Accurate car counting is one of the most cost-effective ways to understand and then optimise a car park’s utilisation and help to reduce congestion. By using inductive loops, when vehicles drive through a passageway its magnetic field changes and sends a communication signal to indicate movement in or out of a parking facility.

There’s a common perception that magnetic resonance loops are not an accurate way to count vehicles, however the reality is that they can be used to great effect. When people say this form of car counting doesn’t work, it’s typically not the metal loop in the ground being referred to, rather the sensitivity of the software trying to analyse the activity that is being tracked.

There are a number of traffic scenarios that are difficult to count with low tech solutions – for example wide passage lanes that allow a two-way flow of vehicles, but with no structure in place to separate the lanes. Cars will often drive straight through the middle of the two lanes if there is no oncoming traffic, which triggers three or four loops, instead of the normal two. This creates a count challenge for low tech solutions that cannot interpret the data correctly.

The loop counting solution developed by Park Agility avoids these problems and delivers car counting capabilities with 99.9% accuracy. By designing our own electronics board and writing our own firmware and software, complex traffic scenarios can be configured into the constant analysis of activity across loops and multiple count points.

In addition to being highly accurate, it is more often the case that loops will be a lower cost to install than other car counting technologies and a lower cost to maintain over their lifetime. The solution is also robust – able to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in all weather conditions unlike some other sensing technologies.  A solution such as this is perfect for local governments and asset owners that have open air car parks they wish to count to put real time bay availability information on wayfinding signage in order to help reduce congestion in local precinct areas.

Lasting for a decade plus, a magnetic resonance loop counting solution represents excellent return on investment. They are also quick to install with less downtime for the car park, meaning customers and operations are not disrupted for a lengthy period.  

Highly accurate and with data delivered to dynamic wayfinding signage in real time, Park Agility’s loop counting solution is an easy win for relieving parking congestion in busy areas.

Talk to us today about your car park counting solution requirements.

‍