Smarter Parking at Maynooth Railway

A popular commuter rail station uses the OpenSpace wireless parking platform from Parking Logix to keep track of available parking spaces and help commuters make smarter, more efficient decisions when looking for parking.

The Client

The Irish Rail Maynooth railway station is a busy commuter route for locals heading from the university town of Maynooth to the busy city of Dublin for work each day. Census data shows that upwards of 6,000 passengers use this station each day. Located on the south side of the Royal Canal, the station is accessible via footbridge, road bridge, or a canal walkway.  With two recent extensions to the railway station parking lot, there are now a total of 257 parking spaces available to Maynooth commuters.

 

The Challenge

The new surface car park that recently opened at the busy Maynooth commuter rail station increased the number of parking spaces available to commuters headed for Dublin. However, parking spaces can still fill up quickly during peak commute times. Drivers are often pressed for time as they begin their workday and don’t want to spend unnecessary time searching for parking. Irish Rail wanted a solution that could show commuters the number of spots available as they arrived at the car park. However, they didn’t want a system that involved the expense or exertion of wiring sensors into each parking spot.

In addition, they wanted operators to be able to access parking usage data so that they could see real-time parking availability data throughout the day. This would allow them to assess parking usage to help maximize the parking resource as well as address any perceived or real parking deficits.

 

The Solution

Irish Rail chose the patented wireless OpenSpace parking guidance platform for the Maynooth railway station. The OpenSpace system is a recognized and acclaimed solution that is used by the US Virginia Railway Express (VRE) to help guide commuters into available parking spaces. The VRE uses OpenSpace on commuter routes between Virginia suburbs and Washington D.C., displaying parking availability data right on their website and app for drivers to access whenever they need it.

The unique OpenSpace system uses wireless vehicle detection sensors that are placed into rubber speed ramps installed at entry and exit points. The system not only eliminates the cost of purchasing and installing sensors into each space, its accuracy surpasses traditional parking counting systems at a fraction of the cost. This high level of accuracy is critical at Maynooth, where residential parking spots are located right along the rear of the station. The OpenSpace bi-directional sensors keep track only of cars using the public parking spaces at the rail station and not the private ones nearby.

The data collected by the OpenSpace sensors is automatically sent to the electronic parking guidance sign at the entrance of the car park where drivers can see it displayed. The data is also sent to the OpenSpace cloud, where operators can view detailed usage stats from any web browser.

 

The Benefits

Commuters parking at the Maynooth railway station each morning before heading to Dublin can now see parking availability data instantly displayed on an electronic sign right outside the car park. This helps them to make more efficient decisions when looking for parking and can help them save critical time in their busy schedules. Operators can also see detailed up-to-the-minute statistics and usage data right from their desks.

OpenSpace wireless parking counting helps the Maynooth railway station improve the commuting experience for hundreds of people every day.