IPS Group Successful Paid-Parking Implementation in Oxford, Miss.

With limited personnel and a scarcity of parking availability, the City of Oxford, Miss. turned to IPS Group to help introduce a paid parking system. Real-time data, enhanced payment options, and more efficient enforcement have helped the City to exceed its program goals, while also creating a more convenient parking experience for patrons.

Challenge

Oxford, Mississippi is often called the “Cultural Mecca of the South.” With increased tourism and a growing student population, the City of Oxford is undergoing a period of incredible growth. With only a three-person parking department, the City sought an efficient system to manage and enforce hightraffic high parking demand regions. The booming downtown area has over 300 premium parking spaces that surround restaurants, shops, businesses, and government offices. As a result, strains on infrastructure demanded a smarter parking solution.

To solve the problem, the City considered introducing a pay-to-park system in the previously free parking area. After a several year study, the City and the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission (DPAC) decided to implement a paid parking system using smart single space parking meters. After a thorough evaluation process, the City awarded the contract to IPS Group, Inc. (The leading manufacturer of intelligent parking technology and fully-integrated parking solutions).

Description

IPS Smart Parking Meters are solar powered and wirelessly networked, so no additional power or communications infrastructure is required to operate the meters. Also, as a result, roadway disruption was minimal and the historic streetscape was preserved in their installation. The city includes businesses, restaurants, and entertainment venues so the parking profile changes hourly, shifting between patrons who visit the city for business and patrons who visit for pleasure. The new meters support dynamic rate structures, which the City can use to adjust rates according to demand.

Impact 

“The implementation of parking meters in our downtown square has been an overwhelming success. The revenue generated has exceeded our expectations. However, more importantly they have helped create access where it was once limited,” states Mike Harris, DPAC member.

Through IPS, the City of Oxford exceeded its goals of increasing turnover and creating a budget surplus to improve parking infrastructure. Before installing IPS meters, parking operations lost an average of $20,000 per month. Within eight short months after installing IPS smart parking meters, the new meters generated over $500,000 in additional revenue—the dollar amount originally estimated to be the upper limit of year one potential earnings. With a steady source of income, the City is now developing plans to improve parking infrastructure and accommodate future growth. With IPS Smart Parking Meters, enforcement operations have improved dramatically. “IPS meters are without a doubt the best thing that we’ve done for parking in the past 20 years,” states Joey East, Chief of Police of the Oxford Police Department.

How-To

The City of Oxford listened and collaborated with all of its stakeholders including the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission (DPAC) and also commissioned a parking study as a first step. The City then through an evaluation process awarded the contract to IPS to install the Smart Parking Meters. In addition, IPS worked with a local Oxford contractor to install single-space parking meters in the downtown area with minimal disruption to the public and the businesses. The new IPS Smart Parking Meters support dynamic rate structures, which the City can use to adjust rates according to demand. Motorists have the convenience of using a variety of payment options such as coins, credit/debit card, and mobile phone payments.

About IPS

IPS Group, Inc. is headquartered in San Diego, CA (USA), with offices in Canada and Europe. IPS is a design, engineering, and manufacturing company focused on low-power wireless telecommunications, payment processing systems, parking technologies, and SaaS management software. An industry pioneer, IPS has been delivering smart city technology solutions for over 20 years. The company offers a fully integrated smart product suite comprised of single-space meters, multi-space pay stations, pay station upgrade kits, vehicle detection sensors, smart cash collection systems, and SaaS management software with advanced data analytics. IPS is delivering the Internet of Things (IoT) and Intelligent Parking Systems to transportation and parking operations all over the world.