Developed Action Plan is going to be the part of the Regional transport plan for the South Moravian Region for the period 2017-2021. The changes of this document occur on a yearly basis and are planned for the end of this year. The Action plan has been approved by the Transport department of the South Moravian Region and therefore it is prepared for approval by the Regional Council which is the political body of the region. 
The action plan considers four main areas: Smart parking, Support of electromobility, Value added services and Administrative support of activities. Each of these points consists of short and medium term objectives and of long-term objectives.
The main activities for smart parking area are connected to standardization of the parking parameters in the region, and technical and organizational recommendations for municipalities. Very important is the presentation for public.
The main activities for electromobility area are connected to testing and evaluation of experiences with the electric driven vehicles.
The main activities for value added services are oriented to increase the cooperation with existing private bike and car sharing agencies and searching for synergies. 
The activities connected to administrative support help with approving of planned measures by political representation. 

Expected impact and benefits of the strategy

As the main benefit can be considered the standardization of parking services which are and in next years will be constructed and operated by many municipalities. Municipalities will receive the practical handbook which will include the recommendations and tools for construction of a livable P+R facility. The other activities are rather long term – oriented and will serve as the preparation for the changes in the transport market – foremost the electric buses and cooperation with private bike or car sharing agencies. The action plan will prepare the field for the new Mobility as a Service concept. 

Lessons learned 

The preparation of the action plan has brought a basket of new information especially in the parking field. The new economically highly effective way of car counting in the P+Rs has been successfully tested and this solution can be replicated to other municipalities in the region. The SW developed for public usage is in operation and can very easily add new similar services. The representatives both of the region and the municipalities were keen to discuss these issues and find the way how to improve the situation.

SMART PARKING PILOT ACTION

A new P&R model for South Moravian Region

The pilot action in Brno functional urban area (FUA) lied in development and installation of a smart parking solution on a selected P+R car park. Objectives of the activity were to promote public transport usage, inform drivers about free parking capacities and thus lower the number of vehicles entering the city of Brno – the main city of the FUA.

During the initial phase of the project, KORDIS JMK analyzed occupancy of car parks near railway stations within Brno FUA. Both, official parking lots and land used for unofficial parking have been observed to choose the most appropriate location for implementation of a smart parking system. As a most desirable car park for the pilot test has been chosen the P+R area near the railway station in Blansko.

As a second step, KORDIS JMK together with CDV explored the situation on the car park and designed technical solution that took into consideration physical parameters of the car park, roads in surrounding, and behavior of drivers.  Following up the preparation of technical specification, public procurement of desirable technology was launched.

The pilot site has been equipped with a system based on magnetic parking detectors. The system installed consists of 6 traffic flow detectors and 7 calibration parking occupancy detectors and the relevant communication infrastructure (1 control unit and 2 repeaters).

According to the availability of the communication technologies in the pilot area, IQRF communication technology for communication between each detector and master unit, has been chosen as communication layer for this pilot test. Traffic flow detectors and parking occupancy detectors were embedded into the roadway and below the given parking places. Since that time the communication infrastructure has collected data about the occupancy of P+R and this information is accessible through API.

End-users can watch the current occupancy of P+R on the website https://zaparkuj.idsjmk.cz/ and in a mobile application for Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?d=idsjmk.parkandride.

Implementation of the pilot action enabled to test in Brno FUA new technology for monitoring of parking occupancy. The solution chosen presents affordable purchase costs for municipalities if they decide to monitor parking occupancy. Besides that, database of all relevant P+R carparks in Brno FUA but outside of the city of Brno has been created. End-users can watch the available parking space from the aforementioned links. Representatives of all municipalities in Brno FUA have been informed about results of the pilot test in Blansko and this solution has been recommended to them for the case they decide to implement a smart parking solution in their municipality in the future.

One of the main achievements of Brno Pilot Action was to increase awareness in commuters on possibility and effectiveness of Park and Ride options, thus favoring the usage of Public Transport but also reducing time and “useless trips” searching for a parking. At the same time, Pilot Action contributed to increase awareness and knowledge of policy makers about existing possibilities for better organizing and exploiting parking areas near to PT stations, contributing to reduce congestions, inappropriate use of parking slots and other negativities.

Expected impacts and benefits

The project enabled involvement of technical experts from the Transport research center to design and test for the first time an innovative smart parking solution in a municipality outside of the core city of the FUA. With respect to the new parking regulation scheme in the City of Brno, the implemented pilot contributed to rising awareness about P+R car parks near railway stations among commuters.

The solution detecting occupancy of the car park is suitable for further replication in other municipalities. Description of the technical solution applied in the pilot has been disseminated in a brochure to mayors from roughly 700 municipalities in the Brno FUA. It might be considered that further municipalities in the FUA will implement the developed solution at their territory.

Lessons learned and added value of transnational cooperation

The project made possible to broaden knowledge about regulation of parking and low emission zones. Both the legal framework and the possible technical solutions from different countries have been analysed. Results of the analysis have been transferred to local stakeholders (technical experts from the Transport department of the South Moravian Reginal Authority).

For the implementation of the detecting system of parking occupancy it was most desirable that the solution will be sustainable after the project end and that the installation do not damage the roadway of the car park. Exchange about technical details of the pilot among project partners contributed to choose of the most suitable solution for implementation.

The ICT smart parking tool developed during the project are described in the following deliverables available in the publication section:

• D.T2.1.1 – Transnational review and user requirements of smart parking solutions
• D.T2.1.2 – Overall design and Regulation Schemes and related Data Management System
• D.T2.1.3 – Smart Parking tool developed