Municipal office Zaječov: Updated issuing of allowances to drive through the Brdy landscape park
Zaječov municipality representation registers each year an increased interest in using allowances to drive through the Brdy landscape park. The municipality is situated at the foot of Brdy Highlands, belonging into a protected landscape park. Driving through the landscape park to a bigger city on the opposite side is a significant time saver for Zaječov citizens, shortening the drive time by half.
The original method of issuing allowances
Before our update, the citizens had to request the drivethrough allowance in person at the Zaječov municipal office. The allowances were given exclusively by the office employees and it was necessary for the requestor to personally come to the office for each individual drivethrough. This method of issuing allowances tended to bring more and more problems every day, both on the office (where employees had to devote a significant part of their workday to writing and issuing the paper allowances) and for the citizens themselves.
The number of allowances per day is also limited due to ecology concerns and when the capacity was exceeded, citizens found themselves to be visiting the municipality office in vain.
The allowance also had to be returned immediately after arriving back through the landscape park, either in person at the office, or putting it into a postbox of the office.
Problems connected with personal issuing of allowances:
• Administrative demands for manual issuing of allowances by the office employees.
• Picking up and returning the drivethrough allowance personally at the municipal office.
• Forgetting the allowance during the drive.
• Loss or theft of the allowance.
• Depreciation of the paper allowance.
• Ensuring time limitation of the drivethrough in accordance with time limitation of the allowance.
• Limited quantity of the drivethrough allowances.
• Denying the drivethrough allowance to new requestor due to the issued ones not being returned.
• A limited offer of various time ranges to drive through the landscape park.
A new method of issuing the allowances
With the increasing number of requests, the Zaječov municipality representation was seeking a method to remove the problems mentioned above. In short, they were trying to decrease the administrative burden and make the process more pleasant for the very citizens.
GoSMS brought a customized solution
Based on the meetings with municipal representatives, we proposed a solution that would meet their requirements.
Our aim was to replace the original method of issuing allowances and to streamline and simplify the process. The output was thus issuing the allowances electronically via SMS text messages.
Any citizen of Zaječov simply wrote and sent a predefined SMS message to a specified phone number and within a few minutes, he received information on the status and activation of the permit to pass through the landscape park Brdy.
Our team designed and created the administrative environment of the myGoSMS application, through which the allowances are sent. In the application, these allowances can be easily managed by OU Zaječov employees and what’s more, they can set up control telephone numbers available to bodies authorized by the Police of the Czech Republic. In the application, workers can also check the number of issued allowances, and see their usage in well-arranged statistics.
What’s the basic principle?
A citizen of Zaječov sends an SMS to a pre-determined phone number. In a matter of seconds, he receives an information whether the Brdy drivethrough allowance is active. If so, he’s billed a drivethrough fee in a defined amount. This payment is deducted from the user together with the payment for the SMS itself.
Particular fees are differentiated according to time tariffs of the allowances. Those are within range of hours or days.
In case no more allowances are available for the given day, the user is immediately informed about the fact via SMS. No drivethrough fee is charged.
Control mechanism has also been considered. A responsible person onsiter checks the SMS received by the citizen who is trying to drive through the park. According to the SMS data this person can send a special text message as well, to immediately check the allowance is active and has been issued to this particular citizen.
What problems were removed:
• The administrative burden is minimized. Zaječov municipality employees can devote the time, previously taking by manual allowances issuing, to other activities.
• Citizens no longer need to personally visit the MO Zaječov. They can handle everything from the comfort of their home by a simple SMS.
• SMS allowance is saved in the requestor’s phone and when needed, is immediately available to check.
• One can’t displace or debase a SMS allowance.
• The time offer of allowances itself has been increased. Citizens can choose from 1 hour up to 5 days.
• Unreturned allowances are no longer blocked for another requestor – since it’s no longer needed to return the allowances and they are freed automatically after expiration.
• A possibility to prolong an existing allowance, if the citizen doesn’t make it through the landscape park in time.
What’s the further plan?
The Zaječov municipality representation is happy with the update in their allowance-issuing process and we are currently working on extending the allowances to other villages under the MO Zaječov administration. They also plan to use SMS parking nearby the Brdy highlands.
Are you looking for a similar solution?
If you are also also seeking a solution similar to our design for MO Zaječov, or are interested in another usage of our application, please contact us and we shall find a good solution to best suit your individual needs.
What other services can you use the automatic SMS’s for?
• SMS parking.
• Entry allowances.
• Fishing allowances.
• SMS fare tickets.
• Service subscription.
• SMS voting.
• Charging of online wallets.
• Medical payments
• …and a lot more.
Interested to know more? Contact us at support@gosms.eu and we will gladly assist you!
Sources
Zaječov crest – www.zajecov.cz
Map – www.mapy.cz
Paper allowance template – www.podbrdsko.eu