London To Get Smart Parking Sensors Installed In Roads From Next Week

Next week will see Westminster Council installing what they’re calling smart sensors in to their entire road network, these sensors will detect whether or not a parking bay is vacant and then relay that information to a smartphone app. The idea is simple, a spot becomes available and it appears on the smartphone app, your phone will then give you directions to that spot in the hope that it will cut the time people spend looking for somewhere to park. The end result is less frustration for the driver, less traffic and less carbon emissions by getting cars parked sooner. Of course, you then have the issue of 15 people going for the same spot at once, but it’s still better than driving around blind and unable to find any parking spaces.

This follows on from other parts of the world such as the scheme in Dublin, where the service ParkYa uses data from the council, local authorities and private operators to provide it’s own parking app. You’ve likely even seen newer multi-story car parks being fitted with realtime bay availability maps and bay lights, all in the aid of helping people park quicker.

Should the new scheme in Westminster prove successful the sceme could be rolled out across the rest of London, perhaps even in other cities around the UK and of course the rest of the world.

So what do you think, great idea, or a waste of money?

Thank you BBC for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.