Based on a report by Frost & Sullivan, ‘Key Growth Trends in the European Markets for Road User Charging, Congestion Charging, Public Transport & Ticketing and Parking’, several notable trends appear to be emerging from the European (particularly Western European) market.
As the usage of road tolls increases, the technology for the automatic tolling becomes more advanced. Many existing schemes use number plate recognition technology; this is expected to shift to tag systems, and then anticipated to evolve to GPS-based systems by around 2015.
Congestion charging is gaining importance throughout Europe, and is likely to be affected by the implementation of the new technologies, such as tag and GPS, by 2011. The segment is projected to generate an estimated €2.05 billion by 2015.
And the implications on parking? The report concludes that the parking sector will need to increase capacities in advanced payment systems, traffic navigation and information management.