News & Insights

From the new basketball arena downtown to the boom in commercial real estate development, it’s clear Milwaukee has big plans for the future. But in order to continue to see success and watch their community thrive, some changes needed to be made.  In order to stay relevant and bring in world-class talent to live and work downtown, City of Milwaukee Parking Services knew they needed to be leaders, moving quickly to facilitate this transformation. The possibility of missing out on an opportunity to lead the city’s evolution is a strong catalyst for change for any government; and, as has been the case for other parking agencies, inaction risks involvement of external players which can be a detriment. Milwaukee opted to become one of those leaders by evaluating ways to leverage new technology to meet the City’s parking and transportation goals and objectives. Because of the hard work they put in and the updates they implemented, the parking department is now better able to serve their community. Click here to find out more about how gtechna technology helped them more efficiently utilize downtown parking, provide better customer service, and prepare for the future.

When the term "smart city" comes to mind, it's usually accompanied by an image of a sprawling metropolis with millions of residents milling about with their different modes of transportation. But Banff proved that doesn't always have to be the case. A small resort town with a population of around 8,000 and located inside a national park, Banff had the unique challenge of accommodating their 4.5 million yearly seasonal visitors. The local Council had to figure out how to best utilize 2,000 of Banff's parking spots during peak season, which sees upwards of 30,000 people making the small town their home. Engineers and enforcement officers worked together to mix traditional practices with modern technology in order to make Banff a smart town and solve age-old parking problems. There’s no doubt; size has nothing to do with being a connected city (or town). Small towns can create real-time responses by using data to make things run smoothly, even without the million-dollar budgets of metropolitan areas. Banff is an example of how technology can help authorities implement creative, highly-customized solutions that educate the local population and provide answers to specific community needs. You can find out more about how gtechna helped turn this small town into a smart city here.

Metrolinx has created an award-winning transportation system that leverages technology and integrates it across multiple platforms, and it’s all centered around a positive customer experience. Since purchasing GoTransit in 2006, Metrolinx has invested significantly in the expansion of its transit system and serves the Metro and Greater Toronto area by providing transportation services to more than 7 million residents across 11,000 square kilometers. But with this increase in ridership came a need to update their technology. To help with this, Metrolinx turned to gtechna. The Metrolinx team knew that as they expanded, the outdated technology they were using to communicate, to issue tickets, and to complete paperwork just wasn't going to work anymore; they were bulky and took too much time. Metrolinx is focused on creating a positive customer experience, now and in the future. They have a unique situation because not only are they issuing tickets to parkers and riders, they’re issuing tickets to their patrons. They want to ensure that they can take care of their patrons in the most efficient, respectable way possible. By partnering with gtechna, they’ve shown that they’re future-focused and willing to do the work to make their system transparent and user-friendly. gtechna has been happy to not only help deliver the right technology, but to do their part in showing that choosing a customer-friendly solution creates a win-win scenario by benefiting the user, the organization, and the city. By taking an honest look at their situation and doing the hard work to update their systems, Metrolinx can grow into the future with the confidence that the technology they've chosen and their partnership with gtechna will give them the tools they need to succeed. To read Metrolinx's full story, click here.

CTO Sergio Mastronardi discusses how Pay by Plate technology ensures meters signify if there are any latency or communication issues.