University Medical Center Utrecht

About the project

• The challenge:

  The parking management system and matching equipment had become obsolete after many years of use and needed to be replaced. UMC Utrecht also had a number of new requirements, which included switching to cashless payment methods as much as possible. The hospital wanted to allow employees to enter and exit the parking facility and taking into account the various staff groups so as to ensure a fairer distribution of the available parking places. In addition, the hospital’s central control room – where the parking management and operations are located as well – were relocated.

  At several parking facilities, there was a problem of vehicles trailing each other. This caused the parking system’s detection loop to continuously detect metal and keep the boom barrier open, resulting in visitors exiting without paying. The hospital was looking for ways to solve this problem. Several years after completion, the new parking system was extended and now includes an extra parking lot at the Wilhelmina Kinderziekenhuis/Children’s Hospital. This had to be integrated into the existing parking management system, with the challenge of combining this with complimentary parking for visitors of the blood bank on the same grounds.

• The solution:

  WPS has equipped all the parking facilities of the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) with the state-of-the-art ParkID parking management system and ParkAdvance Parking Equipment, including entry and exit terminals, WPS-229 barriers, cashless payment terminals, and an intercom system. In addition, the parking route information system along the highways to the various UMC Utrecht branches were replaced. The software platform was connected to the new control room and is fully web-based and accessible through a network connection, which will make it easier to relocate the control room in the future.

  The parking equipment was extended to include more cashless payment terminals, and users have the option to use their ATM cards at the exit terminal.

  Employee access cards have been integrated into the system, allowing staff members to enter and exit using these cards. A number of parking spaces have been reserved for the various employee groups at each parking facility, and if these are all occupied, people need to find parking space elsewhere and there will be enough parking spaces for other users, including visitors and physicians who work in several different hospitals.

  We installed additional boom barriers to eliminate the problem of vehicles trailing each other on exiting. Experience has shown that motorists will no longer be inclined to trail each other if the barrier is lowered more quickly. A few years after the new parking management system was implemented, the system was extended with an additional parking facility at the Wilhelmina Kinderziekenhuis/Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital. This parking facility can also be managed through the ParkID system. Visitors of the adjacent blood bank also use this parking facility. In order to continue to incentivize people to donate blood, donors can recode their parking passes through a terminal in the blood bank to avail of free parking.

• The result:

  Our comprehensive solution fully meets the needs of University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) and can easily be extended with additional parking facilities and new functionalities.

  The new system will prepare UMC Utrecht for the future. patients, visitors, and employees will be received with hospitality and efficiency thanks to the high processing speed and cashless payment options.