National Parking Platform to be demonstrated at TTF Conference

Delegates attending the Transport Technology Forum conference will have a chance to try out the new National Parking Platform when they arrive at the venue in Leicestershire on 23 April.

Attendees will also experience in-vehicle signing on their own Android and Apple smartphones.

When parking at the Leonardo Hotel, Hinkley Island, on the first day of the conference attendees can opt to use their chosen parking app to “pay” for parking using the platform, which is being currently being demonstrated in Manchester ahead of a national roll-out. Parking is actually free for the event itself, so users will pay a token amount to see how payment at a car park with payment needed would work.

The NPP is a Department for Transport-led initiative to simplify parking payment. The pilot platform enables payments using a range of established parking apps, rather than having to have a specific app for a specific area. The NPP also offers potential benefits for local authorities, including providing data exchange to enable multi-seller payments, a way of sharing parking information and standardising technical and commercial relations.

The apps linked to the NPP are: RingGo, PayByPhone, APCOA Connect, JustPark, Caura and AppyParking. 

When drivers arrive at the hotel, they can open their chosen app, enter the location code 909 007 and register their vehicle, to be among the first people to try out the new technology.

“The TTF conference brings together a unique group of professionals from both Parking and Highways areas of work, and the demonstration of National Parking Platform (NPP) will show how the system works for visitors,” explained the TTF’s Smarter Parking Working Group chair, Sarah Randall of Agena Group. “It then starts to show the wider vehicle community how system link together to provider a simple service for drivers.”

Drivers will also be able to receive live traffic information in-car as they head to the venue, thanks to virtual traffic signs delivered by a TTF project led by KL Systems and White Willow Consulting. They will see repeats of National Highways signs on the motorways as they travel to the venue, and then signing to the venue itself along with welcome messages.

Apps are available to download for in vehicle signing for vehicles with Android Auto/Apple car play or simply smart phones in cradles – so the same technology provides navigation, information and parking payment. The TTF has sent detailed instructions to attendees.

Connected Vehicle Working Group Cchair Andy Graham said: “Following on from the LCRIG Innovation Festival last year and the TTF demonstrations, I am delighted we can show both new services to everyone attending the event by car, whatever technology they have.

“It’s great to see services that were a powerpoint slide when TTF started, now being off the shelf. The next steps are to get parking apps and in vehicle signing combined, but that’s next week’s job!”

To get a flavour of last year’s conference click here

To see last year’s Conference sessions in Leeds subscribe to the TTF YouTube channel here