The Pride of Wales

For the Metric Group, there has been a welcome on the hillsides and in the vales for as long back as people in the parking industry of Wales can remember.

 

Wales, the land of song, has enjoyed a melodious affiliation with Metric since the 1980’s when the darling of Cardiff’s Tiger Bay, Shirley Bassey - the first lady of song - was at the peak of her distinguished singing career.

 

From the Isle of Anglesey to the Rhondda Valleys, our pay and display machines have performed reliably and robustly in some of the most severe elements that can be experienced.

 

Any feature on Wales has to start in the capital which has a relationship with Metric going back to 1988 when Autoslots – amongst the pioneers of pay and display – were first installed in the city and are remembered with affection by the local authority to this day. A significant development for Metric in Wales was winning a competitive tender in 2007 to install 139 Aura solar power pay and display machines capable of accepting credit cards. The 139 on-street machines, in green livery, serve 1,800 car parking spaces resulting in 1.1 million transactions a year.  Twenty percent are by credit card payment and the number is increasing.

 

Not many miles away in the Rhondda Valleys, the Accent model is installed in 19 town car parks that provide 2,433 spaces for workers, shoppers and commuters.  The Rhondda first installed Autoslots in the late 80’s and continued with the introduction of the Accent which has brought the age of the machines down. 

 

The equipment installed in Ceredigion operate in 31 car parks from Aberystwyth to Cardigan and Lyndon Griffiths, Ceredigion County Council’s Divisional Engineer (Urban) describes the level of co-operation between the authority and Metric as ‘second to none’. “We are grateful to Metric for the level of service they provide us.  When you have a term contractor the highest level of competence and expertise is required and we have that from Metric.  From the point of view of back-up we are an extremely happy organisation.”

 

Flintshire County Council is convinced that one of the best things they did was to network the Aura machines they have installed in car parks in the town centres of Mold and Holywell.    Said Chris Soloman, Highways Policy Manager:  “We use the Metric ASLAN Back Office to help with customers who lose their parking ticket.  Through this method we can verify a customer’s claim that they have purchased a ticket using ASLAN to assist rather than to enforce.”  “The back office also allows us to monitor the turnover of spaces, particularly on market days, and this helps to promote the town centres,” said Chris.

Wrexham County Borough Council visited their neighbours Flintshire to see the ASLAN Back Office in operation prior to tendering to upgrade their equipment which had been in the ground since the early 90’s. Said Parking Services Manager Jo Rogers:  “I was being questioned to provide a lot of data for which I didn’t have the software to provide the answers.  Usage and income on a daily basis are critical to the authority so I needed more detailed and accurate data.  As a result, the visit to Flintshire was very helpful.” Metric won the tender for fully networked Auras which were installed in September 2009. The Auras cover nine town centre car parks which provide 1,318 spaces for shoppers and workers with tariffs ranging from 60p an hour to £3 for over three hours. Wrexham, which is amongst the top 100 regional shopping centres in the UK, has its biggest car park Waterworld serving council offices, courts, swimming baths and memorial hall, providing 339 spaces controlled by six networked Auras.

 

“Metric’s support of the machines is second to none and I am personally pleased we went down this route.  As well as the need for data on usage and income, it was also critical that our parking machines were DDA compliant – we provide a total of 70 disabled spaces.” She added that a pilot consultation for a residents parking scheme would be introduced in January 2010.

 

Networking has been given a big thumbs up by John McEvoy, Parking Service Manager for Carmarthenshire County Council who says ASLAN has assisted with an inflationary increase in the pricing schedule as well as managing the authority’s cash collection more effectively. Said John:  “We have recently changed our pay and display parking prices to meet the current economic climate which we were able to do from the nerve centre.  Instead of 50-plus Metric machines having to be changed individually, we have been able to do it directly. “Streamlining the cash collection has been a huge benefit  across our far flung county which includes pay and display in Carmarthen and Llanelli and the market towns of Llandovery, Llandeilo, Amerford, Newcastle Emlyn and St. Clears.”

 

In neighbouring Pembrokeshire, another authority which has a relationship with Metric going back to the 80’s, their pay and display parking charges are as little as 20p an hour and it is possible to park all day in the county’s prime resort, Tenby, for £1.50 in the summer. Parking Services Manager Geoff Sutton is pleased Pembrokeshire networked their Accent machines three years’ ago before he took up the post, for it meant that the authority’s parking attendants could be better deployed.  “This was a most sensible move by my predecessor because the benefits of machine networking are clear to us every day.  We cannot possibly have a parking attendant in all our 17 pay and display car parks,” said Geoff.  He added:  “Networking gives us knowledge of what is happening out there and is a better use of our resources.