Parking management company APCOA has revealed the sustainability benefits of its Urban Mobility Hub in Carmarthen, Wales, exactly 12 months after it was officially launched.
The project, which won the ‘Smart Parking’ category at the 2023 CiTTi Awards, saw a car park in the Welsh town transformed into a dedicated hub for urban logistics and the local community, offering charging and parking facilities for cars, bikes, mobility scooters, and public transport links, with information screens displaying live departures of trains and buses in the area.
Installed at the hub are five 22kW AC fast chargers, 12 V3 Tesla Superchargers, three banks of delivery lockers and pre-bookable, soundproof and private workspaces for up to four people.
The facility also includes a number of disability inclusion schemes and multiple language options on interactive screens, including Welsh.
According to APCOA, energy consumption for lighting at the site from February to December 2023 reduced by 55% following the installation of new LED systems.
What’s more, during this time, more than 6,000 EV charging transactions were recorded, with a combined utilisation of nearly 250,000kWh to power sustainable vehicles.
The hub also “negated the need for more than 1,000 individual emission-heavy drop-offs by taking receipt of parcels in its three banks of courier lockers”.
APCOA said it is shifting its focus from just car parks to more projects like this, and is “forming an integrated ecosystem of smart city and smart mobility services and actively contributing to the sustainable transformation of urban areas and the reduction of CO2 emissions”.
This is not an isolated occurrence. Rather, it is indicative of a recent trend of using urban spaces such as car parks to support transport and logistics in the area.
He said: “We need to move away from large depots and distribution centres and need to put product in the middle of cities.”
Cross River Partnership and Westminster City Council supported the project, and recently announced that the nine-month trial will be extended for a minimum of 12 months.
The trial saw e-cargo bikes travel a total distance of 14,029 miles. This, Cross River Partnership said, has led to “significant emissions reductions of 4,186kg of CO2, 15,141g of NOx and 303g of PM2.5, when comparing the e-cargo bikes to van deliveries on the last mile”.
Achievements and innovations in EV charging and smart parking will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations officially open in March 2024. Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
