Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Transport has endorsed a plan to improve car parking service management in downtown areas using sensory tech solutions and cashless payment integration.

Voluntary Youth Public Benefit Service Co. Ltd., the assigned contractor for the initiative, will conduct a test run of digital car park management at the parking area on Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1.

The company will set up the system at 28 paid parking slots on the Hai Ba Trung Street section in front of Le Van Tam Public Park.

It is required to report on the results of the tryout, which will help officials appraise the feasibility of the project before deciding whether to scale it up or revise the tech solutions.

The department also ordered the contractor to look into the integration of cashless payment into the parking services.

In 2018, the city authorities created 1,000 paid parking slots using spaces on 23 streets in District 1, District 5, and District 10.

Parking rates at these slots started at VND20,000-25,000 ($0.87-1.08) for the first hour and gradually increase in the following hours.

However, the initiative showed little success, with revenue falling short of expectations, while the technology infrastructure and personnel costs piled up high.

The blunder of the initiative can be attributed to the incompetency of staffers of the parking areas, as some failed to collect fees properly or captured full sums into the system.

The layout of the car park in the city’s street grid was also seen as unoptimized, which led to lukewarm reception of local residents.

In light of these issues, the Voluntary Youth Public Benefit Service Co. Ltd. was selected to carry out an overhaul of the current parking system.

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