Frequently Asked Questions
for Parking Enforcement

Parking enforcement often gets so much bad press, why should I enforce my cities parking by giving out unpopular fines? It is true that no-one likes to get a parking fine but the majority of the public understands that correctly enforced parking leads to increased traffic flow, improved public safety, better availability of parking spaces and many other advantages. Correct enforcement also leads, of course, to increased revenue which, when invested back into the road infrastructure can improve public services and reduce taxes. Properly publicised, a professional and efficient on street parking enforcement solution can be clearly shown to improve the situation for the vast majority of law abiding citizens.
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I currently use paper tickets, why should I incur the expense of buying handhelds when this works fine? It is true that a “pen and paper” system works fine but there are many inefficiencies and costs associated with this. First of all it is difficult to ensure that all the correct fields are filled out and that the information written is legible. There are additional staff necessary in the office to transcribe the written notes into a computer for processing – an activity that adds both cost and potential errors into the solutions. Even with correctly entered tickets, it takes much more time to write all the information necessary, reducing the number of tickets that can be written and increasing the time the officer needs to spend next to the vehicle. One of the biggest disadvantages to the “pen and paper” approach is the weather. It can become very difficult to enter information and, therefore, work effectively in the rain or strong wind. The initial cost of using a handheld computer can be repaid many times by the increased efficiency of the solution. For more details of the cost benefits to upgrading your parking enforcement solution, please contact us or one of our global partners.
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I currently use a previous Schweers handheld, do I need to upgrade? Some of our customers have been using our handhelds without problem for over ten years. It is not necessary to change these terminals in order to continue your parking operation. There are, however, certain efficiency gains that can be made by upgrading to a later version. The windows based architecture allows for quick and accurate data entry while the improved Politess Office back end system ensures that this data can be easily analysis, stored and passed on to the correct financial systems necessary for fine collection. Additional hardware options such the colour camera, GPS and, of course, the integrated printer can dramatically improve the efficiency of your operations and the quality of your customer service.
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My council already has a financial system used to process fines and payments, will Politess be able to link with this. Politess has been written in a way that makes it easy to export to, and import from a large variety of external systems. This has already been done with many systems in many different countries. A complete list of the systems Schweers has already interfaced with please see here.
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My council has not only parking officers but also officers who are tasked with monitoring environmental infringements. Can the Politess system manage different types of infringement? Yes. The Politess Office is capable of working with a wide range of different infringement types and has already implemented environmental citations with some of our customers. Please contact us or one of our global partners for more information on this.
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Is the Politess solution suitable for Police use also? Very much so. In many cases both traffic wardens and police have the right to issue parking citations. While the traffic wardens may require the X600 with its larger keyboard and bigger screen for easy data entry, the police may not need to enter data quite so often. As such, the Ticketman can be viewed as a “police PDA” to complement the X600 in these cases.
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I am interested in the Schweers terminals, but not for the parking enforcement market. Does Schweers sell terminals into other markets? Yes. Please contact our marketing department to discuss your requirements.
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My council only has two officers, is such a system suitable for me also? Schweers has provided our products and solution to over 750 cities in over 15 countries. While some of these cities have more than 500 officers, there are many others that have only one or two. No council is too small to benefit from a modern and efficient parking enforcement solution. Please contact Schweers or one of our partners around the world for more information about our Politess compact offer.
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I am located a long distance from Germany, why should I buy my parking enforcement solution from a company so far away instead of finding a local solution? Schweers has been in the Parking Enforcement market since 1988. We have a network of distributors in over 15 countries around the world, all of whom are well respected local firms. With Schweers you get the benefits of our long experience both local and global together with the indisputable benefits of working with local firm for all the support requirements. Our partner network is very open with all of our partners benefiting from the knowledge and experience of their peers around the world. With our global customer base, Schweers is able to lead the field in new technology with a cross fertilisation of the global and local market requirements.
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What should I do if Schweers do not have a partner covering my country? Schweers started our relationship with many of our partners by working on specific client requirements. Please contact our marketing department and we will be in touch to discuss your requirements.
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I am interested in becoming a partner of Schweers, who do I contact? We are always on the lookout for potential new partners. Please contact our marketing department with some details of your company and someone will be in touch shortly.
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Why is the X600 an unusual shape Many handheld computers have been built up from a basic offering by adding additional functionality on the top of the unit. This often makes the units top heavy and unwieldy, causing unnecessary strain for the user. During the design of the P600 terminal (the predecessor of the X600) the shape was defined to allow the heavier components to sit comfortably in the palm of the hand, dramatically reducing the “perceived weight” of the unit. While the X600 is in fact one of the lightest equivalent terminals on the market, the perceived weight of the unit given by its unique shape increases the comfort level and significantly reduces any repetitive stress on the user.
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I still feel that the X600 is to large, does Schweers have another option? Yes, Schweers is very close to our customers and has listened to many requests like this. While the X600 remains the perfect product for a heavy usage system, we understand that there are many requirements that do not require such a terminal. The recently introduced Ticketman has been designed specifically for those councils that require a rugged PDA but with some of the indispensable functionality found on the X600 such as the integrated printer and camera. More details of the Ticketman can be found here.
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External cameras are available at very low cost, why should this be in the device It is important to ask why you are taking the photographs in the first place. Most requirements for colour photographs come from the need to offer some form of proof that vehicle was indeed parked incorrectly at the time and place indicated in the ticket. This proof must stand up to cross examination in the courts. While a commercial camera can clearly take such a photograph and even include a time and date stamp, it is so easy for anyone to manipulate the internal clock at any time without any log of this being done that such a time stamp will not pass the scrutiny of even the most inexperienced trial lawyer. In addition, when the cameras and the terminals are brought back to the office, the photographs must be manually linked to the citation – an action that is done automatically with the integrated camera. Not only does this ensure another manual process open to challenge in the courts, it also involves a significant extra cost on behalf of the operating authority. Should the clock in the camera not be exactly the same as in the terminal, the matching up of photograph to citation could easily become a major headache.
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The cameras we use at the moment have 5 Mega Pixel, will this be available in the Schweers products? Again, in answering this question it is important to differentiate between a standard consumer item and a product designed for the application to hand. Consumer cameras are continually increasing in resolution as the demand is for continually better personal photographs (although it is debatable whether the continued increase in resolution provides any better photographs). The camera in the Schweers terminals must provide adequate proof that the infringement has taken place. It must be capable of being stored and transferred as needed without overloading the municipal networks. An average handheld terminal on the street might record up to 50 infringements in a day. With, say, 4 photographs per infringement then each terminal must process 200 photographs per day. For an average council having around 50 officers, this adds up to 10,000 photographs to be stored and transferred every single day. Even at 1MByte per photo, the network resources necessary to process these are staggering. The full colour VGA photograph produced by the Schweers camera meets all of the requirements of proof in court and the resulting photograph is not too large to be stored and archived for many years if necessary.
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Given these arguments, even VGA photographs could be a long term problem for storage and archiving – how does Schweers propose to address this? A recent addition to the Schweers product line is Photo-off. This product is designed to take all the headaches out of storing, processing and archiving these photographs. More details of this innovative new product can be found elsewhere on this web site.
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Why does the Schweers camera include a torch light and not just a flash. This also points to a product that is defined for the application in mind. Many consumer cameras are designed for personal photographs and are rarely used when it is very dark. The flash is used to complement the existing ambient light to get a good photograph but the ambient light is usually good enough for the user to adequately line up the photograph. This is not the case for on street enforcement. It is important in this case that the photo can be quickly lined up, often in very dark conditions without the need to re-take. It is also the case that the officer may want to take the photograph without drawing too much attention. A flash is a strong beacon to anyone looking for trouble. Finally, the camera may be used for more advanced functionality such as license plate recognition or bar code reading. In these cases, a simple flash is just not sufficient.
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Is the torchlight sufficiently bright to accomplish these requirements. Yes. The solid state camera used in the X600 and Ticketman handhelds requires a minimum of 5 Lux to provide an adequate picture. This level of illumination is exceeded at 2 meters with the torch light and at over 3 meters if the flash is used.
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Can the camera be used to recognise license plates Yes. One of the many advanced functionalities of the Politess System is to extract the license plates from the camera and insert these into the citation. Not only does this improve the speed with which a ticket can be written but it also reduces the chance of error and, therefore, the chances that the ticket will be rejected by the courts if challenged.
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Surely I can get all this functionality from a standard PDA at a much lower cost? While it is true that a PDA can contain software to enter a citation and record the information, the ease with which this data can be entered is extremely important. In many cases, the parking enforcement department is a revenue positive activity with that revenue being a direct result of the ease with which an enforcement officer can enter the data and the reliability of that data to provide a strong case to the court system. The more tickets that can be written in a shift, the more revenue you can recover from the investment. The more accurate these tickets are and you minimise the mistakes and therefore increase your customer service.
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Can data not be entered just as easily in a PDA using the on screen keyboard? Again, data can be entered but it is the ease with which this can be done that is most important. It is important to bear in mind that the data must be entered on the street, often in very harsh conditions. The full sized keyboard available on both the X600 and the Ticketman, linked with our advanced text recognition software allows street names, citation codes and a wealth of other information to be entered quickly and accurately with the push of a few keys. A wide key pitch (ie the space between the keys) allows entry even when the operator is wearing gloves or has large hands.
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But it is still cheaper! It may well be cheaper at the outset. Indeed, if you look only at the initial cost of the terminal then a PDA is clearly cheaper than Schweers products. Even if you take a PDA with the necessary protection together with the cost of an external printer (and charging station) then it is possible that this kit is still cheaper than the Ticketman (although it will be close). But you are not buying a simple PDA – you are buying an on street solution that must work reliably and efficiently for the foreseeable future. If you look more closely at the costs involved to run an on street parking operation for a period of say 5 years together with additional administration for maintaining the devices, the replacement cost of damaged hardware and importantly the loss in revenue incurred when a terminal is broken on the street, the total cost of ownership is very clearly lower with the Schweers solutions. Please contact us to work through a detailed cost benefit analysis for your city.
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Why should the printer be included when many bluetooth printers are available on the market? The integrated printer is a major requirement with most of our customers and one of the biggest advantages offered by the Schweers products. While most PDA’s can technically link to a belt mounted printer this arrangement causes a number of problems. First of all the printers require charging as well as the units which can lead to a large overhead in the administration time. The printers also need to be paired with the handhelds meaning that the units need to be stored together. If an officer picks up the wrong printer for that handheld then it may need to be re-paired (an operation that could be beyond the technical capabilities of the officer). In operation, while it is useable in fine weather, if an overcoat needs to be worn in the cold or the rain then either the printer needs to be outside or the officer needs to open the coat.
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I currently use a PDA with and external printer, why should I change? There are many different reasons a professional handheld that has been designed for the task at hand will serve your needs better than an off the shelf PDA. It would be a mistake to see an initial cost saving on the purchase of the hardware as the same as long term cost efficiencies. While it is important to save money, it is far more important to ensure that the money you spend now is not being wasted with low end hardware requiring too much support.
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I understand all of these arguments but I still want to use an external printer. Schweers understands that there may be other reasons for using an external printer and have often provided our Politess software on third party terminals. The Politess Jet, although not designed or manufactured by Schweers has been fully tested with our software solutions and is being used successfully with a number of customers.
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With all this functionality, how long does the battery last? Unfortunately, this question is not as simple as it sounds. The length of time the battery will last is directly related to the use of the terminal – how many tickets are printed, the length of the ticket, the use of the camera, torch, GPRS, GPS and other functionality. The 4 amp hour battery available in the X600 handheld is one of the highest capacity on the market for a similar type of unit. Both the X600 and the Ticketman are designed to last at least 8 hours in normal use. If, however, the terminal experiences greater than “normal” use, the batteries can be easily changed in the field without the use of tools. It should be noted that many comparisons can be made from terminals without printing capability. Such a comparison is, of course, irrelevant as the printer consumes a large percentage of the power. Any non-printing terminal must be complemented with an external printer which must, of course come with its own battery and charging cradle.
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How do I make sure my city gets the required functionality when we are obliged to buy the lowest cost solution in a public tender? The most important concept is how to define “low cost”. So many people make the mistake of assuming that the cost involved in such an operation is purely made up front. It is important when describing the requirements that the total cost of ownership is clarified. Any request for tender should be clear to ask for the total costs expected to run the system for up to 5 years (including the hardware). It should ensure that the hardware includes the basic functionalities such as printing, camera etc… within the case – not as an extra bolt on unit. It should require that the terminal manufacturer can demonstrate at least an IP rating of IP64 and also that the terminals are able to withstand the drops and bangs that they will certainly receive on the street (Schweers products are tested at 1.2 meters drop onto concrete). Finally, it should ensure that the tender includes a test period by officers on the street to ensure the viability of using the units in a real environment.
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Can your terminals accept payment? Schweers can offer a solution that can accept payment via a tethered device. In the current payment environment, the requirement is often for an EMV compliant “secure keypad” for PIN entry by the customer. In this case, as the customer needs to hold the unit, a separate device is the most convenient option. More information on this solution is available here.
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