. The move to ticketless machines will also save about 20,000 non-recyclable tickets annually.

While the tender price is subject to commercial-in-confidence conditions, it is within the $1.6 million funding allocated for car parking in the 2019/20 budget. The project management of the Smarter Parking Plan roll out will be the responsibility of an in-house City of Ballarat team.

The City of Ballarat is working closely with CellOPark now on the complete roll out of the Smarter Parking Plan in order to minimise any disruption to the community, with the full implementation expected in early 2020. The plan will be rolled out at once, not in stages. The public will be notified when the roll out begins, including the introduction of number plate recognition. Car parking inspectors will no longer "chalk and walk" and traditional tickets will no longer be required once this roll out is completed as the number plate recognition will take its place.