Oxfordshire County Council has upgraded its bus lane enforcement system with the installation of a new automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) solution from Videalert.
The new system replaces a manually operated network of cameras and has been installed to reduce journey times and improve air quality in and around the city of Oxford. The move to an automated platform was announced in October 2019 and the go-live date of 15 June was identified to support an increase in cyclists as the lockdown eases, as well as to protect bus journeys for those who need to use public transport.
Councillor Liam Walker, cabinet member for highway operation and delivery, said: “ANPR is more efficient and allows greater flexibility to review potential contraventions after the event. “As we start to see lockdown being freed up we want to see more people switching to sustainable transport – cycling, walking and public transport are all preferable to driving for so many people.
“The council is working hard to ensure that Oxfordshire’s transport system is ready to meet the demands of more people starting to get out and about, and the new cameras will play a small part in that.”
The new locations for camera enforcement are Folly Bridge, Abingdon Road and Barton Park. Existing bus gates already enforced where new cameras have been installed are High Street, George Street, Castle Street and Magdalen Street. Signs have been in place for many years to warn motorists about the existing bus gates and, for a period, the new sites have additional signage to draw attention to the new enforcement.
Videalert uses ONVIF-compliant HD ANPR cameras that are designed to deliver higher quality images to improve capture rates for contraventions. The cameras combines ANPR and video analytics to identify only the offending vehicles. Furthermore, the system allows the use of a whitelist of vehicles that can legitimately use the gates including buses, emergency vehicles and maintenance vehicles.
And according to Videalert, the high-quality images captured with the HD cameras will also help to minimise discard-rates and reduce the number of appeals. Captured evidence packs are transmitted and stored on the company’s hosted digital video platform where they can be accessed and reviewed securely over the internet. Validated evidence packs are sent to the council’s back office system to issue penalty charge notices. What’s more, the platform does not require installation of any IT hardware at the council’s offices.
According to Videalert, the new system will deliver to Oxfordshire County Council “significantly higher productivity than older cameras with uptime rates of more than 99%”. This will reportedly be achieved using the supplier’s “robust hosted infrastructure and proactive remote monitoring software” for early identification of potential faults.
