IT and transport movement

movement IT and transport

by IT Team of Jūrmala City Council | Iveta.Kelpe@jurmala.lv

Jūrmala is a resort city on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and one of the strategic development goals of this municipality is to ensure high quality of life for its 57,000 residents, as well as visitors.

The unique combination of nature and location makes Jūrmala an extremely attractive city for tourists, as thousands of visitors come every year to have a break from the everyday hustle and bustle. To regulate the movement of transport and to divert transit routes outside the city centre in the sum mer season (which is set from 1 April until 30 September), visitors must pay an entrance fee when entering Jūrmala. The responsibility of collecting the fee is taken care of by municipal services using various technological solutions. Thus, the flow of transport on the main streets of the city is reduced during the active tourist season, which undoubtedly also im proves the air quality.

How does the system work?

When entering the territory of Jūrmala, all vehicles are documented by cameras. After capturing the images, the registration number of a vehicle is determined with the help of special software. All arrivals are assembled in a single line and a valid pass is selected for each of them. There are five types of passes: one-day pass (2 EUR), 7-day pass (10 EUR), 30-day pass (31 EUR), 90-day or season passes. There are multiple ways to get a valid pass: it can be granted automatically, for example to persons registered in Jūrmala; it can be purchased electronically on jurmala.lv or visitjurmala.lv web site, through the “Mobilly” mobile application or the Internet bank, or purchased by cash or card in the vending machines when entering the Jūrmala territory or in the city. When buying a pass on the website, by sending a SMS from a mobile phone or using the vending machines located in the city, the most important thing is to make sure that the sub mitted registration number of the vehicle is correct. But even if any mistakes have been made, there is no need to worry, as there are different ways to correct them.

The municipality ensures the efficiency of this system: tech nical infrastructure, including data networks, recognition cameras and servers as well as appropriate software are used. The system keeps a list of vehicles that have entered the zone, and a second list of valid passes – the data is automatically compared. After the comparing process, a third list is created for vehicles with no exact registration number or a valid pass. After this the municipal police officers carry out manual number recognition, check if the vehicle is listed in any of the various registers, and find the owner of the vehicle or its holder. If a pass was indeed not purchased for the vehicle, then the owner must pay a fine for entering the city without a pass.

In order to create an operational system for acquiring, managing and controlling the passes, several existing systems were integrated, online links with state registries of persons, cars and other property were established, and new solutions were created for various system users. Most of the work was done in-house and the project was developed gradually on a step-by-step basis. The project is constantly evaluated and improved to make the process of paying the symbolic entrance fee as com fortable as possible for visitors. Parking in Jūrmala is free of charge in all designated parking spaces!