The council is set to use money from the Spaces for People programme to remove electronic car park guidance signs which are no longer in use.
There are two types of sign – the first is the Variable Message Sign (VMS) which is strategically placed on the roads and which display text on an electronic screen which can be altered remotely. This can be used to alert drivers to conditions on the roads or find the best route through the city. There are 32 of these in Edinburgh.
The other is Car Park Guidance Signs (CPGS). These are signs which display real time information about the number of available spaces in car parks. There are 20 of these in the capital such as this one here. Maintenance of these has lapsed over the years and they have largely become redundant.
As part of the council’s Smart Cities programme the VMS will be upgraded at a cost of £30,000. The council needs to identify £18,000 out of that to receive match funding from Smart Cities.
The CPGS are now being removed, and this will be paid for from the Spaces for People funding. This is set to be approved by the Transport and Environment Committee when it meets on Thursday.
A strand of the work under Spaces for People is to remove street clutter, and is part of work being carried out with cooperation from walking charity, Living Streets.
The council has agreed that technology has advanced so much that car drivers no longer need large signs pointing out where they can park their cars. Instead most drivers use sat nav, and a new Common Database will be used to send out travel information in a variety of ways.
The council’s own @EdinTravel Twitter account sends out travel information five days a week for 12 hours a day.
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