Innovative Smart City solutions in the 5th district of Budapest
With our solutions, the 5th District of Budapest has been brought closer to making even more informed decisions on public space management issues, thus ensuring a more sustainable and livable environment for the residents, commuters and visitors of the district.
In the always busy Budapest downtown environment, the everyday life of many residents, commuters and visitors of the 5th District is made more difficult by the search for a vacant on-street parking space.
On average, more than 30,000 cars pass through an area of 2.6 square kilometers a day, of which an estimated 30% of car traffic is accounted for cars seeking free parking space.
There are only approximately 5,200 public parking spaces available in the district where the scarcity and variable utilization of parking spaces were causing serious problems, like more traffic, congestion and consequent deterioration of air quality in the district.
In addition, the district’s management and relevant decision-makers were challenged by the lack of data to optimize traffic on the busy but narrow downtown streets. Thus, they were not able to identify traffic anomalies on time, reduce potential traffic disruptions due to maintenance and other works, and it was not possible to measure the effects of any traffic changes.
Pilot period
First phase
Second phase
Third phase
Smart Lynx has helped address this complex problem with its innovative Smart Parking and Traffic Monitoring solutions, making life easier for residents, drivers and the management of the district. After a successful pilot period of the Smart Parking solution, which began in 2018, the live system was deployed in three phases. In the spring of 2019, the system was launched in the southern part of the district, where 1,315 parking sensors were installed. It was followed by the second phase of installation in the spring of 2020 with an additional 2,385 sensors in the central and northern parts of the district. The third phase began in the fall of 2020 and will continue until the spring of 2021. Upon completion, real-time occupancy data will be available for 100% of the district’s more than 5,200 on-street parking spaces.
The drivers can check the occupancy state of parking spaces via the Parker mobile app. The app helps drivers easily find and navigate to an available parking spot and purchase a parking ticket, further simplifying the parking process. Along with the deployment of the Smart Parking solution, traffic counting sensors had also been installed in various parts of the district to help the district’s management to be able to monitor the inflow and outflow traffic and also the traffic within the district in real time.
Smart Lynx not only simplifies the everyday life of drivers looking for parking, but also provides a complex solution for professionals responsible for parking operations and urban development. Through a dashboard, they get access to detailed statistics on parking space utilization and traffic conditions of the district, which are key data for making optimal operating and development decisions.
The number of users who have downloaded the Parker app now exceeds 42,000 people, and it already saves time, money and frustration for at least 650-700 drivers a day. It is estimated that users of the app spend on average 60% less time searching for free parking spaces, which saves approximately 10 minutes per parking, and can typically park 62% closer to their original destination.
Thanks to the Smart Parking solution, the environmental and living conditions in the district have significantly improved
The use of Parker application alone has reduced carbon emissions by an average of 2,885 kilograms per week, making the air fresher. Lower noise pollution and a reduction in the number of drivers seeking free parking as well provide a livable district for its citizens. In addition, drivers using Parker have not only become more satisfied, but even save fuel, averaging 1.68 liters per week per user.
With Smart Lynx’s Smart Parking solution, the 5th District of Budapest has the ability to track the actual utilization of urban parking spaces, so it became possible to exploit the potential of parking revenue, optimize the infrastructure and ensure even and high utilization of parking spaces and revenue growth. As an example, by monitoring the actual utilization of loading bays, the district is able to optimize loading periods according to real needs, increasing its parking revenues.
With the help of traffic monitoring, the management of the 5th District can make decisions regarding changes affecting traffic based on real-life data. Among other things, it was possible to monitor the impact of Restart Budapest program on urban traffic load, where cars were banned in certain parts of the district.
