From left to right: Hendrik Pot, CFO at WPS, Giovanni Santamaria, Managing Partner at Certina, Erik Stronk, CEO at WPS
WPS Parking Solutions, specialists in innovative cloud-based parking management solutions has been acquired by Munich-based family-run industrial holding company CERTINA GROUP. With over 25 years of experience in building and reshaping companies, CERTINA will further invest in WPS, its solutions, customers and employees to drive innovation and growth within the parking industry.
The sale of WPS Parking Solutions to CERTINA will result in the separation of the current WPS organization. WPS North, including WPS Belgium, WPS Parking Systems (NL), WPS Canada, WPS UK, WPS US, and WPS Holding, will now be part of CERTINA’s portfolio of companies. WPS North will continue to operate as an individual company under CERTINA.
WPS Brazil, as an independent company within the WPS family, will not be sold. The current shareholders, local management and Egeria, will continue WPS operations in Brazil and South America in its current form.
WPS and CERTINA are committed to ensuring continuity and growth in the parking management solutions industry. The acquisition is an exciting opportunity for WPS to enter the next phase of its development with a new owner who has extensive experience in building and reshaping companies.
Erik Stronk, CEO at WPS Parking Solutions: ‘’We look forward to a bright future that we will realize together with CERTINA. With their investments made according to the principles of sustainability, continuity and corporate responsibility, we find the ideal partner in CERTINA to help us navigate changing market conditions and further invest in our products, employees, and growth. I am confident that this acquisition will accelerate innovation and success for our business and customers.”
Giovanni Santamaria, Managing Partner at CERTINA: “We are excited to welcome WPS Parking Solutions to the CERTINA family of companies. With our extensive…
Collaborative solution improves commuting, parking experiences
MONTRÉAL, August 3, 2022— Genetec Inc. (“Genetec”), a leading technology provider of unified security, public safety, operations, and business intelligence solutions, has teamed with commute management solutions provider RideAmigos to help organizations deliver a simplified and enhanced experience to commuters returning to offices post pandemic. The solution pairs RideAmigos Commute Hub with Genetec AutoVuTM Free-Flow and Genetec Curb SenseTM .
RideAmigos Commute Hub helps employers deliver a seamless experience no matter how their employees choose to get to the office. It enables commuters to identify their best transportation options and reserve a guaranteed parking space based on their needs, such as accessible parking, eliminating the need to circle lots in search of a space, and alleviating some of the stress of getting to work.
Space availability is guaranteed via automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras. The pairing of RideAmigos’ Commute Hub with Genetec AutoVu Free-Flow and Genetec Curb Sense gives parking officials full insight into parking demand and facility status, so they can ensure parking conditions are optimal. The solution also enables employees to choose from many transportation options such as mass transit, shuttles, carpooling, and active choices like biking to work, so they select the commute that is the most beneficial and enjoyable on any given day.
“Leaders at large organizations realize that commuting options are a critical part of the overall employee experience, particularly as people transition back to offices after being fully remote,” said Genetec Product Line Manager, AutoVu, Michael Bradner. “Streamlining the commuter experience can help boost employee satisfaction and productivity. Our goal with this joint solution is to help organizations optimize accessibility and use of parking spaces and provide or subsidize alternative transportation services to reduce the burden on employees.”
“Employers are more conscious than ever…
January 25, 2021 – We live in an increasingly contactless world. To keep up with the recommendations from global health experts and mitigate potential exposure situations in your operation, CVPS continues to innovate by creating touchless solutions to meet the needs of every operation. CVPS is proud to present, MyTicket: featuring Scan-4-Ticket and Text-4-Ticket functionality.
MyTicket reduces touchpoints in your operation by empowering customers to operate your Parking Access and Revenue Control Systems (PARCS) using their personal mobile device. “Customers want the convenience and safety of using their phone, but they don’t want another app. That’s part of the beauty of MyTicket,” says John Daniels Vice President & General Manager with CVPS. He continues, “MyTicket gives users all the functionality they want from an app, like Electronic Tickets and Mobile Pay-by-Phone, without the hassle of a download.” MyTicket works seamlessly with all CVPS access control devices for controlled operation. No gate? No problem. MyTicket can easily be configured for gateless environments.
In controlled operations, MyTicket signs are posted on each entry device. Scan-4-Ticket functionality utilizes lot-specific QR codes while Text-4-Ticket uses a designated local phone number and lot-specific codes. After user-interface, CVPS guides the parking patron through a quick parking survey and then automatically generates their Electronic Ticket to vend gates during ingress and egress from your facility. The entire process is contactless when deployed in conjunction with CVPS Mobile Pay-by-Phone functionality.
For absolute flexibility, MyTicket is just the ticket for gateless operations. Simply post MyTicket signs at all entrances and in strategic locations throughout your facility. As an added layer of convenience for your parking clientele, MyTicket information can also be shared on your website. Guests use the camera in their mobile device to scan the lot-specific QR code or to text the…
Honk is providing its contactless, cashless & app-less HonkTAP smart stations for free to owners and operators of parking lots across North America
This no cost initiative is meant to encourage drivers everywhere to safely pay for parking using contactless payments
Toronto, ON – March 12, 2020 – In response to the current Coronavirus outbreak, HonkMobile, North America’s leading provider of electronic payments for the parking industry, announced today it will be providing its HonkTAP pay stations to owners and operators of parking across North America at no cost in an effort to encourage drivers everywhere to pay for parking via contactless payments.
Society is being forced to adapt – and quickly – to help stop the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization recently issued a statement urging consumers to use contactless payments whenever possible in an effort to reduce the risk of the transmission of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
“This is one small way we’re trying to do our part,” said Michael Back, Honk CEO and President. “We have developed this technology and would like to share it with the world so that drivers can park smart, avoid cash and high-touch areas like parking kiosks, and pay in a safe and responsible way.”
With no app to download or account to set up, drivers simply tap or scan their phone on a HonkTAP smart station to pay. This contactless option gives drivers the fastest and safest checkout process available today. With no cash or public structure to touch, drivers simply tap their phone or scan the QR code near a HonkTAP station to pay for parking.
The implementation of HonkTAP smart stations is fast, simple and requires minimal effort for the parking operator. Honk will provide operators with an NFC-embedded smart station that can be used in any parking location. HonkTAP stations don’t…
Student Autonomous Snow Plow Competition – Call for Participation
Autonomous snow-plows are a next-generation engineering challenge that have tremendous economic and social potential. CAVCOE is organizing and hosting the second student competition in Canada. The aim of this competition is to provide an opportunity for students to apply their knowledge and skills from the classroom to a tangible real-world problem, and to develop technical and business skills required to excel in today’s high-tech world.
The competition is open to teams from Canadian secondary and post-secondary education institutions. Registered student teams are required to develop a scale-model of an autonomous or semi-autonomous snow-plow vehicle capable of completing a number of snow-plow style tasks.
Scenario
A major snowstorm has dumped a metre of snow on Ottawa Ontario just in time for the City’s annual Winter Expo. What to do? Fortunately, an R&D company you have co-founded is developing autonomous ground vehicles. Your company has developed an autonomous snow-plow and think this is a great opportunity to test the prototype. Your company offers to help the city with this emergency and the city has accepted, provided that your team-mates are available to operate it. Your company accepts the challenge.
Challenge
Teams must develop a snow-plow capable of completing a number of snow clearing tasks that may involve recognition of objects, detecting and avoiding hazardous conditions, path-finding and avoiding people and cars. Additionally, teams will be required to present a business case for their design. Teams will be scored on their design, their business pitch, and their snow-plow’s ability to complete one or more challenges.
Details
- To register or for additional enquiries please write to competition@cavcoe.com
- Full technical details are in the Concept of Operations (Conops) at http://caspi.cavcoe.com/2020_Student_Compeition_CONOPS_and_Rules_Rev1.pdf
Key dates:
- February 7, 2020: deadline for teams to indicate their intent to participate in the competition.
- February 28, 2020: registered…
Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are poised to revolutionize not only transportation but the way people live and work throughout the world. As technology, auto and transportation leaders around the world continue to evolve for a CAV-driven future, the testing and validation of CAV technologies is critical to ensuring the safe implementation of CAV innovations.
The Ottawa L5 test facilities offers world-class integrated testing grounds for the safe implementation of CAVs. On site, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) testing, validation and demonstration of technologies are enabled on both public and private test tracks, in Ottawa’s true four-season climate. The Ottawa L5 testing facilities are equipped with GPS (RTK), dedicated short range communications (DSRC), Wi-Fi, 4G/LTE and 5G telecommunications and networking infrastructure, making it the first integrated CAV test environment of its kind in North America.
As a tech hub with decades of internationally-recognized strengths in fields at the heart of CAV technology, Ottawa is ideally positioned to address the needs and opportunities facing CAV innovators and firms. For example, in communications technology, Ottawa is home to the top five mobile backhaul equipment market vendors, the top ten optical network hardware vendors and 90 percent of telecommunications research. The Ottawa L5 harnesses these and other capabilities, enabling users of the test track to benefit from Ottawa’s leadership in sensors, LIDARS and related technologies that represent key components of CAVs.
Today, CAVs are not fully autonomous. Although there are many levels of automation and intelligence integrated into vehicles, there are many perspectives about when fully self-driving cars will become a reality. Driving automation levels are defined and classified from 0 to 5, with level 5 (L5) indicating full autonomy. The branding of Ottawa’s test facilities as Ottawa L5 reflects the vision, aspiration and commitment of Ottawa’s CAV leaders to enable and accelerate the safe development, validation…
Montreal’s new six-person mobility squad officially hit the road Wednesday, working to alleviate traffic congestion in the city’s downtown core by removing illegally parked cars and non-compliant construction sites.
Still in its infancy, the squad will only be patrolling five designated sectors in downtown Montreal, the Sud-Ouest borough and Plateau-Mont-Royal, where the city perceives traffic to be at its worst, from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Each of the sectors will be monitored by one inspector from the mobility squad between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m., after which another inspector will take over to patrol all five sectors until 11 p.m. Their focus is on mornings because that is when most constructions sites are set up and therefore when most obstructions are created, the city said.
Despite the low number of mobility squad inspectors out on the roads, Mayor Valérie Plante said they “are confident that we can cover the territory.” She emphasized that the six new mobility squad inspectors are working with those already employed by the city of Montreal and the police department’s road-safety officers. The difference, she said, is that the new inspectors are focusing solely on traffic.
“It’s really about being more agile,” Plante said.
The squad’s objective is to identify obstructions before they begin to cause congestion, such as a delivery truck parked in a bike lane or construction site set up without following permit regulations. One example Plante offered was that of a construction site set up without police supervision, which its permit required.
The inspectors have the authority to hand out fines for municipal infractions, ranging from $500 to $7,000 for repeat offenders, and are in direct contact with Montreal police, who can issue tickets for road-safety code violations. They also have immediate…
It can be the source of heated arguments and it’s just one of the challenges facing managers of parking garages as electric vehicles become a growing phenomenon in cities across Canada.
“Charging stations are expensive to install, and as electric cars become more prevalent, there are more people clamouring to be able to plug in while they park. We’re having to set up special zones in garages,” says Bradley Jones, head of retail for real estate giant Oxford Properties Group of Toronto.
Oxford has already installed more than 150 charging stations in garages and lots across its Canadian portfolio of offices, retail, industrial and hotel properties. Most are Level 2 plug-ins that run on 240-volt circuits and require several hours to top up an electric vehicle (EV) battery. They can cost as much as $10,000 each to install. A few are fast-charging Level 3 units whose high-voltage circuits can provide up to 64 kilometres of driving range for every 10 minutes of charging but cost between $50,000 and $70,000 each to install. (Level 1 is a connection to a standard 120-volt household current, which can take up to half a day to fully charge an EV battery.)
Many commercial installations in Canada to date have been financed by government grants, but those programs are winding down and now the challenge is to find ways to make providing chargers cost-effective, Mr. Jones says. There’s been resistance to paying extra to plug in. “The tenants balk at paying for the charging when they are…
For immediate release
November 28, 2018 CARLETON PLACE, ON – OperationsCommander is excited to announce a new partnership agreement with HotSpot Parking Inc.
HotSpot’s innovative app allows customers to easily pay for temporary parking permits in municipalities, private enterprises, colleges and universities by using handheld devices.
“The temporary parking app market has exploded over the last few years. HotSpot is the perfect solution to provide our clients with a flexible tool to add this popular functionality to the OperationsCommander platform,” said Phil MacCallum, Director of Sales and Business Development at OperationsCommander. “The partnership will be an easy add-on to the existing platform, offering a customer service benefit to all current clients and any future installs.”
HotSpot’s app will be fully integrated with the OPS-COM platform so that permits purchased can be immediately pushed to a client database for real-time enforcement accuracy. As a fully integrated parking app, customers can choose to add this temporary parking functionality at no extra cost.
Instead of charging the end users a service fee for every single transaction, HotSpot offers a monthly or annual membership approach of just two dollars per month or twenty dollars annually. A ten percent discount is available for CAA members.
One of HotSpot’s most popular features is its refund option. It saves users money by allowing them to bank unused parking time for future use. HotSpot CEO Phillip Curley says the company is excited about partnering with OperationsCommander.
“OperationsCommander is a leader in online and parking security. HotSpot is a leader in providing users with a modern, mobile-based parking solution. This is a natural partnership,” said Curley. “We look forward to offering our superior services together to help users park safely, efficiently and affordably.”
HotSpot is based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The company is best known for their pay-by-phone parking and transit solution. The HotSpot App supports…
New downtown development plan calls for significant overhaul of urban core, reducing surface parking
Two more streets, hundreds of new parking spaces, thousands of more residents.
It’s the future envisioned in Moncton’s new downtown development plan presented to city council this week.
The Downtown Core Community Improvement Plan imagines a denser urban centre.
The broad goal: boost population by fostering redevelopment of surface parking lots.
Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said the city expects the new downtown events centre and a redesigned Downing Street will spur development.
“I ask you to walk down Downing Street and then look west,” Arnold said. “You can really see it. You can really visualize what’s possible here.”
The plan will be a guide for city staff and developers over the next two to three decades.
Developed by Trace Planning and Design, the document examines 119 acres (more than 7½ hectares) in the downtown bounded by Queen, Foundry, and King streets and the Petitcodiac River.
Anne Poirier Basque, executive director of Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc., said the plan’s call for about 1,300 more residential units is achievable.
“We need to have more residents in our downtown to support a lot of the services and developments proposed here,” she said.
A new public street would cut through this parking lot under the downtown redevelopment plan. (Shane Magee/CBC)
New streets
The plan calls for two new streets.
The first would run south of Main Street from the CN rail line east to Downing Street, breaking up large city blocks. The second would be added south of the Rogers Call Centre building linking Robinson and Westmorland streets.
The city would need to buy land for the streets.
Jim Scott of Trace said the new streets will add…
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