About Center Day and smart parking

For many years, the Center Day has existed in Montevideo, a day when businesses in the city center offer significant discounts in order to attract an extraordinary number of customers.

This measure is accompanied by an exemption from the parking fee in the areas that are normally metered. The goal is (or was) clear: to encourage people to go to the city center without having to pay for parking.

However, this action results in Center Day being the most difficult day to find a parking spot: people who work in the area take advantage of the exemption, arrive early in the morning, and occupy all the spaces for the rest of the workday.

Thus, this action ends up being counterproductive for the purposes of Center Day, especially for those who want to go by car. At first glance, one might think it would actually be more convenient to charge the parking fees, as the cost of parking for a couple of hours is much lower than the volume of the discounts. Alternatively, a kind of parking reimbursement could be implemented by the participating businesses.

What alternatives exist? The case of Mons

This issue (as always) is not unique to other cities around the world; many commercial hubs face these challenges. One such example is the city of Mons, in Belgium, which implemented a smart parking system based on parking sensors connected through a LoRaWAN network.

The residents were facing a shortage of parking spaces in their commercial area, which led to 30% of the traffic being caused by vehicles looking for a parking spot. As a result, people opted for large shopping centers with parking included. The turnover of parking spaces was minimal, averaging less than three rotations per day per spot. In comparison, a parking space in a shopping center typically rotates between five and six times a day.

The authorities in Mons implemented a solution for consumers through an app where they can view available parking spaces. Once parked, they get 30 minutes of free parking, and after this time, the parking fee is charged as usual. However, if the person makes a purchase, the store can extend their free parking time, similar to what is implemented in shopping centers.

The results were more than satisfactory: in two months, the turnover rate of parking spaces tripled compared to the previous numbers. The shopkeepers also saw their sales expectations greatly exceeded.

Would it be possible to replicate the Mons model in Uruguay?

Is it feasible to aspire to a similar project in Montevideo? The most central and commercial area, and therefore of greatest interest, covers about 800 parking spaces. An initiative like this would involve a significant deployment for this type of solution, especially when compared to Mons, where 110 sensors were installed, and the city of Liège (also in Belgium), which has 223.

In these cities, the deployments were aimed at addressing the specific commercial issue in question. They are smaller-scale projects with a focused approach, unlike the case of the English city of Harrogate, which opted for a "massive" deployment and installed more than 2,000 sensors to address the problem on a broader scale.

These numbers give us an idea that, at first glance, the most reasonable approach would be to identify a smaller problematic area as a proof of concept or pilot project. This could involve other commercial centers, such as Arocena Street (in the Carrasco neighborhood) or the surroundings of the Mercado Agrícola. In these cases, the number of sensors would be closer to the deployments in Mons and Liège.

Selecting a small area in the center of Montevideo would imply a dual system, as both the traditional metered parking and the new smart parking model would coexist. This could be confusing and problematic for users.

Regarding infrastructure, although these solutions require an initial investment in sensors, the new LPWAN technologies allow for connectivity to be achieved at a minimal cost compared to what was thought just a few years ago.

Finally, taking it a step further, we can consider the possibility of having the merchants in the center offer this discount permanently, every day of the year. This would create a more lasting dynamic in the area, not just on one day a month, which would justify the investment.

¹ Under the perception of a number of users, there is no institutional field study to support it.

² LoRaWAN is a low-power, long-range communication protocol for IoT (Internet of Things) devices. It uses LoRa technology to wirelessly transmit data over long distances, making it ideal for applications that require low power, high mobility, and access to remote areas. It allows the connection of thousands of devices to a single network.

³ LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) is a type of wireless communication designed to transmit data efficiently and cost-effectively over large geographic areas with low energy consumption. It uses low-speed communication protocols and narrow bandwidth to connect IoT (Internet of Things) devices, making it ideal for applications such as remote monitoring, process automation, and asset tracking.

José Luis Nunes, Engineering Specialist de Telco & Smart Cities.

Joselo is an electrical engineer (Telecommunications) from the University of the Republic. For the past 6 years, he has worked at Isbel in the after-sales and large-scale project implementation area.