Existing Client Strengthens Metric Partnership

Bristol City Council is a long standing client of METRIC. We have been providing them with parking solutions for almost 15 years and as a local authority, the council is responsible for making sure it receives best value when spending public monies. The council must periodically test the market to make sure this is the case.

Bristol needed to replace some of its older ticket machines as well as install new ones, and so was looking for a supplier to help provide up to 50 new Pay and Display machines over the next three years, with an immediate requirement for around 15 machines. Additional machines would then be ‘called off’ as required though the life of the contract.

ESPO is a public sector owned professional buying organisation (PBO), specialising in providing a wide range of goods and services to the public sector. One of the ESPO frameworks relates to the provision of parking solutions, including Pay and Display terminals, such as the ones Bristol required.

METRIC has been on the ESPO Parking Management Solutions Framework (509_19) since it started in 2019, and this makes sure local authorities receive value for money as well as ensuring all the required due diligence has been carried out when selecting a supply partner. With METRIC included in the framework, Bristol was reassured that the original decision to go with METRIC was a good one. They would continue to receive good value for money and quality of service. This enabled them to issue a new supply contract, further strengthening their partnership with METRIC, without undergoing a full tendering process.

METRIC is lucky enough to have been a long-term supplier of Bristol City Council and has maintained a good working relationship through various staff changes on both sides. Khalid Khan is the current METRIC Area Manager looking after the Bristol account, having inherited it from the previous area manager just over a year ago.

“Bristol is a great client from my point of view,” says Khalid, “Unlike a number of our clients, they have their own maintenance and servicing team, and they look after over 750 METRIC terminals across the city. The team at the council maintains the terminals and even install new and replacement ones as required. METRIC commissions the terminals and provides training for new staff on the updated equipment. We work closely with the Bristol team to make sure they have the right stock and availability of spares and help solve any issues their own teams are unable to tackle.”

The terminals in operation are a mix of mains electricity and solar powered units with coin only payment options. The council is carrying out a programme of renewals, replacing some of their older machines, as well as installing new ones. As they operate their own maintenance and repair teams, they were also keen to use as many existing spares as possible, even salvaging internal parts from older machines that could be used in new terminals. By opting to upgrade to the latest version of the METRIC ELITE terminal, Bristol would be able to maximise their existing assets.

The terminals provided will be the latest version of the ELITE mains and solar versions, with new software and electronics installed, while other internal fitments, such as cash boxes, modems and thermal printers, could be exchanged between units. Some machines will be required to have additional security features relating to coin vaults and battery compartments, which is possible with the new version.

Khalid added: “It’s great that we can continue to build our partnership with Bristol following this contract award, and we look forward to many more years of successfully working together.”

About Metric Group Limited

METRIC  is first and foremost a technology company. We design and develop new and innovative solutions for the parking and transport sectors. METRIC have a long history of being at the forefront of design and innovation, our company has produced many firsts from the first ticket machine to allow overlapping farestages and first all-electronic desktop calculator to the world’s first electronic pay & display machine.