ACS - Comprehensive Parking Solutions

ACS has more than 30 years' experience in comprehensive parking solutions. Our installations consist of fully networked and integrated centralized parking solutions designed to control the flow of traffic both into and out of parking facilities. ACS partners with state and local governments, as well as commercial carriers across the nation, to provide intelligent transportation solutions that keep people and cargo moving faster, safer, and more efficiently.

TICKETLESS PARKING FACILITIES

The credit card in / out solution associates entry data with the credit card inserted into the entry terminal at entry. At exit, the cashier terminal or exit terminal uses the credit card number to locate the entry data and calculates the appropriate fee.

Credit card in / out functionality allows customers to enter and exit the parking facility without using a ticket. This functionality improves customer service, reduces exit times, reduces ticket costs, and reduces the need for cashiered lanes.

PRE-PAYMENT OF PARKING FEES

The ACS Pay-On-Foot (POF) is a state-of-the-art parking revenue control device that enables pre-payment of parking fees via cash, credit, or debit methods, with a user-defined grace period for customers to exit the parking facility.

The POFs include a standard personal computer, 10.4in TFT LCD customer display, internal keyboard, media reader / encoder (including ISO media), thermal receipt printer, bill acceptor and dispenser, and an auxiliary power supply. The POF will perform accurate encoding and reading of magnetic media on tickets as well as ISO formatted credit cards.

PERMITTING PARKER VEHICLES VIA TAGS

The Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) decreases processing times at entry and exit by controlling the ingress and egress of vehicles to and from the parking facility via tags assigned to permit parker vehicles. It also allows and denies access to specifically defined areas or routes within the parking facility and tracks usage of the parking facility for an individual vehicle.

The AVI system will be connected to the ACS network via a standard PC, which acts as an interface between the lane equipment and the central computer system.

DATA CAPTURE CAPABILITY AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

The valet parking system is easy to use for both the patron and the airport. Integration with the PRCS allows for easy ingress and egress from the parking lot while maintaining revenue tracking.

The Valet Ticket Issuing Machine (VTIM) combines superior data capture capability and wireless communication in a rugged hand-held computer for durability. The device uses a Microsoft® Windows® CE operating system, which allows for easy development and worldwide support. Wireless networking enables real-time communication while remaining secure for transactions.

LICENSE PLATE RECOGNITION

The ACS License Plate Recognition (LPR) solution is fully integrated with the PC-based ACS PRCS equipment. Each entry and exit terminal integrates video and proprietary software developed to read license plates, and store and retrieve records from the LPR database as well as communicate with a central review workstation.

ACS OPEN ARCHITECTURE APPROACH

The ACS Parking Revenue Control System (PRCS) utilizes a comprehensive open architectural approach, which allows for the use of modular design concepts under the guidelines of widely supported commercial interface standards. This approach plays a significant role in meeting the present goals of the parking industry - developing and deploying new enhancements required for the future, and supporting the system over its total life cycle.

The important objectives that encompass the ACS PRCS open architecture approach include:

• Scalability - to handle increasing transaction loads arising from growing business
• Flexibility - add /modify new business rules without fundamentally altering architecture
• Portability - run on any of the commercially available, standard and open platforms

Please also see Airport Technology - ACS - Parking Revenue Control System (PRCS)