Barrier or barrier-free parking system: Which pays off for your car park?

For most publicly accessible car parks, a barrier-free parking system with number plate recognition is more cost-effective and more customer-friendly than a barrier system. A barrier remains justified mainly where access for unauthorised persons must be physically prevented.

How does a barrier system work and what does it achieve?

Most drivers know the routine: take a ticket, drive onto the site, park, pay at the pay station after the visit and insert the ticket into the terminal at the exit. Only then does the barrier open.

The technology has evolved over the years. Manual opening was followed by electric barriers with parking tickets and later by versions with chips or number plate recognition. The basic principle stayed the same: a physical barrier controls who may enter and leave.

The biggest advantage is obvious. On a site with barriers there are practically no non-payers, because the exit does not open without a paid ticket. Staff for ticket checks and manual follow-up of non-payers are not needed. Anyone who still wants to dodge payment has to exit directly behind another vehicle. Light barriers, which secure the area under the boom for safety reasons, may make exactly that possible.

What hurdles do parkers face?

For honest parkers, a barrier system is often inconvenient. At the entrance they have to drive close enough to the terminal and sometimes also press a button. For people with reduced mobility, this alone can be a considerable problem.

After that, the ticket must not get lost, otherwise a high daily flat rate usually applies. At the exit comes the next question: which way round does the ticket go into the slot? And once the barrier is open, drivers have to leave quickly before it closes again.

What tasks do operators face?

Operators need to have a solution ready for each of these situations:

• Whom do parkers contact if they have lost their ticket?
• Who opens a faulty exit barrier at short notice so that visitors can leave the site?
• Who repairs and pays if someone drives into the barrier or terminal?
• Who covers the lost revenue?

You can read what to do in the event of a breakdown in our article Car park barrier faulty: What you can do.

Are barrier systems still up to date?

Besides user-friendliness, costs, staffing effort, sustainability and future-readiness are decisive. Barriers are under pressure on all four points.

Queues at peak times

The boom has to rise in front of every vehicle and lower again behind it. Depending on the system, this often takes more than ten seconds. On top of that comes the time needed to take or insert the ticket. On busy sites, queues quickly form, for example on Saturdays at shopping centres or on hot holiday days at beach car parks. At stadiums or theatres, whose visitors all arrive at the same time, the congestion even affects traffic around the venue.

High purchase and operating costs

In addition to the booms, ticket terminals at entry and exit as well as pay stations are required. During operation, electricity, maintenance and repairs are added. Magnetic stripe tickets have to be issued and disposed of for every parking session. A service hotline with on-call staff available around the clock is often required as well.

If a barrier is hit accidentally or deliberately, material and repair costs arise. At the same time, you lose revenue: if the barrier is open or missing, nobody takes a ticket.

Wear and waste

Booms, terminals and pay stations are subject to mechanical stress and prone to wear. Every parking ticket also creates waste. Both have a negative impact on the sustainability record of a car park.

Lack of compatibility with mobility hubs

In many places, car parks are developing into mobility hubs: nodes for parking, sharing services and public transport. Parkers want to pay via app, use a car sharing vehicle or rent an e-scooter for the onward journey. A physical barrier makes it harder to integrate such services and flexible billing models for parking and EV charging.

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What alternatives to the barrier are there?

Operators essentially have four options. The following overview shows the most important differences.

• Traffic flow: Barrier system: Queues at entry and exit; Pay and display machine with enforcement: Free, but stop at the machine; Parking sensors: Free; Barrier-free with number plate recognition: Free, no stopping
• Non-payer control: Barrier system: Through the barrier; Pay and display machine with enforcement: Only random checks by staff; Parking sensors: Random checks by patrols; Barrier-free with number plate recognition: Automatic via number plate
• Hardware and maintenance: Barrier system: High, many wearing parts; Pay and display machine with enforcement: Machines and staff; Parking sensors: Sensor per space, battery replacement every 3 to 5 years; Barrier-free with number plate recognition: Few, robust number plate scanners
• Flexibility for parkers: Barrier system: Ticket required, loss is expensive; Pay and display machine with enforcement: Estimate parking duration in advance; Parking sensors: Depends on payment system; Barrier-free with number plate recognition: Billing of the actual parking time
• Occupancy data: Barrier system: Limited; Pay and display machine with enforcement: Hardly any; Parking sensors: Yes; Barrier-free with number plate recognition: Yes, in real time
• Mobility services: Barrier system: Difficult to integrate; Pay and display machine with enforcement: No; Parking sensors: Limited; Barrier-free with number plate recognition: Can be integrated via interfaces

Pay and display machine with enforcement: On arrival, parkers buy a ticket for a fixed period. Staff have to check the tickets regularly and follow up on violations. Alternatively, staff at the entrance sell day tickets, which short-term parkers also have to pay.

Parking sensors: A sensor on each parking space provides occupancy data and supports targeted patrols. According to common manufacturer information, the batteries usually have to be replaced every 3 to 5 years. Enforcement remains random, and parking tickets often lead to trouble on site and complaints in surrounding shops.

Barrier-free number plate recognition: Digital parking management solutions such as the Peter Park System calculate the parking duration automatically using the number plates at entry and exit.

Our free guide "Parking systems compared" for download offers a detailed overview of all systems with decision support.

How does a barrier-free parking system work?

Number plate recognition instead of a ticket

A scanner captures the number plate at entry and exit in compliance with the GDPR. From this, the system calculates the exact parking time. There is no permanent video recording: an image is only taken when a vehicle is detected. Since nobody has to stop, no queues form.

The IoT solution from Peter Park requires little hardware. Purchase and maintenance costs remain low, and components prone to wear are eliminated. The number plate scanner is robust and inconspicuous and therefore well protected against vandalism. A 24/7 maintenance service for wearing parts, as barrier systems need, is not necessary.

Pay via app, pay station or fully automatically

Parkers pay before leaving by entering their number plate in partner apps or at the pay station. In many cases, online payment is also possible after leaving. There are no paper tickets, which saves costs and avoids waste.

Fully automatic billing is even more convenient. Users activate it once, for example via a common parking app. On entry, the parking session starts automatically without the app having to be opened. On exit, it ends just as automatically, and payment is cashless.

Maximilian Schlereth of Peter Park System GmbH described the benefit as follows: "Parkers only pay for the time they actually parked, without stress and without having to think about paying at the pay station or worrying about buying the wrong ticket." For frequent parkers, the automated "pay what you use" creates additional convenience and thus a location advantage for multi-storey car parks equipped accordingly.

Real-time data and dynamic pricing

Operators see the use of their sites in real time, without additional sensors. All parking sessions, analyses and statistics are available in a dashboard. Current occupancy can be transferred to websites and parking guidance systems or shown on displays on site.

With dynamic pricing models, you can adjust parking fees flexibly, for example depending on occupancy. Cheaper tariffs for advance reservations are also possible, for example at airports, where travellers park for several days.

What happens in the event of parking violations?

The system monitors the maximum parking duration and detects violations directly, so manual patrols are no longer needed. In the event of non-payment in Germany, Peter Park usually obtains the vehicle keeper's details via a keeper enquiry under § 39 StVG (German Road Traffic Act) from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (Federal Motor Transport Authority), and the non-payers receive a contractual penalty.

Where has the Peter Park System already replaced barriers?

Bergisel: Olympic ski jump in Innsbruck

Bergisel Betriebsgesellschaft has introduced the barrier-free system from Peter Park at the car park of the Olympic ski jump. Low purchase, maintenance and upkeep costs as well as automated processes reduce effort and costs there.

Managing Director Bernhard Niggler names another reason: "Many of our guests are tourists who plan their visit to Bergisel as part of their holiday. When the barrier system failed, they previously had to wait for the security service to open the barrier so that they could continue their journey and, for example, drive to the next sight. With the barrier-free digital solution, parkers can leave at any time."

Wertheim and Landesklinikum Scheibbs

In the town of Wertheim in Baden-Württemberg and at Landesklinikum Scheibbs in Austria, outdated, maintenance-intensive barrier systems have also been retired. Both now rely on the Peter Park System.

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Conclusion

Barrier systems have served well for many years, but today they are expensive, maintenance-intensive and slow down traffic flow. Barrier-free parking systems with number plate recognition do without mechanics prone to wear, enable convenient digital payment and provide you with valuable real-time data. References such as Bergisel, Wertheim and Scheibbs show that the switch works in everyday practice. Arrange a call with our experts and find out how your car park can go barrier-free.