The Taipei City Parking Management Office, in collaboration with Chunghwa Telecom, plans to launch on Saturday a new parking query system that can help drivers locate the three parking lots closest to their vehicle with a simple text message, an official said yesterday.
To provide the service, the city government and Chunghwa Telecom have set up a mobile phone positioning system that identifies the location of a cellphone user's vehicle and links it with computerized information on nearby parking lots, Chien Pai-chang (簡百昶) of the Parking Management Office said.
Drivers who are Chunghwa Telecom subscribers can send a text message to 55145 to get parking information, Chien said.
Once the text message is sent, Chunghwa Telecom will determine the phone's location based on the strength of the cellphone’s signal received by its base stations and then transmit that information to the Parking Management Office's computer system.
The office’s computer will then search for parking lots in the area and the number of empty spaces left and automatically send back the information by text to the driver.
The process will take around two minutes and cost NT$2.3 per request, Chien said.
The city government will also continue providing its instant parking query system by telephone, which allows drivers to obtain information on available public parking by making a voice call, Chien said.
Under that system, Chunghwa Telecom mobile subscribers can dial 55145 to make voice queries on parking fees and open parking spaces.
Some users had complained that the voice service was not convenient enough and that cellphone voice inquiries were expensive, Chien said, which prompted the office to expand the query system's functions and convenience.
Non-Chunghwa Telecom subscribers can call (02) 2726-9600 ext. 2 to make similar queries, Chien said.
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