Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s narrow, historic streets face increasing pressure from large and heavy vehicles, which accelerate wear and tear and reduce available street/parking space. Current parking charges do not reflect the environmental or spatial impact of different vehicle types, limiting the city’s ability to incentivise smaller, low-emission vehicles. As part of Edinburgh’s ambition to achieve net zero by 2030, the City Council has committed to reducing car trips within the city by 30%. Therefore, it is essential to manage car impact through smarter policies.  

The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) database contains rich vehicle information (e.g. emissions and weight), which could support better on-street parking management. The data, however, is not readily attainable by parking enforcement, with questions over compatibility with the various systems used to manage parking across the city. As a result, the current management system Pay & Display does not allow automated linking of vehicle attributes. This results in a one-size-fits-all pricing model that fails to reflect the environmental and spatial impact of vehicle types. 

Combining DVLA data with technology-driven back-office processes offers an opportunity to introduce fair, evidence-based parking charges that align with sustainability objectives, protect heritage streets, and optimise limited urban space.  

Area: Areas of the city that are covered by parking controls (generally around the city center where demand for parking is highest).

Pay and display parking areas:      Resident parking zones:

DESIRED SITUATION

By implementing and enforcing differential parking charges, based on vehicle attributes, the project aims to: 

1. Achieve a 5% reduction in large/heavy vehicle parking, within the current controlled parking area, across the lifespan of the project. 
2. Measure the absolute area saved by the reduction in vehicle size, in m2, on a sample street, before and after implementation. 
3. Reduction in the number of higher emission vehicles parking in the city centre streets. 
4. Reduce the processing time of parking charge calculations to the point that it is feasible to implement and enforce Pay & Display parking across various vehicle types.