Langen is a German town of about 40,000 people. Located between Darmstadt and Frankfurt am Main, it represents a strategic node to reach Frankfurt by train in about 20 minutes, with connections running every 15 minutes. The City of Langen strongly encourages sustainable mobility and has recently expanded the parking facilities for commuters and travellers.

Challenges

The City of Langen and Langen Municipal Services wanted to better understand how the car park near the railway station is used, specifically if vehicles are from day parkers or long-term parkers. Main need was to collect data about occupied and available spaces, and learn how long each car remains parked.

Our solution

The car park on the west side of the railway station was equipped with about 280 Smart Parking sensors. The devices were mounted on the asphalt, while two gateways and some repeaters were installed on the existing lampposts to allow the wireless transmission of sensor data. Construction works were carried out in stages to minimize the inconvenience to users.

Each sensor detects if the corresponding parking space is free or occupied, and sends the information to the Central Management System via the wireless network. No personal data such as license plate numbers or vehicle types are recorded.

Results

The Smart Parking solution is currently operating and every morning the City of Langen receives a report about car park usage, with accurate data on the number of occupied spaces and how many vehicles exceeded expected daily use. This insightful information is being carefully analyzed to make data-driven decisions to further improve the parking service for commuters. Possible measures include higher tariffs or fines to discourage long-term parkers, or potential future investments in smart parking management or parking guidance systems.