Taichung upgrades smart parking with QR codes
By Su Chin-feng and Sam Garcia / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Taichung is upgrading its smart parking system, installing high-visibility QR codes at parking spots so people can pay online, keeping transactions simple and reducing paper waste.
The Taichung Transportation Bureau has introduced paperless smart parking near the National Taichung Theater and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, as well as at Taichung Prefectural Hall and the bureau’s parking lot.
To make paying online more convenient, it installed 50cm by 60cm QR codes on surfaces along the Art Museum Parkway area near the museum.
A man scans a QR code that facilitates parking payments in Taichung in an undated photograph.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
The QR codes are highly visible, with public feedback saying that they are hard to miss and make paying for parking more convenient, the bureau said.
Smart parking was first introduced at the theater and the museum because of the high demand for parking, bureau Director Yeh Chao-fu (葉昭甫) said.
The system detects when vehicles enter and exit to assess parking fees, with payments made online, making parking easier to manage while reducing paper use and staffing costs from parking attendants, Yeh said.
The bureau implemented the QR codes so people can scan them and pay on the spot, he said, adding that 50 QR code displays have been installed so far.
Separately, Taoyuan has installed dual-color LEDs at major intersections to improve visibility, reduce the strain on drivers’ eyes from conventional streetlights, protect pedestrians and reduce traffic incidents, the Taoyuan Office of Road and Accessory Maintenance said on Sunday.
The streetlights were installed in stages, beginning with major roads in each of the city’s districts, office official Chiang Chih-nan (姜志男) said.
With the new lights, nighttime accident rates at high-risk intersections have fallen by 20 to 30 percent, Chiang said.
The lights use different color temperatures to create greater visual contrast, increasing depth of field vision, the office said.
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