Berlin is to become the first German city to start using ticket-free 'mobile-phone parking'. For a trial period of one year, the Berlin districts Mitte, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Tempelhof-Schöneberg will be trying out an alternative to the parking meter designed to make parking more convenient for the user. Users can park as long as you like, and won't have to pay until they leave, when they will be charged for every three minutes they parked. The Berlin local governments will benefit as well, as monitoring car parks will be easier and revenues will increase. Siemens Business Services (SBS) will be operating the service in cooperation with Mobile Parking GmbH and T-Mobile.

This is how it works: drivers register their mobile-phone number, their car registration number and their bank details on the internet under www.handy-parken.de. They then receive an individual permit by post, which they stick on the inside of the windscreen. And that's all there is to it. They then simply ring an 0800 free-phone number with the mobile phone that they've registered, and receive prompt confirmation by call-back. When they've finished parking, they repeat the process with a second 0800 free-phone number. Alternatively, they can send an SMS to the 0800 number - simply using 'S' for start and 'E for end. They will then receive a confirmation SMS. As a result, drivers no longer have to depend on parking machines and car-parking tickets, parking times can be calculated accurately to within three minutes, and there's no need to worry about extending the parking time. At the same time, there's no risk of getting a 'parking ticket' because they have exceeded the time paid for. They simply pay at the end of the month by direct debit.

In Vienna and ten other Austrian cities, Siemens Business Services is already operating a mobile-parking solution which is regularly used by more than 50,000 people. Siemens Business Services and T-Mobile carried out the test project through Mobile Parking GmbH, in close cooperation with the Berlin Senate Administration for Urban Development and the various district offices. The project is subsidized by the EU as part of the CIVITAS initiative.

www.siemens.com/sbs