Asura’s License Plate Recognition replacing card-based access for Parking Operation and increases profitability for Nexus Parking Systems
Our partner, Nexus Parking Systems provides 900 parking spaces to Rowan University, NJ students at its facility, the Rowan Boulevard Parking Garage. Students enter the garage with access cards issued each year by Nexus. The company was dissatisfied with the solution for several reasons; the substantial number of access card pass-back issues negatively affected the overall profitability of the parking facility, the system did not allow facility lockdown which is a major problem during emergencies and there are extra financial costs involved with procuring new cards and hiring/scheduling administration staff as the distribution of cards takes well over a month each year. The constant need for customer service due to replacing lost cards and catering to other customer problems arising from the use of access cards were also recurring issues.
All in all, it was clear that the card-based access control model was not the optimal solution for Nexus, neither did it promote the quality customer service that the company is dedicated to.
Implementation
In an effort to modernize and transform its parking operation Nexus turned to Asura to install a system that is capable of eliminating physical permits for the student body with the introduction of license plate-based permitting. The actual project was preceded by a POC, testing the LPR solution by connecting it to the existing camera infrastructure to verify the performance of the software. After a successful POC, the next step was to integrate the LPR with the access control system in use at the site to transmit LP data into the system. The last stop before rolling-out full scale with the new LPR-based parking system was a pilot on a smaller group of users involving the Spring Semester parkers.
Outcome
We especially love this project, as it showed some of the strong points of our LPR solution as well as being a fine example of why LPR-based access control should be considered to replace access card-based models. The reason we are keen on this project is that integration time was kept at a minimum and required only a minimal effort from all parties involved. The operation from concept to the conclusion of the pilot took less than 3 months, with the integration taking only 2 weeks due to Asura’s software developed with easy integration into any business application in mind. Nexus was also highly content with the results as the system upgrade brought positive change in the operation.
For the students added to the LPR system, the operator noticed a substantial drop in pass-back issues and expects an increase in profitability as trafficking with access cards will be reduced to a minimum with the extension of LPR for the whole parking operation. The introduction of the LPR system is reducing payroll costs and the costs of purchasing new access cards each year. It also promotes a positive experience for Nexus staff as well as for the customers, especially with the decreased entry/exit times and the overall smoother parking experience.
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