Manchester, UK seeks IT-slinger: £235m for number-plate-and-fines system to clean up vehicle emissions
- Reference: 1594125905
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/07/manchester_seeks_235_million_partner/
- Source link:
The project involves building systems for number plate recognition (ANPR), managing payments of fines and managing a database of vehicles’ status under emissions regulations.
The government has told local authorities across the UK to reduce harmful nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) levels. This follows a direction under the Environment Act 1995 to undertake feasibility studies to identify measures for reducing NO 2 concentrations to within legal limit values in the "shortest possible time".
Transport for Greater Manchester, the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services in the area, is working with local councils to create an enforceable Clean Air Zone (GM CAZ) within 10 Greater Manchester local authorities, but excluding vehicles on main roads.
A tender notice said: "The GM CAZ will apply to vehicles whose movement is detected within the zone and charges will be applied to certain categories of non-compliant vehicle not covered by an exemption as defined within the Clean Air Zone Framework and GM's Clean Air Policy."
The [1]services up for tender range from vehicle detection and processing, including mobile automatic number plate recognition and other cameras, controllers and data connections as well as a communications network. It also requires a system to enable the application and operation of the GM CAZ Scheme business rules. Data from the field needs to be integrated with a "vehicle compliance checker" as well as a customer payment portal and centralised vehicle database, which is set to come from the government's Joint Air Quality Unit.
Transport for Greater Manchester also needs a supplier to build a "penalty enforcement service" including the implementation, configuration, testing and operation of a service to enable the compliant issuance and administration of charges and the case management of any outstanding fines, penalties and any charges.
The potential contract, which runs for three years with three options to extend for a year, could also re-purpose the operation of the field equipment and services to support "other uses" in addition to the clean air.
But it could all be dismantled in a few years. Judging by the wording, it imagines the system will be operational until at least the second half of 2026. But if vehicles in Greater Manchester clean up their act and demonstrate two consecutive years' of compliance with the legal limit value for NO 2 , and the authority is confident the trend will continue, then the "authorities can together seek the agreement of the Secretary of State to suspend the charging scheme order and commence the decommissioning of the GM CAZ", the notice said.
Those concerned about personal privacy may caution against greater use of ANPR without commensurate security measures. [2]In May, The Register revealed that Sheffield City Council's ANPR system exposed 8.6 million records of road journeys made by thousands of people. The system's internal management dashboard could be accessed by simply entering its IP address into a web browser: it required no login details or authentication.
The Reg is sure Transport for Greater Manchester will keep itself clear of such weaknesses. ®
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[1] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:318063-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/04/28/anpr_sheffield_council/
[3] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Greater Manchester in northeast England
Wrong side of the Pennines. We don't want them Manc's over here on this side.
Re: AC have a pint
Yorkshire, right side of the Pennines in every respect. Although, you can always tell a lad from Leeds, but you can't tell him much!
Re: Greater Manchester in northeast England
>Wrong side of the Pennines. We don't want them Manc's over here on this side.
God put the Pennines there to keep Yorkshire out of Lancashire, we don't want any of that tightarsery over here.
Re: Greater Manchester in northeast England
In that case nicking Saddleworth & Greenfield and adding them to Greater Manchester should have sent someone to seek absolution.
So they're still pushing for a "congestion charge" (spite tax), even after we told them to fsck off a few years ago.
Bet TfGM are really sulking now public transport is seen as a health risk and normal weather (= rain) has returned and put everyone off using push-bikes.
Hopefully CV19 will end such nastiness from public sector workers who hate private transportation.
The seems like quite a high price tag for re-using technology that's already up and running in London and to some extent, as the article mentions, Sheffield and probably a few other places too.
High Price Tag
Could it be there is already a player in the wings?
ANPR
Hopefully more than just the number plate, otherwise there will be a lot of cloning happening and random car owners around the UK getting letters from a Ford Transit or some other driving into Manchester.
Re: ANPR
I avoid driving in Manchester. Those cobbled streets are hell in my Lamborghini.
Re: ANPR
Coronation Street is a fictional drama where as reality is somewhat different, was this your car, Sir ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-53305810
Re: ANPR
As fictional as his Lambo, so that checks out.
Re: ANPR
"Those cobbled streets are hell in my Lamborghini."
You do know Lamborghini also make tractors, right ?
Re: ANPR
"I avoid driving in Manchester."
I was thinking the same and them remembered I have to go through bits of Greater Manchester to get to the M6.
Good luck
It will be quite impressive to see anyone making money from cars via a Kengestion charge on that footbridge linking the Lowry to the War Museum.
Interesting point about decommissioning. Once all the vehicles are compliant (or most..) entering the zone there's no income so the zone will start costing to run. Or they'll just change the standard and charge more people.
>Or they'll just change the standard and charge more people.
This is a Congestion Charging scheme dressed up as a Clean Air initiative. The original Congestion Charge proposals were a bit draconian -- Manchester is a bit more compact than London and hasn't got the extensive network of train and tube services so from what I saw most Mancs would have to pony up just to leave the house -- so I daresay they were shelved as potential political suicide. Introducing them as a "Clean Air" initiative with the vague promise that maybe they'll be withdrawn at some future date.....come on, does anyone seriously believe this stuff?
The point is ending private transportation. It's been an obsession for certain people for decades.
You may not have heard but the latest thing is that even when [!] all cars are electric, they'll still need banning because of the dust from tyre rubber.
You can't appease these people. Best to just lock them up.
(Mines the one with the McCarthy style list in the pocket.)
"The Reg is sure Transport for Greater Manchester will keep itself clear of such weaknesses."
If Sheffield gets hammered on this it might help concentrate their minds.
The transport authority for Greater Manchester in northeast England ?
Geography fail, it's in Northwest England
There is life beyond the M25, it's not a myth.