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Improving social equity in transportation: Conduent Transportation is exploring equitable solutions to a challenge facing the transport and parking sectors: how to support low-income motorists whilst improving air quality

We find ourselves sandwiched between two crises: climate and the cost of living. Conduent Transportation explore how improved equity in parking and transportation can help address each.

Parking equity

Parking management is necessary to deter non-compliant parking, which can increase congestion, emissions and dangerous driving conditions. However, one mistake we commonly make is thinking every Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) is the same.

Traditionally, parking areas are patrolled daily regardless of the need, and this can unfortunately lead to some unintended consequences such as over enforcement. For example, a motorist parking on a residential street with an expired permit who receives a penalty charge notice every day. This can create an unfair and onerous burden on disadvantaged communities.

Conduent Transportation believes there is a need to balance the management of parking areas to ensure contraventions with the highest social impact are prioritised, such as enforcement of disabled bays (ensuring those with a genuine need of the use of a disabled bay can get access) and in parallel the reporting and inspection of Blue Badges where the civil enforcement officers (CEOs) believe there is misuse or fraudulent use.

The management of limited waiting and pay & display bays to ensure a regular churn on spaces creating access to parking in areas where the local economy is reliant on transient trade – retailers, hospitality etc. We also should consider traffic sensitive locations, bus lanes and cycle lanes – maintaining the free flow of traffic in congested locations, ensuring buses can maintain their timetables for commuters who rely on their use and that cyclists have a clear and safe passage on cycle lanes.

Taking the guesswork out of beat planning is key to ensuring a fair and effective process for all when approaching parking management. By employing analytical tools and using both real-time and historical data to advance their compliance-management operations, local authorities can maximise the effectiveness of operational deployment. Authorities can use data to rethink how they deploy enforcement resources and distribute parking teams.

Mobility, equity and the environment

Many people are currently unable to give up their primary form of transport; a private car. This is even though privately owned vehicles in our cities are parked on average for 97% of the time. It is also important to recognise that many of those with the highest polluting vehicles, particularly old diesel cars, have the least amount of disposable income, and the lowest financial ability to elect to swap those vehicles for newer, more environmentally friendly alternatives.

However, the contribution of diesel vehicles to NOx emissions in urban areas has come under scrutiny by policy-makers and local authorities have been set mandated targets to tackle roadside NOx concentrations. It is essential that national and local government ensure that consumers, and particularly those from lower socio-economic groups, have an option that is viable and supports them as they transition away from high polluting diesel vehicles.

What are Mobility Credits?

The Urban Mobility Partnership has proposed a ‘Mobility Credits‘ scheme would ask participants to scrap their older diesel cars (Euro 1 to 5) to access 'credits' over a set period to spend on appropriate shared transportation options. As an incentive to consumers, the credits offered would exceed the market value of the car and could be used on a range of sustainable and efficient modes of transport to suit their lives.

Depending on the local area, the credits would include bus, active travel initiatives such as bike share or hire, car club and daily rental, rail and tram. The scheme could be delivered by means of a pre-paid card system, or alongside digital mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) applications, with additional rules introduced concerning length of vehicle ownership and vehicle type.

The Urban Mobility Partnership states: “The proposed Mobility Credits Scheme would ask participants to scrap their older diesel cars (Euro 1 to 5) to access 'credits' over a set period to spend on appropriate shared transportation options. As an incentive to consumers, the credits offered would exceed the market value of the car and could be used on a range of sustainable and efficient modes of transport to suit their lives.
Depending on the local area, the credits would include bus, active travel initiatives such as bike share or hire, car club and daily rental, rail and tram. The scheme could be delivered by means of a pre-paid card system, or alongside digital MaaS applications, with additional rules introduced concerning length of vehicle ownership and vehicle type.

“The mobility credits scheme is an important method to change the way we travel, and to promote a more sustainable and multi-modal transport system in this country. Fundamentally, the implementation of a national mobility credits scheme could help to meet air quality and net zero targets, and to reduce congestion and pollution.

“On a more local scale, the Coventry mobility credits pilot scheme – of which the Urban Mobility Partnership was delighted to play a pivotal role in – shows the clear success of this type of initiative, with hundreds of people expressing an interest in giving up their cars in exchange for mobility credits. This shows the power of a mobility credits scheme, which if available on a national scale or other areas where Ultra Low Emission Zones, Clean Air Zones and Zero Emission Zones have been implemented, would result in people willingly choosing an alternative, more sustainable and less polluting method of transport. This could have a vital impact on health, environment and the economy, and most importantly, deliver the modal shift that is at the part heart of both local and national government’s ambitions.”

A culture of compliance

Can enhancing compliance play a part in improving social equity? Compliance includes collections, but it is broader than just people making payments for parking. Compliance can include strategies that help people pay for public transport and parking charges.

Dynamic Mobile Billing assists those who do not have access to a bank account to pay for parking sessions and penalty charge notices (PCNs) by providing a direct carrier billing service. The direct carrier billing approach means drivers can pay for parking sessions and PCNs via mobile phone with SMS text message capability.

Customers are presented with a QR code and mobile number printed directly on the PCN, allowing them to charge the PCN fine directly to their phone bill or deduct the payment directly from their pay-as-you-go credit. It can be used by those wishing to pay immediately or within the first 14 days. The solution can also support cashless parking payments. The service gives drivers the option of fast, frictionless payments without the need for a bank account, credit card, or sharing personal data.

Conduent Transportation is a leading provider of automated and analytics-based smart mobility solutions for government agencies. These solutions span roadway charging and management, parking and kerbside management, and advanced transit and public safety systems. Our intelligent kerbside management systems enable an improved customer experience and provide operational efficiencies by augmenting the integration of people, technology and data for our customers and drivers.