Dublin City Council piloting Intelligent Kerbside Management Solution with Grid Smarter Cities.
Grid Smarter Cities is delighted to announce that they have been selected to partake in Phase 2 of Smart Dublin and Enterprise Ireland’s SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program to support Last Mile delivery in partnership with Dublin City Council and Belfast City Council.
Grid Smarter Cities have been working with Dublin City Council to better understand and analyse potential use-cases for Kerb, their Intelligent Kerbside Management solution in the city centre — with the ambition to dynamically manage the kerbside with the use of Virtual Loading Bays (VLBs).
Kerb is an app that gives commercial vehicles the ability to book a Virtual Loading Bay (VLB) on previously restricted kerb space in the city.
Kerb helps highway authorities reduce pollution whilst reducing the cost of administering Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), as well as creating atool to assist with managing traffic flows at peak hours to help reduce congestion in the city centre. For commercial vehicle operators, Kerb saves time and fuel by creating more efficient deliveries and drop offs.
With the use of the virtual bays, loading and unloading operational efficiency is increased, and costs of administering PCNs is reduced as previously restricted kerb space is allocated as bookable VLBs.
For residents, the improved traffic management results in roads becoming clearer, with less idling in traffic and ultimately shorter journey times.
“Our Phase 1 funding allowed us to establish that there is a fantastic opportunity for Kerb in Dublin and Belfast, with Grid being able to use our solution to better manage the demands on our already restricted kerb space” said Neil Herron, Founder and CEO of Grid Smarter Cities. “In Phase 2 we are looking forward to being able to trial Kerb to be able to empirically demonstrate how the solution can support commercial operations as well as aiding traffic management and tourism in the City Centre.”
Jamie Cudden, Smart City Programme Manager, Dublin City Council stated, “The concept of Kerb is simple and highly innovative, and has the potential to transform how cities manage kerbside in the future. . We are delighted to partner with Grid Smarter Cities and look forward to piloting the Kerb solution on the streets of Dublin as part of the phase 2 deployment”.
The Phase 2 project, anticipated to start in June 2019, will see Grid Smarter Cities use delivery operators in Dublin to pilot Kerb by utilising Virtual Loading Bays at locations across the city centre. This pilot will demonstrate the benefits of the solution for all stakeholders — and act as a foundation to determine how the solution can be scaled up across further locations in Dublin, Belfast and beyond.
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Grid Smarter Cities
Grid Smarter Cities is an eco-system of smart solutions — connecting communities and people with transport, parking, goods and services.
In 2018 Grid was ranked 7th on the Metis Partners and Clydesdale Bank IP100 Intellectual Property League Table, for their patented solutions that offer them the unique ability to carve out new space in the Smart City landscape, proactively solving the problems that others can’t.
There are a number of inter-connecting companies under the Grid umbrella, including Kerb, a real-time, dynamic, Intelligent Kerbside Management solution.
Kerb allows commercial vehicle operators to opt to book and park, load and unload on previously unavailable kerb space in high density, urban areas or to extend loading periods in time restricted locations.
Smart Dublin
Smart Dublin is an initiative of the four Dublin Local Authorities that uses new technologies to improve services and enhance quality of life in the Dublin Region. Smart Dublin works through collaboration; reaching out and engaging with technology providers, researchers and citizens to co-create solutions to regional challenges.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
This SBIR project has been co-funded by Dublin City Council, Belfast City Council and Enterprise Ireland (EI). Enterprise Ireland’s SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) programme is a pre commercial procurement initiative. The aim of SBIR is to drive innovation across all sections of the Irish Public Sector via robust engagement with technology rich companies and organisations, through competitive challenges.
