HEIDELBERG - DYNAMIC PARKING GUIDANCE SYSTEM IN OPERATION

A new dynamic parking guidance system with more than 7,500 spaces was opened in the city of Heidelberg on Monday 8 April 2010. It is one of Germany's largest systems offering the latest technology, it can even guide drivers to empty parking spaces via internet.

According to mayor Dr. Eckart Würzner, 7,500 parking spaces, 5,500 indoors, are located between the main station and Karlstor. The new dynamic parking system reliably guides drivers to vacant parking spaces. Already at the city entrances, special signs show drivers how many parking spaces are available in each area of the city. On the way into the city centre signs then tell drivers where to find car parks with available parking spaces. If a car park is full, drivers are directed to the nearest available.

Equipped with the latest technology, it is "one of the biggest parking guidance systems, in relation to population figures even the largest in Germany", says Dipl.-Ing. Norbert Körner, regional sales manager of Signalbau-Huber's (now SWARCO TRAFFIC SYSTEMS) southern distribution division. "The system improves capacity utilisation and reduces pollution."

For Volker Dietrich, chief executive of PRO Heidelberg e.V., the new parking guidance system is a leap forward for the retail trade: "PRO Heidelberg is very pleased that the long-standing request for better parking management was finally put into practice. The importance of sufficient parking is commonplace. Accessibility is a major criterion when choosing a shopping destination. Heidelberg's parking capacity is much better than its reputation, but due to the complicated traffic management, a result of the geographical location, the situation was unsatisfactory especially for non-local customers. This has totally changed since the introduction of the new parking guidance system. Already at the city entrances, drivers searching for parking spaces are guided directly to their desired destinations. This is a major boost for Heidelberg's role as an attractive shopping destination.

The parking guidance system includes 19 car parks with more than 5,500 and three parking lots with more than 1000 spaces. The target areas are colour-coded. Blue for the historical city centre, red/orange for the city centre, brown is used for the main station area and green stands for the parking lot Neuenheimer Feld.

The city centre is further divided into north and south, die historical city centre into north, south and castle. The multi-storey car park Crown Plaza (P3) and the car park of the city's library (P17) are now also included.

The 1.3 million Euro system will be extended in the future: The not yet finished carparks in Heidelberg's new scientific quarter Bahnstadt will also be integrated into the system.

All the information of the parking guidance system is available on www.heidelberg.de/parken. For each car park a separate directions page with additional information is available.