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Manchester City Council Parking Department has been working with Taranto since 2010 and the contractual partnership has developed and evolved over the years.
Manchester started off using the on-premise version of Taranto’s parking enforcement solution and when Taranto launched its cloud-based hosted, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) version, Manchester was an early adopter. The PaaS solution enables easier upgrades and new modules to be seamlessly added into the existing system. The cloud solution is more scalable and flexible, and has supported the council during the growth of the parking operations over the years. Manchester City Council used to issue somewhere in the region of 100,000 PCNs a year and now it deals with more than four times that figure due to the increased volume of cars in the city. The PaaS model supports growth on this scale.
The contract was recently renewed, with additional modules added such as the latest version of Taranto Permits for parking permit management as well as Taranto Track. This GPS-enabled module allows the back-office team to plan deployment of civil enforcement officers (CEOs) more effectively in real-time. Back-office administrators can identify the location of CEOs in Google maps and produce a heatmap of activity for improved operational analysis. CEOs can be allocated to areas where they will be most effective in dealing with illegally parked vehicles to help free flow of traffic in key areas of the city. Taranto Track also offers more security to users in the field as they can easily be identified using the GPS function in case of personal safety incidents.
Manchester equips its CEOs with Taranto Mobile, which is Taranto’s Parking Enforcement Solution for use on-street. This module can be configured to local authorities’ specific needs for their CEOs and provides an app for the handheld Android device, enabling them to issue PCNs instantly. Also integrated into the Taranto Mobile platform is Taranto ANPR Spotter, which improves accuracy of identifying illegally parked vehicles, allowing CEOs to quickly and efficiently check whether a vehicle is parked legitimately and if not, to issue a PCN.
“Taranto Mobile helps the council ensure compliance across the city. The app has everything in one place and CEOs are able to determine quickly when scanning a vehicle if it is authorised to park as the app integrates with Taranto Permits and also our cashless parking provider,” commented Patricia Wilkinson, Manchester’s Parking Services Manager.
“Communications with the Taranto team are very natural and fluid. It’s not a typical supplier/customer relationship and we work very well together.”
Taranto’s support team is very hands-on and responsive to Manchester’s support and training needs. For example, Taranto’s training team has created bespoke training sessions to show the back-office team how to improve their workflows.
As Nicola Brown, Operations Manager explains: “Communications with the Taranto team are very natural and fluid. It’s not a typical supplier/customer relationship and we work very well together.”
Taranto’s Service Delivery Team focuses on solutions for the client. Manchester is one of the few local authorities that handles vehicle tax violations, so this is not a standard module in the Taranto solution. In response to the client’s request, the Taranto team developed an interface for Manchester to connect easily with the DVLA system to handle untaxed vehicles which may be clamped and removed.
Nicola Brown commented: “This is a great example of the ‘you said, we listened approach’– and Taranto enhanced the system to meet our needs.”
During the last two years, Taranto has been working with Manchester on a pilot project to roll out the National Parking Platform (NPP). This platform simplifies cashless parking by integrating multi-vendor payment platforms into a single interface. This system has been rolled out as a pilot on Manchester’s enforcement officers’ handheld devices, enabling CEOs to carry out an ANPR check to find out whether the right tariff has been paid in a private car park through any of the NPP service partners, such as Ringo or Pay-by-Phone.
Taranto has recently brought out an enhancement to the Taranto Permits module to improve the end-customer experience, by adding the .GOV portal to the system. This addition of the universal interface will make the permit application process easier and more accessible for vehicle owners and is being rolled out in Manchester to improve the customer experience for local citizens.
The number of PCNs issued has quadrupled due to increased traffic volume
Manchester is in the process of implementing Moving Traffic Enforcement (MTE) regulations and is working with Taranto on planning and mapping out the rollout. According to Nicola Brown, Taranto’s support for its clients in planning MTE implementation with webinars has been particularly useful, as this has given local authorities the opportunity to engage with other Taranto clients and learn from their experience. Taranto Back-Office solution is a vital platform to assist the administrative team in delivering MTE, particularly during the initial six month period when preliminary warning notices are required.
The partnership between Manchester and Taranto continues to develop and evolve. Manchester gives regular feedback on the enhancements they would like to see, which Taranto feeds into the product roadmap for future development.
“This is a true working partnership and we continue to see it progress and improve,” commented Patricia Wilkinson.
Manchester Town Hall
“This is a true working partnership and we continue to see it progress and improve."
