Parking and Security Case Study: Forks North Portage – Winnipeg, Manitoba
| Industry | Private Municipal |
| Organization |
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| Location | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
About The Forks North Portage
North Portage Development Corporation (NPDC) was incorporated on December 13, 1983, under the laws of Manitoba as a community development corporation and commenced operations on that date. The Corporation is owned equally by the following shareholders: Federal Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba, and the City of Winnipeg. The objective of the Corporation is to provide a mechanism for implementing the redevelopment of the North Portage area.
The Forks Renewal Corporation (FRC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of NPDC. FRC was incorporated on July 24, 1987 under the laws of Manitoba and commenced operations July 29, 1987. Focused on the redevelopment of the former CN East Yards area.
The operations of the two Corporations were merged in 1994 to form The Forks North Portage Partnership.
Client Overview
Forks North Portage (FNP) is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. FNP manages over 20 lots throughout the city, including in the shopping district called “The Forks”.
The Forks North Portage Partnership, a key stakeholder in the development of the downtown, is responsible for the ownership, management, and continuing renewal of The Forks and North Portage sites.
The business of the Partnership is to provide as many reasons as possible for people ‘to live, work and play in the downtown’. As more people live, work, or play downtown, more services and entertainment will be developed to serve them. Vitality at The Forks and North Portage results from a diverse mix of facilities and activities that reinforce one another, bringing people into the downtown.
Parking & Security Challenges
- moving to a paid model @ The Forks (KEY)
- moving to a paid model @ The Forks (KEY)
- revenue generation (KEY)
- merging parking operations (KEY)
- ensure a high quality of service
- track parking allocations
- issue and track violations
Technology Solutions
The Forks North Portage (FNP) looked to the OperationsCommander (OPS-COM) parking and security platform to help bring together several disconnected parking technologies. The key benefit is access to a system that supports customization and can grow to bring together a multitude of different parking applications and technologies. OPS-COM supplies both a scalable and customizable solution to fulfill these requirements.
OPS-COM parking and security platform
- brings together or replaces legacy parking applications
- fully customizable to support client processes
- additional revenue comes from parking enforcement
- enhances inner-office communication
- reporting that interlinks the overlapping areas of parking and enforcement
ParkAdmin for parking management
- generate revenue from previous “free” parking based on time limits
- allows users to self-manage parking and payments
- used to audit parking lot usage
Text2Park.Me
- SMS (phone) parking payments for temporary parking
- parking registration from the comfort of your car
ViolationAdmin for parking enforcement
- allows users to pay and dispute violations online
- remote data access using Android handhelds
- support remote sharing of virtual chalk information
- virtual chalking and violations with context imagery
PL8-RDR – license plate recognition
- monitoring of vehicles for parking validation
- enforcement of vehicles with automatic virtual chalking
- automatic tracking and reporting of vehicles of interest
FinanceAdmin financial reporting and billing
- invoice creation to group client permits
- payments pushed directly to the bank
- receivables reporting
- subscription model for payments
3rd party integrations
- Luke II – parking meters
- Tattile – license plate recognition cameras
- Moneris – online portal payments
Parking and Security Project Results
The OPS-COM parking and security platform fulfills FNP’s desire to swap out old legacy systems and move to a paid model at The Forks shopping area. The cloud-based system ensures that data is available to all staff when required. Patrols in the field can virtual chalk vehicles to uphold time limits by simply driving past vehicles parked near The Forks. The same PL8-RDR technology is used to validate parkers at numerous lots scattered throughout the city. Self-managed profiles allow users to dispute and pay for violations from any computer, thus improving client service.
Resulting Benefits
- Bring together or replace old legacy parking systems through one simple cloud based interface
- Simplify the creation of a pay model around previously ‘free’ parking
- Allow staff to interact with data and communication tools as a single solution
The Forks North Portage has contributed to the evolution of the OperationsCommander parking and security platform by sharing its business process. The software has been customized through discussions and one-on-one meetings to meet the business processes for FNP best. One example is the FinanceAdmin module, which evolved from discussions on how FNP was managing clients and invoices, and how they wanted to push that functionality to designated client representatives.
Future
- Currently, FNP is installing LPR static cameras in its Portage parkade. These cameras would allow FNP to move to a paperless, gateless operation, reducing maintenance and operational costs.
- We continue to work with FNP to deliver an efficient and streamlined process for parking.