Informed parking can kerb congestion

Managing the kerbside is the missing piece in London’s smart push to ease congestion, says Arrive’s Christopher Head

London has once again been ranked amongst the slowest capital cities in the world to travel one kilometre  by car. Aside from the irritation of sitting in traffic, the cost of this lack of pace goes beyond lost time and rising emissions. It is chipping away at confidence in the capital’s ability to move.

Transport for London’s new five-year plan to tackle congestion, harnessing AI-powered traffic cameras, smarter signals and data-sharing, is a clear sign that the city is serious about using technology to get traffic flowing more freely on its streets.

TfL’s approach is a positive example of how technology can drive meaningful change when used to target the specific parts of urban mobility that create the most friction. There are, for example, a number of areas within the kerbside management space that are ripe for this kind of innovation. Changes that could make a real difference to how easily people move around and not just in London.  

Cruising for parking is a congestion problem hiding in plain sight

The often quoted finding that 30% of urban traffic is made up of drivers searching for parking is rightly scrutinised, but it points towards a very real experience and problem. 

In busy areas a lack of information about availability and difficulty finding somewhere to park leads to motorists circling an area unnecessarily or stopping and waiting for a space to become available, or parking in a non-compliant way, creating additional traffic and in many cases leading directly to congestion. 

In the UK the issue is exacerbated by a data gap for councils when it comes to understanding on-street parking behaviours. The majority of pay stations in the UK do not have a real-time data connection, meaning that town and city decision makers are missing crucial input. Additionally for areas with a high proportion of free parking, the lack of visibility over usage can hide major factors that impede mobility. 

Kerbside management is how cities manage demand

When considering changes to parking policies, one of the most practical steps we can take is simply reducing friction at the point of use.
At street level, this starts with connected parking meters and up-to-date back-office systems. When councils can bring together data from pay stations, cashless payment services and other sources in one place, they can build a much clearer picture of what’s really happening:

• Which areas fill up first and when
• How long people choose to stay
• How demand fluctuates and where there are areas of high demand
• What changes during events, rail disruption, roadworks or seasonal peaks.

That visibility lets councils move from anecdote-led complaints to evidence-led decisions about pricing, time limits and bay allocation. It also matters because good parking management is often about maintaining the right level of availability, not full and not empty.

In dense city centres, some authorities monitor occupancy and aim to keep it around 80 to 85% at peak times to reduce the likelihood of drivers circling in search of a space and adding to congestion. 

The exact threshold will differ by location and street type, but the principle is consistent. Sustained near full occupancy tends to push up cruising, non-compliant stops, and has a knock on effect on congestion. 

Making payment painless

Data and policy are one side. The driver experience is the other.

Even where parking is available, frustration can start with queues at machines, outdated signage, and the classic lost ticket moment in off-street car parks.

Every extra step creates delay and uncertainty, especially in places with high turnover such as shopping streets, stations and hospitals.

Modernising prescribed signs and notices so they reflect how people actually pay and park would be a first step in removing friction for drivers. A more technological solution we see off-street parking is moving towards is ticketless, pay on exit journeys. Scan and Pay is one example of the direction of travel.

Rather than worrying about paper tickets and pay stations, the RingGo app acts like a pay station in a driver’s pocket. This means no queuing. No hunting for a machine. No lost tickets.

The simplicity of on-street payments continues in access-controlled car parks.  

When payment is simpler, drivers spend less time idling, less time blocking lanes, and less time making last second decisions. Removing those pinch points can reduce the small delays that ripple out into congestion on surrounding roads. 

Connected infrastructure shouldn’t stop at the traffic light

TfL’s plan reflects a wider shift. Cities want transport systems that are connected and measurable and future ready.

Parking should be part of that as a lever within congestion management, and it does not require one big fix. It’s about removing lots of small sources of delay and uncertainty that create knock-on congestion.

The formula isn’t complicated, but implementation requires foresight and buy-in:

• Connected infrastructure gives cities better visibility
• Better visibility supports smarter parking policies
• Smarter policies and easier payment reduce cruising
• Less cruising means less traffic, fewer emissions and more reliable journeys.

These changes, when done together, are a practical way to take pressure out of the network. And this can be done without waiting years for major construction projects.

London is already investing in the tools to manage movement in a more modern way. The next step is to treat parking, both on street and off street, as part of the same connected system, so that the city’s investment in smarter streets delivers its full potential

Christopher Head is regional director for UK & Ireland of Arrive (parent company of RingGo)