Die Söllereckbahn in Oberstdorf It operates almost 365 days a year and takes visitors to an altitude of 1,400 meters. In April 2023, the operating company Oberstdorf Kleinwalsertal Bergbahnen used the off-season, in order to digitize a parking area with 700 parking spaces on the Söllereck railway with the smart parking solution from Peter Park as part of the expansion of Söllereck as a year-round and family mountain. Since then, modern license plate recognition has been recording all parking processes there.

In the following article, you can find out what challenges the operators of the Söllereckbahn had previously faced with managing and controlling the parking area. Henrik Volpert, CEO of Oberstdorf Kleinwalsertal Bergbahnen, also provides insights into the progress that has taken place since the implementation of the project and how this is affecting not only the operating company itself, but also visitors to the leisure establishment.

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Challenges in parking space management at Söllereckbahn

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Before switching to Peter Park's barrier-free parking solution in the parking lot of Söllereckbahn , the area was managed and controlled conventionally with a ticket machine, which, especially at peak times, entailed challenges such as long waiting times in front of vending machines and delayed occupancy of the parking space for both operators and parking people. At the same time, especially during the winter season, technical problems such as difficulties with the implementation of various pricing structures arose, which prompted the Oberstdorf Kleinwalsertal Bergbahnen to install the camera-based system solution on the Söllereckbahn parking area as a pilot project.

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Busy hour delays

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Before the gondolas bring the first guests to the summit in the morning or adventure seekers make their first trips on the Allgäu Coaster, the parking area with its 700 parking spaces is already filling up. In addition to customers from the leisure establishment and its outlets, the Söllereckbahn parking area also attracts hikers and day trippers who park their vehicles there as early as the morning hours. With the conventional system used until spring 2023, the high frequency not only challenged operators, but also led to unpleasant delays for visitors.

“There was a pillar where the guests pulled their tickets and inspectors who checked whether all parking people had solved one. The user interfaces of the systems used either reacted too slowly to handle the onslaught in the morning or were not intuitive to operate. In addition to well-functioning hardware, the user-friendliness of the software is also an important criterion for us to enable fast processing time on the parking area,” says Henrik Volpert about the challenges that existed before implementing the digital parking solution.

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Mixed use of space

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Winter sports enthusiasts, hikers and families: As diverse as the range of activities on offer at Söllereck is, as diverse are its visitors, who travel by car to leisure activities in the Allgäu region all year round. However, not all parking users have to pay the same fee for the duration of their stay — winter sports enthusiasts, for example, receive a discount on their parking fee if they have a ski ticket. However, this process could not be implemented satisfactorily with the previous system, as Henrik Volpert explains: ‍

“Conventional systems also had difficulties implementing the various pricing structures, for example when it came to recognizing a ski ticket in order to grant parked winter sports enthusiasts a discount. This did not work reliably or took too long, which led to delays in the parking area, for example. This was frustrating not only for the guests, but also for us as operators, as we depend on systems to function smoothly.”

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Technically unreliable systems

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Especially during the high season in winter, when temperatures drop below freezing point, conventional barrier systems often face technical difficulties that lead to failures. If the barriers do not work, the parking area cannot be controlled and managed accordingly, as parking users can simply drive in and out again. As a result of the abolition of parking fees, mountain railway companies lose revenue, and there is also high expenditure on maintaining and repairing the barriers. However, the use of a barrier system on the parking area of the Söllereckbahn was out of the question for Henrik Volpert, especially because of the time required to open and close the barrier for each individual vehicle:

“We had to find a technically reliable solution: We are an outdoor company and are open almost 365 days a year. Accordingly, the system must function reliably even in winter. At the same time, the processing time for each vehicle must be as fast as possible, which unfortunately repeatedly leads to problems with our restricted parking spaces, especially during busy periods.”

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Parking concepts for mountain railways

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Mountain railways are classic leisure businesses that are an attractive destination for their visitors all year round and want to offer them a pleasant visitor experience. This also includes a smooth parking process, which can be made possible by efficiently managing the parking area. At the same time, mountain railway operators also benefit from this, as in the case of the Söllereckbahn, as efficient parking space management increases the efficiency and profitability of businesses.

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Digital parking space management for mountain railways

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A highly effective way to increase profitability and customer friendliness in Management of mountain railway parking spaces is the use of smart, digital parking solutions. These enable access control by automated license plate recognition, without the need for weather-prone and maintenance-intensive barrier systems. Henrik Volpert's answers reveal how parking space management systems can support mountain railways.

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Seamless parking experience and increased customer satisfaction

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By using Peter Park's camera-based system solution, there is no need to use barriers on the Söllereckbahn parking area. Visitors drive in and out of the parking lot without having to stop. This is particularly beneficial for parking people during peak hours in the morning or evening, as there are fewer backlogs. The seamless parking process in the Söllereckbahn car park is rounded off by the payment process at the user-friendly vending machine at the end of the stay.

“Well-functioning parking space management is necessary to organize the cars. The use of the barrier-free parking system fulfills our goal of minimizing parking search traffic and thus relieving both guests and residents of traffic,” says Henrik Volpert.

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Efficient mixed use in parking areas

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Peter Park's digital parking management system enables the integration of different tariff structures, which is particularly attractive for seasonal businesses such as mountain railways and their various customer groups. The system enables the option of digital discounts for end customers such as winter sports enthusiasts. If they have a ski pass and scan it at the vending machine, they automatically receive a discount on their parking time.

“As a mountain railway operator, we are a leisure provider and not parking specialists. It was important for us to find a system that met our requirements — this includes connecting a ticketing system in order to be able to offer our pricing structure and the associated discounts smoothly and completely. So far, this has worked very well with Peter Park's system solution at the Söllereckbahn.”

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Increased efficiency and profitability

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GDPR-compliant cameras Record the license plates of incoming and outgoing vehicles in the Söllereckbahn parking lot and make a cost-intensive barrier system obsolete. The weather-independent, digital parking space management system thus saves costs that would be incurred for the maintenance, repair and repair of barrier systems, and at the same time guarantees the required rapid processing time for vehicles on the parking area. The area can therefore be managed more efficiently, which leads to increased income. Another advantage of camera-based license plate recognition is seamless control of the parking area — personnel who were previously used for personnel patrol can now focus on more value-adding tasks again.

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Implementation of the Peter Park system at Söllereckbahn

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The integration of the Peter Park system into the Söllereckbahn parking area during the off-season operation in spring 2023 was absolutely satisfactory for the operators of the Oberstdorf Kleinwalsertal mountain railways, as Henrik Volpert reports:

“Our requirement for Peter Park as a partner was that we had close and good contact, for example in case of questions. Since we are a seasonal company, projects must be reliably implemented and completed on time. If the ski season starts on a deadline in mid-December, then the parking management system must also function smoothly at this point in time. Peter Park met these requirements and the collaboration worked very well right from the start.”

On the parking area of the Söllereckbahn, the previously used pillars for drawing tickets were uninstalled and replaced by Peter Park's vending machines, and new cameras were also installed to record the license plates. When entering and leaving, parking people are notified of the barrier-free parking process; further signs on the parking area next to the vending machines also point this out and explain the procedure step by step.

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Feedback from the mountain railway operator and plans for the future

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Henrik Volpert, CEO of Oberstdorf Kleinwalsertal Bergbahnen, is satisfied with the decision to implement Peter Park's barrier-free system as a pilot project at the Söllereckbahn car park in spring 2023. For him, digital parking space management systems for mountain railway operators are trend-setting:

‍“In the mountain railway sector, the trend from offering free parking spaces to managing parking areas is becoming more and more popular. Against this background, I would appeal to other mountain railway operators to be bold and introduce digital solutions directly. They are inexpensive to buy, are well received by guests and prices are therefore 100% enforceable. We were initially skeptical as to whether license plate recognition was already sufficiently accepted in Germany and whether it would also work in winter — but after three months, our experience with the Peter Park system is consistently positive: The system is the right choice for us and, in my opinion, very suitable for the mountain railway industry.”

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Copyright header image © Oberstdorf Kleinwalsertal Bergbahnen

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