New Sensors Quietly Measure How Often Parking Spots Used

CivicSmart vehicle detection sensor. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

New rectangular boxes have appeared Downtown beneath parking meters and street signs along N. Milwaukee Street.

They’re not a high-tech parking meter the city is planning to switch to, but part of an attempt to get a better understanding of how city parking spaces are being used.

Known as “Vehicle Detection Sensors,” the patented devices are produced by Milwaukee-based CivicSmart.

“[The sensors] are currently being installed in several locations within the City as part of a pilot program to assess the accuracy of the vehicle detection associated with them,” said a Department of Public Works spokesperson.

The devices are intended to wirelessly report space utilization to the city, giving more information than could be gained by how much money the metered parking space generated. According to CivicSmart’s website, the devices rely on radio waves and as a result, “detection is not affected by conditions that plague other sensor technologies (ambient light, color, weather, passing or adjacent vehicles, and electromagnetic interference).”

The city is initially testing the sensors for their accuracy. It is paying $245 per sensor for up to 75 sensors during the pilot phase. The city’s cost covers one-third of the estimated cost of the sensors. “The second phase, for which the time frame has not yet been determined, is planned for up to 125 additional sensors. The length of the pilot also has not yet been determined, and will be dependent on a variety of factors,” said a DPW spokesperson.

The data collected, according to CivicSmart, could be used to inform people where empty spaces are, increase parking revenue by resetting parking meters when a vehicle leaves, provide free time for vehicles in certain spaces, offer space reservations, improve enforcement by merging vehicle presence with meter information and enable variable pricing based on actual demand. The sensors also have the capability to read an RFID chip, making them compatible with a windshield-mounted permit.

The Common Council approved a market-based (variable) block-by-block parking pricing strategy in 2018, but short of increasing rates during events near Fiserv Forum, DPW has yet to implement the policy. The strategy was intended to raise rates when blocks were found to have utilization and lower rates when utilization was low, with the end goal of making it easier to park by appropriately pricing spaces in a way that would likely raise rates in some areas while dropping rates or eliminating restrictions altogether in other areas. Additional details on the strategy, and a proposal to extend the meter hours can be found in our March 2 coverage.

CivicSmart is the parent company of Duncan Parking Technologies. It acquired the parking company in 2015 from Duncan Solutions, Inc., which manages parking tickets for the City of Milwaukee.