Find out how new emission-based tariffs in car parks
could penalise the drivers of vehicles that produce significant amounts of CO2.
You may be interested to hear that change is afoot when it
comes to car parking costs. Local authorities have now been given the
technology to inflict higher parking tariffs on vehicles that produce greater
levels of CO2 emissions. On the flip side, drivers of ultra-low emission
vehicles, such as electric cars, could escape a tariff altogether.
Although this new tariff is unlikely to have a significant
effect on the courier industry, as generally courier drivers do not use car
parks when delivering packages, it is likely to raise awareness about
environmentally-friendly engines. It marks a step forward in the government’s
attempt to tackle vehicular CO2 emissions.
The Flexi-Tariff System: How Does It Work?
ATP Skidata is a parking technology business that is behind
the initiative to place a flexi-tariff system in car parks nationwide. This
company has several clients across the UK and therefore the scheme has the
potential to affect millions of vehicles and businesses throughout the country.
The system uses high tech cameras that are set to record
number plates by means of the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). As a
vehicle, be it a car, truck, van or motorbike, enters the car park, the
registration is logged. This registration number is then sent to a database
that has all of the relevant CO2 emission information. The driver is charged
accordingly depending on how high or low the emissions related to the relevant
vehicle are.
Why Use This System?
With the ever-increasing amount of traffic on our roads, and
the raised awareness of the environmental impact of CO2 emissions, we in the UK
cannot go on as we are. Issues related to our environment need to be addressed
and this is one way of doing that. Drivers in charge of vehicles that are more
fuel efficient will be rewarded by paying lower parking tariffs, particularly
when they are using the car parks in towns and cities.
The extra money received from the high emission vehicles
using specific car parks will go towards offsetting the negative environmental
impact of the car park itself, which is yet another added bonus of having the
tariffs in place. Individual car parks using the ATP Skidata system will be in
control of setting their own targets according to their own environmental
policy.
With this clear discouragement of older petrol and diesel
engines with bad emissions records,
surely it is only a matter of time before electric charging points become
commonplace in the country’s car parks as an incentive to drive more
environmentally-friendly vehicles.
Article Tags: Parking Tariffs
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