Situated 3KM from the Perth CBD, the City of Vincent is home to a population of 36,561 and counting.
Resident parking permits were reliant on paper-based management processes which caused a wealth of problems and additional costs for council staff and residents alike. After moving paid parking to a digital ticketing process, the benefits of technology were clear; if they moved all permit and ticket management processes to digital alternatives, they could minimise human errors, administrative and printing costs, and permit theft.
The Virtual Permit System by Arthur D. Riley (ADR) not only resolved the City of Vincent Council's current challenges but offered additional functionality that would increase user experience for both council staff and residents.
The ADR Virtual Permit Solution has provided the City of Vincent Council with a reliable source of permit data; Making identifying permit permissions easier and reducing the associated administrative challenges and costs the Council was facing.
For several years, the City of Vincent Council used paper-based processes to manage resident parking permits; a method that was creating additional administrative challenges as well as additional costs for both the council and residents.
City of Vincent Administration describes the common challenges they were facing revolved around the administrative burdens of managing hard copy permits and the associated costs of human error and printing that came from that. In particular, the council were experiencing challenges when residents had lost or had a permit stolen as they had no trusted source of data to effectively identify and replace what permit type that resident had.
"Residents would lose their permits which would result in infringements being issued and then appeals being made." Explains Administration. This not only increased administrative workloads for council staff but created complications for residents as they were then forced to appeal, and often pay to replace their permits.
After moving paid parking to a digital ticketing process, the City of Vincent Council immediately saw the value in using a digital system, prompting them to revaluate their paper-based processes and seek digital alternatives for their permit management system.
"We wanted to try and streamline the system to get away from the hard copy process. We're moving toward an application for paid parking, so we wanted to continue down that movement where things are managed by technology and less exposed to human error," summarises Administration.
On a mission to streamline their permit processes and move away from using hard copy paper permits, the City of Vincent Council was looking for a digital solution that would make their permit management easier.
After investigating a few options, the City of Vincent Council chose ADR's Virtual Permit System as it integrated with their Ranger's TicketOr2 system and offered an unrivalled level of functionality that they couldn't find in other competing options.
"The main point of difference was that residents would be able to store multiple vehicle registrations in their account using the 'my vehicle box'. This feature allows them to simply select the vehicle they are driving for the day instead of re-entering their vehicle details each time," explains Administration.
After two weeks of testing the ADR Virtual Permit System, the City of Vincent Council went live on 3 November 2020. Administration explains, "We had one small hiccup during testing with real-time display to the Ranger's devices, but it was quickly resolved by the hands-on team at ADR."
After just 3 months of using the ADR Virtual Permit System, the City of Vincent Council has already seen a reduction in administrative costs as well as a positive and wide adoption from city residents.
"Previously we would issue around 10,000 paper permits annually, so already we have saved approximately $6,200 a year in printing," Administration explains.
As staff and Rangers were both involved in the testing process, the transition and adoption to the new system in-house ran very smoothly, especially as the Rangers TicketOr2 system integrated with the Virtual Permit System from the get-go. Now with a single source of accessible data for permit management, both Rangers and council staff can easily identify a vehicle, or persons permit permissions and trust the information they see.
In terms of adoption from residents, the Council sent out approximately 4,300 sign up letters and from those saw 70% of recipients sign up. "For those 30% struggling, or who prefer paper payment options, we offer over the phone account creation, or in-person account creation to ensure those ill-equipped or not interested in handling their permits digitally still have access," adds Administration.
Despite having only been using the system since November, the City of Vincent Council has already planned to digitise all permit operations using the ADR Virtual Permit System. Administration summaries, "We started with resident permits as a trial to see how it could work, and since it has, we are planning to move other paper-based permits such as monthly carpark permits and commercial parking permits to the system as soon as residents are familiar with it."
The City of Vincent Administration
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