Vehicles do not need to stop when entering the car park, so vehicles can move through the entry in less than four seconds.

Vehicles can exit at an average rate of 10 vehicles per minute.

Vehicles do not need to stop when exiting the car park, so vehicles can move through the exit in less than four seconds.

As a vehicle moves into the entry lane, cameras capture a sequence of digital images of its front. The TPS software extracts the licence plate number and records the date and time of entry. This process takes less than 1 second, so the vehicle enters the car park without coming to a stop.

In the exit lane, a similar process occurs. At the point of exit, the TPS technology determines if any required fee has been paid before opening the boom arm thus allowing the vehicle to leave the carpark, again without having to stop.

If a fee is to be paid, the boom arm stays down until it is paid.   The screen on the Exit Pay station displays the length of stay, the parking fee and instructions on how to pay. When the payment is successful, the Customer can exercise the option of receiving a paper receipt by pressing a button. This will trigger the receipt printing.

If the driver pays at a pay station before going to their vehicle, the TPS system recognises that there is no fee owing and the vehicle can leave the carpark without being stopped by the boom arm.

The fee can be paid at any one of the TPS multifunction pay machines. The driver enters their licence plate number on the touchscreen monitor of the pay station. The fee is displayed on the screen. The driver has the option to pay either with cash or card. Cash customers receive change in notes and/or coins.

The customer can exercise the option of receiving a paper receipt by pressing a button. This will trigger the receipt printing. When the payment has been successful, the pay station screen displays an exit notice.

The driver returns to their vehicle and proceeds to the exit lane.  At the exit, the TPS system recognises that there is no fee owing and the vehicle can leave the carpark without being stopped by the boom arm.

Problems with payment are quickly resolved by the car park monitoring personnel. For example, the customer presses the “assistance/service “ button and is advised to try an alternative card or to pay by cash.

Most difficulties can be quickly resolved with the driver by the Monitoring Service personnel.

No personal information is recorded on the TPS Car Park System database.  We only store licence plate numbers, times and dates of entry and exit and the accounting records of parking fees.

Licence plate numbers are not considered personal information under NSW privacy law. In an article in the AFR dated 9^th September 2013, Dr Elizabeth Coombs, the NSW Privacy Commissioner, is quoted as saying: “Number plate identification numbers are not considered personal information under NSW privacy law, because they do not in themselves identify an individual.”

Read the full article.

Times and dates of entry and exit and the record of money transactions are examples of the normal accounting information collected by any business in the course of trading. They cannot be considered personal information.

Usually people can recall their number plate. If a driver who needs to pay a fee for parking does not know their car number plate, we suggest they return to their vehicle, make a note of it and then return to the pay machine. It is one of those things that people learn very quickly.