Life quality and mobility

Vehicle access control solution for sensitive urban areas.

EMEL - Life quality and mobility

Lisbon has become one of the top world cities four living and tourism. The historical heritage of Lisbon is very rooted
in the architecture of the city. Those areas are increasingly sought after for 1st residence homes, but parking is
limited. Congested traffic and emergency access problems demanded for new practical and comfortable solutions.
A-to-Be® Access Control™ solution – initially commissioned by EMEL (Lisbon’s Parking and Mobility Authority) –
aimed to solve these problems.

The concept was to install a remotely operated vehicle access control system only accessible to selected users,
namely residents, merchants and public transportations. The identification is made by a DSRC (radio-frequency
Dedicated Short-Range Communication) on-board unit, already used for Via Verde services, including tolling.
The City of Lisbon, by using this concept in several other urban areas, managed to improve the quality of life of the
residents of these historical areas, increased safety and security and promoted mobility.
The biggest challenges were related with the historical architecture and sensitive nature of the area. Also, the current
layout and integration with city urban furniture was important. From a technological point of view, dealing with such
a large area to be monitored and controlled, and the absence of data and network infra-structures represented
additional hardships. All security and safety liaisons with fire brigades and police units would have to be guaranteed
right from the beginning.

The solution implemented benefit from the extensive know-how gathered in over 100 car parks, with the award
winning A-to-Be® Parking™ solution, also using DSRC tag with Via Verde. The infrastructure was installed using a
single point for each historical area, through a compact datacentre that serves all local equipment. A fibre-optic link
to the EMEL headquarters allows our Client to centralize operation of the entire system, made of several other
instalments. For emergency dispatch and accessibility, equipments have mechanisms for rescue and security forces
for direct and easy access. The results from the residents’ perspective is evident simply by walking the streets, free
of congestion, noise or pollution, while ensuring a place to park near home, without additional costs.
In sum, EMEL testifies that these implementations improved accessibility, vehicle circulation and flow, parking
capacity, security and, generally, quality of life.

It helped fighting chaotic car parking, vandalism and the degradation of public space, obtaining mobility,
implementing a parking policy as part of a broader transport strategy for the City of Lisbon.

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Life quality and mobility
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