Dublin City Council piloting Intelligent Kerbside Management Solution with Grid Smarter Cities.

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 a tool 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.

A video explaining a bit more about our work in Dublin can be found here.