Kitchener parking bylaw enforcement using AI to increase compliance

For a City of Kitchener bylaw, the future is now.

For about a year, the bylaw has been using artificial intelligence (AI) based technology to help enforce parking. Kitchener was the first city in the country to start using the system.

Initially, the technology was purchased specifically to address enforcement in school zones where officers report frequent tense interactions with drivers that have at times turned physical.

The technology looks a lot like licence plate recognition systems used by police. They are mounted to the roof a bylaw vehicle and can scan down a row of parked cars as the officer drives past.

Ian Misheal, manager of bylaw for the City of Kitchener told 570 NewsRadio, that’s where the similarities end.

“It has the ability to recognize the zone, recognize signage and it’s accuracy is down to a centimeter of where the vehicle is in relation to signage in the zone. And it can also do measurements so, if a vehicle is parked in front of a fire hydrant it can recognize three meters from that hydrant if a vehicle is there.”

Misheal said when the AI system recognizes an infraction, it captures an image of scene and the officer can then go back and check to make sure it is in fact a violation. At that point a ticket is mailed to the vehicle owner.

Those worried about privacy can rest easy, Misheal says only the officer is privy to licence plate numbers, all other information is deleted.

“Any faces or any people in pictures are automatically blurred by the system so not even the officer can see them if the vehicle is in violation. If there is someone around the vehicle, that is automatically blurred, it blurs the entire person.”

He added that 24 hours after a ticket is issued, the system deletes that information.

Misheal said that in the first few months the system was in operation, tickets skyrocketed. But, then something interesting happened. The number of tickets started to go down as more people got the message and began complying with the bylaws. Misheal says compliance is up by about 70 per cent.

He also said that while the number of tickets has plateaued, they are still up by around 30 per cent, year over year.

Compliance has always been the ultimate goal, he said.

The price tag for one of the systems is aproximatly $80,000.

Misheal hopes to see the program expanded but that’s up to city council to decide.