ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: February 28, 2000
Author/Local: RGM/7347
RTS No. 01325

CC File No. 5654

Council: March 28, 2000

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	General Manager of Engineering Services in consultation with the Managers of By-law Fines and Revenue Services
SUBJECT:	Handheld Parking Enforcement Equipment

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT City Council authorize the General Manager of Engineering Services to enter into a contract with Real Data Systems (RDS) for the supply of 60 handheld parking enforcement units with associated software at an estimated cost of $676,000.

B. THAT City start up costs of $125,000 as detailed in the report be approved.

C. THAT funding for A and B be provided by the Parking Site Reserve and paid back over 6 years. This will result in a net benefit to the City of approximately $235,000 / year.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Engineering Services RECOMMENDS approval of A, B and C.

COUNCIL POLICY

Contract awards over $300,000 must be approved by Council.

PURPOSE

This report reviews the City's experience using handheld parking enforcement units, and provides a business case evaluation to support the purchase of this equipment.

BACKGROUND

In 1999 the City undertook a trial use of handheld parking enforcement units to evaluate the benefits to the City of this technology.

Handheld parking enforcement equipment has been in use in some jurisdictions for up to 8 years. The field units are carried by parking enforcement staff and allow for the electronic recording and printing of parking tickets. These devices can store information to be used by the enforcement officer and eliminate the need to convert the information for further use.

Locally Impark has been using this technology for its enforcement programs, and more recently a number of smaller B.C. municipalities have started to use this equipment. The majority of the current users are small and many of them are universities where they complement their parking permit programs. The technology has now advanced so that it is advantageous in large jurisdictions like Vancouver.

TRIAL PROGRAM

In January 1999 the City issued a request for proposals for a trial use of handheld parking equipment and for the full implementation of this technology if desired by the City. Real Data Systems (RDS) was chosen from 7 proposals, and the City tested and refined the equipment through the use of 6 units. Council was given a presentation at the Jan. Transportation and Traffic Committee where the experiences and benefits of the equipment were described. In general staff found significant benefits from the use of the equipment. These benefits include:

Improved ticket payment and compliance with parking regulations because of the ability to target repeat offenders with towing.

Faster response to public inquiries

Better enforcement of the illegal use of resident permits in permit areas.

Improved legibility of parking violation notices

Reduced error rate in transcribing tickets

Reduced paper handling by both parking enforcement and By-law Fines.

There would also be staff savings as the full use of handhelds would allow the reduction of three staff positions (of 4) that enter data from violation notices into the mainframe By-law Fines' computer system, as this would be done electronically.

TECHNOLOGY AND THE USE OF CITY DATA

The handheld units are extremely rugged and this type of equipment is used extensively in the field by the logging industry and other commercial users. The handheld equipment technology that is recommended is state of the art, and is one of the first uses of real time data transmission. This allows staff to do a better job while reducing costs and increasing revenues.

The City's freedom of information officer has been consulted to ensure that the data used by staff meets Provincial Government confidentiality laws.

The use of handheld equipment will increase the information available to parking enforcement officers to allow them to do a better job. The information transmission will be by secure digitized two way data flow from the parking enforcement office to the handheld device. Some information will come from the City's resident permit parking system and other City parking permit programs. The information available would only be the license number and corresponding parking permit number. Any personal information would continue to be kept secure, and separate from the parking enforcement system.

By-law fines information on unpaid parking violations, courtesy cancellations, and vehicle information would also be transmitted to enforcement officers as necessary.

The technology also allows the one-way secure transmission of licence plate numbers and vehicle locations to the police. This is supported by the police and would help them in locating stolen or wanted vehicles.

The data use by staff, and the sharing of data, is restricted to only the information that would be needed by City staff to do their job, and would be in accordance with applicable laws.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

Staff have undertaken a business case review of the proposed purchase of handheld units and the details of this review are attached as Appendix A. This review indicates that the estimated capital costs of the purchase of the equipment would be paid back over 2 years and would have a net present value to the City of $1,000,000 over a 6 year time span. It is proposed that the City fund this purchase from the Parking site reserve and pay it back over a 6 year time period. On this basis there would be a net saving to the City of approximately $235,000 per year ($100,000 in 2000).

The City considered an equipment rental agreement for the use of the necessary equipment; however, the terms for this agreement resulted in the City paying over $100,000 per year more than a straight purchase, and it is not recommended.

STAFF IMPLICATIONS

The use of the handheld technology will allow the elimination of 3 positions that presentlyenter data from the manual tickets. Where ever possible this will be accomplished through attrition, and every effort would be made to reassign or retrain any employees affected by the reduction. The handhelds should also improve the productivity of the parking enforcement office, which will then be able to provide better service with no increase in staff.

A copy of this report has been sent to CUPE local 15.

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Appendix A

Hand-held Computer Ticketing System - Costs & Benefits

Capital Costs

Hand-held units with printers (60 units)	$517,000
Software costs	$94,000
Contingency	$65,000
Communication improvements	$25,000
Staff Training/implementation	$100,000

Total Capital Costs

$801,000

Annual Operating Savings / Revenues

Redeployment of Data Entry (3 positions)	$103,000
Ticket purchase savings	$28,000
Increased valid tickets	$180,000
Increased Ticket payment rate	$80,000
Productivity improvement	$50,000
Reduced Meter violation rate	$100,000

Total Annual Operating Savings

$541,000

Annual Operating Costs

Hardware maintenance	$18,000
Batteries	$31,000
Software maintenance	$7,000
Communications charges	$30,000
Replacement fund	$62,000

Total Annual Operating Costs

$148,000

Net Annual Operating Benefits

$393,000

Annual Cost of 6 year payback of $801,000	$158,000
Net Annual Benefit	$235,000

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver