Market driven requirements are behind the launch of the Elite version of the Aura, part of Metric Group’s range of pay and display parking and payment machines.
Added functionality, including full registration entry and all payment options, are the requirements of ANPR companies which has proven to be a growing market in the last two years.
A significant change, which is again moving with the market and the technological times, is the Elite’s full QWERTY alpha numeric keypad. The industrial keypad is used for entering data into the machine for payments against a vehicle registration or reference number.
"It is a function which signifies the changing role of the payment machine," said Richard Boultbee, the Metric Group’s UK Sales and Marketing Manager.
"We were very keen to introduce a user friendly interface and one which can withstand the rigours of the UK parking environment.
"The Elite, through its wide range of payment options and data entry applications, will allow us the flexibility to diversify into different markets in the future."
Applications include:
- Pay and display parking
- Pay by space parking
- Barrier controlled payments
- ANPR integrated payment terminal
- Leisure facility payments
- Transport ticketing solutions
Said Richard: "During the design careful consideration was made to ensure the Elite was kind to the environment. It was important to ensure the materials used when reaching end of life achieved our WEEE Regulations objective of over 75% recyclable and 80% recoverable. The Elite surpasses these targets at over 90% in both."
He said the Elite version of the Aura is modular built and has the greatest flexibility and functions available to the operator today.
Features range from a completely cashless solution through to a terminal with the full QWERTY keypad and all possible payment options including:
- Coins
- Bank notes
- Credit cards
- Debit cards
- Contactless cards
- e-purse
- Smartcards
Said Richard: "Cash payments can be made via coins and bank notes, with payments in dual currency accepted if required. The technology in the bank note reader is highly advanced to provide a high acceptance rate and is 100% effective against fraudulent currency."
He said the vault area of the machine was heavily protected in all aspects by highly sophisticated materials and was available with either manual or advanced electronic locking technology. The collector of the self sealing exchangeable cash box had no access to the contents, and the entire process could be audited.
The Aura range of machines is available with mains or solar power or could be supplied in hybrid mode using either solar or mains, depending on the environment.
The Elite model, which was recently launched to the parking industry at Metric’s headquarters in Swindon, is to be demonstrated around the UK in the coming weeks.
"We are very pleased with the Aura Elite machine and pleasantly surprised by the demand. We have already taken significant orders for the model worldwide," added Richard.
