Enhanced surveillance for Bournemouth interchange

The introduction of new bus lane enforcement measures has addressed congestion and road safety concerns at Bournemouth’s central travel interchange. Building on CCTV use in other areas of enforcement, Bournemouth Borough Council is using two SEA ROADflow Flexi cameras to identify contraventions at the Coach House Place interchange near the town’s central station. The new cameras are integrated fully with the existing, proven verification platform and back office processing system provided by the Council’s long-standing enforcement partner, Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (ICES). The introduction of the new equipment is aid to have been carried out seamlessly.   

ROADflow Flexi is a re-deployable Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera system designed to provide effective enforcement for restricted routes such as bus lanes and bus gates. These are lightweight units that use 3G and WiFi data communications, providing  a high level of mounting flexibility. The cameras operate continuously and generate evidence packs for every contravention identified. Encrypted evidence packs are then sent using wireless technologies to the ICES Parking Gateway back office system. It has proved immediately effective. Following a public awareness programme before the system went live compliance to the traffic restrictions on the interchange increased by 80% in the first two weeks of operation.    

Cllr Michael Filer, Cabinet member for Transport, said: ‘Coach House Place is retained for taxi and bus traffic only and the majority of motorists follow the current signage and take the correct routes.  Others, however, are flouting the regulations, which creates a road safety issue as well as congestion problems for the area’s public transport operators. Frankly we had no option and had to take steps to introduce effective enforcement.”