Yunex Traffic is to design and install a clean air zone (CAZ) automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera monitoring and enforcement solution in the UK city of Newcastle.
Yunex – the new name for Siemens Mobility's intelligent traffic systems business – will develop the city centre system in collaboration with Newcastle and Gateshead councils in north-east England and the Department for Transport's joint air quality unit.
Elsewhere in England, Yunex is working with Egis and Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions to set up and operate an end-to-end service for Greater Manchester’s CAZ programme for the next five years.
The Newcastle scheme is expected to discourage drivers of the most polluting buses, coaches, taxis and goods vehicles from entering and encourage them to upgrade to cleaner, low or no emission vehicles.
The charge for non-compliant taxis and light goods vehicles would be £12.50 per day, while buses, coaches and heavy goods vehicles that do not meet the CAZ emissions standards will have to pay £50 per day. Private cars will be exempt.
In a joint statement, leader of Newcastle City Council Nick Forbes and leader of Gateshead Council Martin Gannon say: “The clean air zone that we are putting in place to reduce the numbers of high-polluting vehicles on our roads is one of a number of steps we are taking to improve our air quality and protect people’s health.”
As part of the scheme, Yunex is to deploy 36 Sicore II ANPR cameras at 29 locations across the city centre.
The cameras will identify and register every vehicle that enters the zone, with the information interfaced with the UK government’s national CAZ database for vehicle checking and payment.
Wilke Reints, managing director of intelligent traffic systems at Siemens Mobility, says: “With air pollution in the UK representing one of the most significant environmental risks to human health, our innovative and highly secure solutions help improve air quality, ease congestion and provide critical data for effective city developments.”
