On July 26, a delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and member countries (a total of 15 foreign guests from 10 countries) visited Tainan City to observe the digital hard/software related to smart transportation, parking management, and green vehicles. Tainan City Government has been promoting smart traffic management in the past few years and its smart roadside parking project has yielded fruitful results. Both parties shared execution experiences and operation results.
Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che stated that Tainan City rated first in the overall satisfaction with smart convenience measures categories in the 2022 Smart City Survey, which was conducted in 22 counties and cities across Taiwan. This shows that the public has recognized these city governance results. Huang also pointed out that the Tainan City Government decided early on to introduce smart and automation technologies into city services as one of the means to build a smart city. The city has seen many improvements in smart traffic control, smart safety intersections, and smart bus stop signs, and the smart roadside parking service has delivered remarkable results in the past five years as well.
EBRD representative Tali Trigg, who is responsible for green cities and green energy transportation, responded that he was very impressed by Tainan’s Smart Roadside Parking Fee Management System. The system manages parking spaces 24/7 and uses IoT technology to send real-time parking information to the cloud data platform for integration. The public can check for available parking spaces and directions via the Tainan parking app anytime, anywhere. Trigg expressed that this high-quality parking service helps citizens find parking spaces easily and pay conveniently.
Tainan City Transportation Bureau Director Wang Ming-de pointed out that the smart roadside parking service in Tainan City has performed brilliantly in the last three years, providing residents with more convenient smart transportation services. The average turnover rate of the sections with smart parking pillars has increased by 22.6%. Furthermore, the smart parking pillars are also smart charging pillars, allowing electric vehicles to recharge while parked.
In addition to observing the Tainan Smart Parking System, the Transportation Bureau also arranged for the visitors to ride Tainan’s electric bus “Model T” to experience the quiet and stable operation of electric buses on city roads.